Change of subsistence activities and egalitarianism in small communities of rural areas : A research based on life histories

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The field survey was conducted mainly in two small communities of rural Japan. One was a village called Miuchi located in a mountainous area of Hyogo Prefectuye, and the other was Kudaka, a small island of Okinawa Prefecture. Data on the subsistence activities of the past and the present were collected through interviews of life histories and direct observations and also from literature. Both in Miuchi and Kudaka, there was a subsistence activity system well adapted to the natural environment. Miuchi was famous for charcoal production and "konnyaku" (Amorphophallus rivieri var.konjac) cultivation on the steep sloops of surrounding mountains. Kudaka islanders lived mainly on small-scale fishing on the coral reefs around the island using various mathods. And it has become clear that egalitarianism playd an important social role in such small communities for keeping harmony and solidarity of the village and making the exploitation of natural resources sustainable. Especially in Kudaka, subsistence activities, social life and ritual performance were deeply interrelated depending on egalitarianism. From the beginning of Showa era to the present, however, both villages have experienced large social and economic changes which also influenced subsistence activities of local people very much. One of the results of such changes is the decline of collectivity and the increase of individualism in subsistence activities as well as social relationship. The villages also suffer from the migration of young people to the large towns. In former days egalitarianism contributed to the maintenance of sustainable exploitation of natural resources, but now the problem of over exploitation has become serious. The relationship between man and nature reflects the relationship among the people. People have to search a principle that can replace egalitarianism in the past to adapt to new social and economic situation.