Technical improvements in plow design in Fukuoka Prefecture during the early modern period

近代早期福冈县犁头设计的技术改进明治初十年后，福冈县北部地区的传统犁头十分受外国人的喜爱。当日本沉迷于模仿西方文明的时候，一位外国老师称赞了一种传统的农具，这对日本的农业政策产生了不成比例的影响。由于错误地认识到他严肃的态度和对教学的热情，国家政府决定协助将这种为福冈相对温和的条件而开发的独特工具推广到整个日本，包括东北地区的大雪之国。不幸的是，这个德国人自然对稻田种植技术知之甚少，但他仍然遵循了国家政府发布的指令。他得到了他的日本员工的全力支持，他们都是优秀的学生，他们适应了德国寒冷的土壤耕作技术，以适应季风季节所需的湿稻方法。这些因素的结合都促成了他对日本农业历史的不利影响。这种科学技术在这些地理上分开的国家之间的传播是文化翻译的一个例子。正如人类偶尔会因沟通不畅而发生有趣的事件一样，在这种农业技术的传播中也有许多喜剧情节。例如，建议在积雪达两米的地区使用这种福冈犁，这种犁是为水稻收获后种植大麦而设计的，这几乎是可笑的。有时还动员地方警察执行这些建议。这一切都可能表明，日本人在认真的时候，有时往往会忽视理论与其内容的意义之间的联系和相对重要性。把太多的注意力放在语言和手势的盲目模仿上，这是实现改变的手段，这使情况更加复杂。这个预备项目并不包括日本现代化的总体格局。在这个初步阶段，我采访了这个问题双方的参与者，并通过档案研究证实了这些说法。少

Technical improvements in plow design in Fukuoka Prefecture during the early modern periodA certain foreigner employed as an instructor after the first decade of the Meiji period admired the traditional plow characteristic of the north of Fukuoka prefecture.The fact that a foreign teacher praised a traditional agricultural implement when Japan was obsessed with imitating Western civilization exerted a disproportionate influence over Japanese agricultural policy. In a misplaced recognition of his serious demeanor and passion for teaching, the national government decided to assist the spread of this unique tool developed for Fukuoka's relatively temperate conditions throughout Japan, including the deep snow country of the Tohoku region.Unfortunately this German man naturally knew little about the techniques of cultivating rice in paddies but he nonetheless followed the directives issued by the national government. He had the full support of his Japanese staff, all excellent students, who … More adapted the cold soil cultivation techniques of Germany for the wet rice methods demanded by the monsoon season. This combination of factors all contributed to his untoward influence on Japanese agricultural history.This transmission of scientific techniques between these geographically separated countries is an example of cultural translation. Just as human beings occasionally have amusing incidents caused by miscommunication, there are many comic episodes in this transmission of agricultural technology. For example, recommending the use of this Fukuoka plow, designed to cultivate barley after the rice harvest, for use in areas that receive two meters of snow is almost laughable. Local police officers were sometimes mobilized to enforce these recommendations.This all might suggest how Japanese, in their earnestness, sometimes tend to lose sight of the connection between and relative significance of theory and the meaning of its content. This is compounded by putting too much attention on the slavish copying of language and gestures, the means of achieving change.This preparatory project does not encompass the overall pattern of Japanese modernisation. At this preliminary stage, I have interviewed participants from both sides of this question and have confirmed those accounts with archival research. Less