Suchergebnisse

The origins and role of corporate landholding and land redistribution practices over arable land in seventeenth- to nineteenth-century Japan have posed a quandary for scholars. The most common forms are widely seen as means to spread the impact of flooding among villagers in districts that are considered to be at great risk from flood hazards. Such conclusions are often based on individual village studies. In contrast, this study takes a regional approach and tests the validity of this relationship using geographic information systems technology experimentally. This experiment reveals a variety of anomalies that, taken together, suggest that any link between natural hazard risk and the presence or absence of redistribution practices is more subtle than typical explanations assert.

"Hydraulic Societies explores the linked themes of water, power, state-building, and hydraulic control. Bringing together a range of ecological, geographical, chronological, and methodological perspectives, the essays in this book address how humans have long harnessed water and sought to contain its destructive power for political, economic, and social ends. Water defines every aspect of life and remains at the center of human activity: in irrigation and agriculture; waste and sanitation; drinking and disease; floods and droughts; religious beliefs and practices; fishing and aquaculture; travel and discovery; scientific study; water pollution and conservation; multi-purpose dam building; boundaries and borders; politics and economic life; and wars and diplomacy. From the earliest large irrigation works thousands of years ago, control over water has involved control over people, as the essays in this volume reflect. The intersections of water and political, economic, and social power historically span international as well as domestic politics and operate at scales ranging from the local to the global. The authors consider the role of water in national development schemes, water distribution as a tool of political power, international disputes over waterways and water supplies, and the place of water in armed conflicts. They explore the ways in which political power and social hierarchies have themselves been defined and redefined by water and its control, how state leaders legitimized their rule both culturally and economically through the control of water, and how water management schemes were a means to impose and refine colonial power."

Introduction: Green Perspectives on the Japanese Past / Bruce L. Batten and Philip C. Brown -- Part I. Lay of the Land : Geology and Topography -- Vulnerable Japan : The Tectonic Setting of Life in the Archipelago / Gina L. Barnes -- Settlement Patterns and Environment of Heiji-kyo, an Ancient Capital City Site in Japan / Tatsunori Kawasumi -- Earthquakes as Social Drama in the Tokugawa Period / Gregory Smits -- Part II. Water : Oceans, Rivers, Lakes -- Traditional Use of Resources and Management of Littoral Environments at Lake Biwa / Shizuyo Sano -- Floods, Drainage, and River Projects in Early Modern Japan : Civil Engineering and the Foundations of Resilience / Philip C. Brown -- High-Growth Hydrosphere : Sakuma Dam and the Socionatural Dimensions of "Comprehensive Development" Planning in Post-1945 Japan / Eric G. Dinmore -- Part III. Life : Flora, Fauna, Fertilizer -- Japan as an Organic Empire : Commercial Fertilizers, Nitrogen Supply, and Japan's Core-Peripheral Relationship / Toshihiro Higuchi -- Struggling with Complex Natures in the Ogasawara Islands / Colin Tyner -- When the Green Archipelago Encountered Formosa : The Making of Modern Forestry in Taiwan under Japan's Colonial Rule (1895/1945) / Kuang-chi Hung -- Part IV. Climate -- Climatic Changes in Japan since the Eighteenth Century / Takehiko Mikami, Masumi Zaiki, and Junpei Hirano -- Climate, Famine, and Population in Japanese History : A Long-Term Perspective / Osamu Saito -- The Climatic Dilemmas of Built Environments : Tokyo, Heat Islands, and Urban Adaptation / Scott O'Bryan -- Concluding Thoughts: In the Shadow of 3.11 / Bruce L. Batten and Philip C. Brown.

Intro -- Contents -- List of Plate, Figures, and Tables -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- A Note to the Reader -- Introduction: Green Perspectives on the Japanese Past (Bruce L. Batten and Philip C. Brown) -- Part I. Lay of the Land: Geology and Topography -- 1. Vulnerable Japan: The Tectonic Setting of Life in the Archipelago (Gina L. Barnes) -- 2. Settlement Patterns and Environment of Heijō-kyō, an Ancient Capital City Site in Japan (Tatsunori Kawasumi) -- 3. Earthquakes as Social Drama in the Tokugawa Period (Gregory Smits) -- Part II. Water: Oceans, Rivers, Lakes -- 4. Traditional Use of Resources and Management of Littoral Environments at Lake Biwa (Shizuyo Sano) -- 5. Floods, Drainage, and River Projects in Early Modern Japan: Civil Engineering and the Foundations of Resilience (Philip C. Brown) -- 6. High-Growth Hydrosphere: Sakuma Dam and the Socionatural Dimensions of "Comprehensive Development" Planning in Post-1945 Japan (Eric G. Dinmore) -- Part III. Life: Flora, Fauna, Fertilizer -- 7. Japan as an Organic Empire: Commercial Fertilizers, Nitrogen Supply, and Japan's Core-Peripheral Relationship (Toshihiro Higuchi) -- 8. Struggling with Complex Natures in the Ogasawara Islands (Colin Tyner) -- 9. When the Green Archipelago Encountered Formosa: The Making of Modern Forestry in Taiwan under Japan's Colonial Rule (1895-1945) (Kuang-Chi Hung) -- Part IV. Climate -- 10. A History of Climatic Change in Japan: A Reconstruction of Meteorological Trends from Documentary Evidence (Takehiko Mikami, Masumi Zaiki, and Junpei Hirano) -- 11. Climate, Famine, and Population in Japanese History: A Long-Term Perspective (Osamu Saito) -- 12. The Climatic Dilemmas of Built Environments: Tokyo, Heat Islands, and Urban Adaptation (Scott O'Bryan) -- Concluding Thoughts: In the Shadow of 3.11 (Bruce L. Batten and Philip C. Brown) -- Bibliography.