Category Archives: Booklet

Contributed to the welfare of farmers In 1900 (Meiji 33), when sangyokumiai (cooperatives) law was established, a young man was walking 80km of the way beyond the Chugoku Mountains from Iwami region of western edge of Shimane Prefecture. He was heading to the Hatsukaichishi station of Sanyo line (Hiroshima prefecture), for getting admission to the Kyoto municipal agricultural school (now Kyoto Prefectural University). Name of the man, who was getting on train for Kyoto which he saw for the first time, was Masayo Oba ( = 1882 ～ 1939 ). He was the man who worked on the medical business of Sangyokumiai (cooperatives) later. After graduation, Oba became the assistant … Continue reading →

On July 22, 1931 (Showa 6), in Nichiharacho (now Tsuwano-cho) of Kanoashigun (Kanoashi county) of Shimane Prefecture, Kyozon hospital (co-existence hospital) of Sekisei riyokumiai (Sekisei utilization cooperatives) limited liability cooperatives was opened, servicing only medical business.10 persons including Masayo Oba were appointed to board members and 3 persons were appointed to auditors.  The hospital’s name of “kyozon (co-existence)” was adopted from the words “kyozon kyoei (co-existence and co-prosperity)”, the philosophy of the modern cooperatives. The hospital had 2 buildings of 2 stories (Total floor area 937 square meters). Medical subjects　were internal, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology. 3 doctors worked. Pharmacy and X-ray laboratory were equipped. 16 nurses worked. The doctor … Continue reading →

At any age, people are living having difficulty of their own. The cooperative movement began trying to solve their economic and social problems, such as tyranny of loan sharks in the Meiji era, food shortages during the war and post-war, pollution during the period of high economic growth, and expansion of the income gap…. By tracing the origin of cooperative movement, we can learn that the pioneers of movements had overcome such various difficulties with their own “benevolence of heart” and “executing skills”. ・Yugaku Ohara and Sontoku Ninomiya ・Tosuke Hirata and Yajiro Shinagawa ・Toyohiko Kagawa and Masayo ObaMr. ・Yuichiro Nakagawa, Professor of Meiji University

In Kanto area at the end of Edo period, two splendid farmer leaders appeared.They are Yugaku Ohara (1797-1858) and Sontoku Ninomiya (1787-1856). Two people challenged the reconstruction of rural areas that were devastated by the Great Famine of Tenpo years and Tenmei years. Yugaku established the mutual organization (“senzokabukumiai” (association of ancestors shares)), for the purpose of survival of the families, at Nagabe village (now Nagabe, Asahi-city, Chiba prefecture) Association’s management methods are as follows; ①Each association member contributes farmland equivalent to 5 gold cars, and all members share them and reserve the profit obtained from them, ② Until the reserve per family becomes equal to or more than 100 … Continue reading →

Meiji government after the Meiji Restoration aimed for “encouragement of new industry”, and tried the promotion of agriculture, main industry at that time. Mr. Tohru Shimizu, general manager of Basic Research Division of Norinchukin Research Institue Co.,Ltd, points out that Meiji government ordered the European literature, invited European scholars, and at last found out about existence of mechanism of European cooperatives. Tosuke Hirata (1849-1925) studied in Germany after he joined the Tomomi Iwakura delegation. He met Yajiro Shinagawa (1843-1900), Interior minister after, who had been stationed in the local. After returning home, Hirata became bureaucracy, and drafted “credit cooperatives bill” in order to protect small and medium-sized producers from loan … Continue reading →