Japanese rotating savings and credit associations and the farmer's debt consolidation project in the 1930's : a case study of Zakoji village, Shimoina district, Nagano prefecture

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  • 1930年代日本農村における無尽講と農村負債整理事業 : 長野県下伊那郡座光寺村を事例として
  • 1930ネンダイ ニホン ノウソン ニ オケル ムジンコウ ト ノウソン フサイ セイリ ジギョウ : ナガノ ケンカ イナグンザヒカリジムラ オ ジレイ ト シテ

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Abstract

Mujinko were one of the types of Japanese rotating savings and credit associations. In Zakoji, a village in the Shimoina district, Nagano prefecture, mujinko were important financial institutions, serving people who had limited connections with the modern financial market. Almost all of the village's mujinko ceased operation during the Great Depression. One of the objectives of the farmer's debt consolidation cooperative act (FDCCA) was to sweep away the mujinko, which were regarded as inefficient parts of the financial system. This article analyzes the process of consolidation of the mujinko. Contemporary documents show that the relationships between mujinko members were based not only on neighborhood but also on other human networks. The diversity of relation- ships made it possible for the mujinko to adequately supply funds to the poor. However, during the depression this diversity made it more difficult to consolidate the mujinko. Following the stipulations of the FDCCA, mujinko membership was reorganized based on neighborhood. As the economy improved in the latter half of the 1930s, savings were shifted to more formal financial institutions like the industrial cooperatives. We can say that one of the meanings of the consolidation process was the shift from an organization based on such "ko" to one based on the village.

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