article
Igusa: a critical cash crop in the rural economy of Okayama Prefecture
Economic geography • 34 • Published In 1958 • Pages: 47-63
By: Manchester, Curtis A..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article presents an excellent summary of the role of igusa rushes from which tatami mat covers are made, in the farm economy of Okayama Prefecture. Full material is included on the particular costs, risks, and potential benefits of its cultivation, comparing it with the cereal alternatives as a winter-sown cash crop which is intercropped with rice. The income/expenditures structures of two igusa-producing communities are contrasted; changes in frequency of home weaving of the rush, as well as variability and past trends in the market are discussed. The author is a professional geographer who spent a year doing field research under the auspices of the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, Okayama, Japan.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Cereal agriculture
- Textile agriculture
- Land use
- Income and demand
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Okayama
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2010
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- East Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Geographer
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Jan A. Simpson; John Beierle ; 1979
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1954-1955
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1954-1955
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Okayama Prefecture, Japan
- NotesAdditional notes
- Curtis A. Manchester, Jr.
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- gs 25000119
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Japan--Okayama Prefecture