Writings on Agriculture

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The writings on agriculture ( Japanese 農 書 , nōsho ) are notebooks and books that circulated in Japan during the Edo period . The authors were mostly samurai who were entrusted by their liege lords with the administration of the lands and the improvement of the agricultural yields. The content included cultivation methods, calendars, irrigation techniques and descriptions of tools. Since many farmers were engaged in handicraft activities in winter, articles about the handicraft were also among the writings.

The sources used were observations and experiences of the authors, but Chinese works were also translated. Through the Holland trade on Dejima and the Rangaku studies, European knowledge about agriculture also came to Japan and was reproduced in the Nōsho.

Thanks to the Chinese invention of the printing press and a partial literacy of the population (at the end of the Edo period an estimated 50 percent of the male and 20 percent of the female population), the Nōsho could be printed and sold in high editions (up to several tens of thousands). The scope of the Nōsho ranged from thin booklets to thick encyclopedias.

One of the authors was Nishikawa Joken (1648-1724), who wrote the compendium for farmers (and also a compendium for merchants ).

The Nōsho can be compared with the German farmer's calendars .