There are two areas in this region-rice-area and rice-and-vegetable area. Acknowledging these two areas interrelated through agricultural employment, I carried out an investigation into this problem, dividing it into two stages of 1938 and 1947.
In 1938 (an ordinary period) temporary employees were supplied from the rice-area. And they were employed by farmers of the rice-and-vegetable area, costing an amount of labour three times that of the rice-area but had more favourable economic condition.
The reasons for which employees were supplied from the rice-area are:
1) in general rice producing farmers were poor (annual income per each farmer was 400 yen)
2) agricultural season of the two areas was not in concord.
A shortage of labour at the farmers' busy season caused a mutual exchange of labour in the rice-area, as employees from the rice-and-vegetable area were not found.
In the basin of the Old-Tone, agricultural labour was exchanged making the best of discordance of rise-producing seasons (They call it legae). This was practiced on the largest scale possible.
In 1947 (an inflation period) the price of rice jumped and rice producing farmers got well off economically due to the land improvement, consequently no labour was supplied to the vegetable-area and mutual exchange of labour also diminished.
So farmers of the rice-and-vegetable area had to grow vegetables by less labour and were compelled to obtain neccesary labour from local cities to supplement a shottage of it.
These tell us that exhange of agricultural labour had been served the purpose to combine the two different areas and that the relation of demand and supply of labour indicates which area was more favoured economically.