Historical Studies on the Misima-Usi ( Misima Cattle )

見島牛の史的研究(見島学術調査報告 VIII)

Historical Studies on the Misima-Usi ( Misima Cattle )

Creators Nakayama Seiji

It is said that the origin of the ''Misima- Usi” is yet unknown, though it is supposed -to be imported either from the Corean Peninsula or from the Hondo in ancient times. The development of the Misima civilization seems to be due to the development of agriculture in this island, and there were in all probability the cattle breeding in the Muromati era. According to the dcfcription in ”Zige-ZyOsin” (1739 A. D.) there were 433 heads of -”Misima-Usi” and the yields of 3822 bushels of rice by having recourse to the management of 15 acres of paddy rice field. The fact that 433 heads of ”Misima-Usi” had been kept in such a poor land of low productivity is quite miraculous. It may indeed owe to -the technical feature of rice cropping in this island. So far as the farm management concerns, it may be improper and unreasonable to keep so many catties in this island where the primitive farming is carried, though it may be inferred from the technical point of agricultural measure ani should inevitably be admit led to be a ”necessary evil'., The extensive breeding of ”Misima-Usi” seems to have been derived from the primitive farming of this island.

[ISSN]0513-1715

[NCID]AN00244250