<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > preface</h1>
The name Ezo of Hokkaido was already known in the Kamakura shogunate in the 13th century BC, and the local people of Hokkaido were naturally known as the "Ezo people". At that time, Hokkaido was considered a barren and barbaric land, but the wheel of history would never stop, and the vigorous development of the Industrial Revolution made Hokkaido's untapped resources a huge wealth for Japan, and Hokkaido's status also jumped to the top and became a national strategic place. Today I will tell you about the history of Hokkaido's pioneering during the Meiji Restoration.
The picture shows the transportation network map of the Hokkaido area
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > lay the foundation for industry
</h1>
As we all know, the current capital of the Hokkaido region of Japan is Sapporo さっぽろ, but hundreds of years ago, the former center of Hokkaido was Hakodate はこだて. The change of the capital was proposed by kuroda Kiyotaka, the then vice-minister of Hokkaido's pioneering mission, Kuroda Kiyotaka. Please remember the name, this person will appear many times in this article. He played a significant role in the history of the development of the Hokkaido region.
Pictured here is Kiyotaka Kuroda, one of the Nine Elders of Japan
As I mentioned in the preface, the Hokkaido region is rich in natural resource reserves. However, Hokkaido's poverty and backwardness at that time were also second to none in Japan, and many areas were almost inaccessible, but there were many animal tracks. Therefore, kuroda Kiyotaka's initial development model for Hokkaido was industrialization.
The picture shows the current Hakodate in Hokkaido
Therefore, Kuroda Kiyotaka proposed the "Pioneering Ten-Year Plan" Develop a ten-year plan, which plans to build Hokkaido into a well-equipped and technologically advanced industrial base over a period of ten years.
The picture shows the ruins of a coal mine in Hokkaido
"The Master Says" Yun: It is therefore no noble, no low, no long, no less, the existence of the Tao, the existence of the Teacher.
In Japan at that time, it interpreted the meaning of this sentence with behavior. Japan, which had just entered the Meiji Restoration, knew very little about heavy industry, and Kuroda Kiyotaka was no exception. So he invited Horace Kaplan, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, to Japan to direct resource exploration. The Americans did not disappoint the Japanese, they helped the Japanese people discover the abundance of coal in the Honai area, and Kuroda Kiyotaka worked non-stop to prepare for the mining of coal mines and rail transportation.
The picture shows the railway along the Biecheon River in The Spring
In 1882, Hokkaido's first railway connecting the Kannai Coal Mine was completed and opened to traffic, and the Kanai Coal Mine was completed and put into operation three years earlier. This also allowed Hokkaido's economic center of gravity to shift further north, from the Hakodate region deep into the interior. It also laid the industrial foundation for the Hokkaido region.
The picture shows a satellite map of the vicinity of the Carbon Mountain in Honouchi
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > potential hidden dangers in Hokkaido's development</h1>
Although Hokkaido was on the surface developing in full swing,
As mentioned above, in July 1881, Kuroda Kiyotaka sold 14 million yen of equipment and factory at a disparity of 390,000 yen. It is worth mentioning that the buyer, Tomotsu, had a very good personal relationship with Kuroda Kiyotaka, who had a good personal relationship with the old Satsuma Domain, and who had been from the old Satsuma Domain.
Five generations of Japanese businessmen, politicians, and entrepreneurs in the Meiji era
In the end, under the repeated persuasion of Kuroda Kiyotaka, the emperor was forced to agree to "hokkaido officials selling their goods at a low price." This is also the epitome of one of the "Five Strategies" proposed by Ōzo shigenobu Ōkuma Shigenobu during the Meiji Restoration, allocating state-owned assets to private capital.
The picture shows Shigenobu Okuma, a famous politician during the Meiji Restoration in Japan
(1) Abolish local checkpoints, cultivate and develop a unified national market, build railways, and develop modern transportation and communications such as shipping, postal services, telegraphs, and telephones.
(2) Take over the industrial and mining enterprises of the shogunate and the various domains, transform and expand them to form a state-owned enterprise system, and vigorously create various new-style modern enterprises called "model factories".
(3) Introduce advanced Western technology and equipment, transform the original technology and tools; at the same time, pay attention to the establishment of a civilian product industry.
(4) Adopt various methods such as rewards and protection to encourage high-quality new products and inventions.
(5) Implement the policy of "persuading farmers".
(6) Foster and protect private capital and promote the development of private enterprises.
(7) Reward domestic production and encourage the export of domestic products.
Although Kuroda Kiyotaka survived the crisis without any danger, the Emperor also learned from it. The Hokkaido Pioneering Mission was abolished and the Hokkaido Agency was established in 1886, and this establishment has continued to this day and has not been replaced. Prior to this, the Hokkaido region set up three prefectures, namely Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro, modeled on the interior.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the secondary application of "privatization of official property"</h1>
After Kuroda Kiyotaka stepped down, in early 1886, the Meiji government appointed the first Japanese hokkaido governor, Iwamura Toshitoshi, who "criticized" Kuroda Kiyotaka's administrative measures at the beginning of his term of office.
However, he himself eventually continued Kuroda Kiyotaka's set of methods to develop the economy. Or to hand over state-owned assets to private capital for operation and development. Therefore, Iwamura Soon invited a number of well-known capitalists to Hokkaido to discuss the development of Hokkaido.
The picture shows Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Japan's Mitsubishi Group, who was also invited to Hokkaido by Toshitoshi Iwamura
The picture shows Eiichi Shibusawa, the father of modern capitalism in Japan
Hokkaido's representative of industrialization, the Honouchi Railway, did not escape the fate of being sold cheaply, and after it was set up as a private enterprise, its shares were sold to the Japanese magnates at that time for less than 300,000 yuan. Of course, the later hokkaido governor also regretted this! Finally, he took advantage of the nationalization of the railways throughout the country to buy back the shares sold at a high price.
The picture shows Sapporo pioneering the Ale Brewing House
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > agricultural production with Hokkaido characteristics</h1>
There is an old Chinese saying: the people take food as the sky. Eating is always the top priority of the people, and the people can't eat enough to develop industry. At that time, Japan's agricultural development model was also a traditional rice paddy field, and the East Asian people's preference for eating rice was a common feature, while the Ainu, the indigenous people of the Hokkaido region, were mainly engaged in fishing and hunting.
The picture shows the Ainu people, the indigenous people of the Hokkaido area
As a result, there are still many farmlands in the Hokkaido area that have not yet been cultivated. However, the soil composition in the Hokkaido region is very complex, and the soils of peat soil, heavy clay, and volcanic soil are intertwined. Not every kind of land is suitable for rice cultivation, and the Hokkaido government is trying to solve this problem. Kuroda Kiyotaka went out again and invited Dr. William Clark Clark, an American agricultural scholar at the time, to Japan to direct agricultural production.
The picture shows a statue of Dr. William Clarke at Hokkaido University
It has to be said that Kuroda Kiyotaka was very rewarding when he traveled to various countries in the early years of Meiji. So many Western scholars were invited to Japan, which was not developed at that time, to guide various production activities. I'm afraid it's hard to do it with a different person.
After Dr. Clark went to Japan, he established the Sapporo Agricultural College in 1876 and set up agricultural experimental gardens in Honshu and Hokkaido. Immerse yourself in the study of the special climate and geographical environment of the Hokkaido region. It has made great contributions to the development of agriculture in Hokkaido.
The picture shows the average annual temperature in Asahikawa, Hokkaido
Of course, the wisdom of the working people is always infinite, and Nakamura Kuro, an ordinary villager in Sapporo, irrigates the farmland with hot water to prevent the rice from failing to produce due to low temperatures. He also continued to improve rice varieties, and finally achieved fruitful results.
The picture shows the rice fields in the Hokkaido area
What is even more valuable is that he shared his research results free of charge with the residents of the Hokkaido region and guided them in agricultural cultivation. By the beginning of the 20th century,
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the Hokkaido region's proprietary Tuntian military system</h1>
The Tuntian military system was widely used in ancient China, and as early as the Three Kingdoms period, When Zhuge Wuhou confronted Sima Yi across the river, he implemented the Tuntian system in the local area. Of course, the Tun tian system in Hokkaido, Japan, also has many similarities. In addition to farming and training, Hokkaido's Tuntian soldiers sometimes become "security guards" for various construction projects, emergency rescue and disaster relief personnel, and so on.
The picture shows the Tuntian soldiers in the Hokkaido area during the Meiji period
The Tuntian military system helped Japan stabilize its northern borders and provided it with special services that could fight in cold regions. Moreover, the land planning land near Tuntianbing Village is very neat, which also provides an opportunity for Japan to build an American-style large farm. After that, Hokkaido also became a food base for Japan.
A corner of the village of Tuntianbei in the Hokkaido region
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
With the increase in immigration, the population of the Hokkaido area has grown from less than 100,000 to as many as one million in the early 20th century. After the end of World War II, Hokkaido's population stabilized at 3 million people, with the further development of agricultural technology. Now, Hokkaido's population is close to 6 million.
However, with the expansion of the area of pioneering land, the contradiction between man and nature has further intensified. The 1915 Sanmao Beiqi Incident also sounded a wake-up call for locals, when a brown bear named "袈裟け" bit and killed 7 people and injured 3 people. In the end, the Hokkaido government had to send thousands of troops to encircle and suppress it.
The picture shows the restored scene and the remains of The Skull in the Sanmao Beiqi Incident
The picture shows the occurrence of the Sanmao Beiyi incident
When the avalanche occurs, not a single snowflake is innocent. When the avalanche occurs, no one cares if you're innocent. The destiny of our human race has always been a community, and no one can stay out of it. We must respect nature and respect the ecological environment, which is the real way to long-term peace and stability.