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| | Research Activity Program Reports & Publications (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13) |
 | | In recognition of his abilities, the lord himself, Okubo Tadazane, set Kinjiro to the task of revitalizing the farming communities in the Sakuramachi fief (present-day Ninomiya-cho, Haga-gun, in southeastern Tochigi Prefecture) under the dominion of Utsu Hannosuke, a shogunal retainer whose family was an offshoot of the Okubo clan. |
 | | The Sakuramachi fief had an assessed value of 4,000 koku*of rice annually, but such was the state of agriculture in this area that the rice harvest had dropped to one-fourth the assessed value, for an actual yield of less than 1,000 koku. |
 | | The method Kinjiro used is termed hotoku-literally, “rewarding virtue.” The basic components of this method were kinro, or hard work; bundo, or living in a matter befitting one's station; and suijo, giving one's all for the sake of others. |
| www.tkfd.or.jp /eng/division/research/op/chikara1_21.shtml (1500 words) |
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