Oxcarts in a Line to Deliver Paddy Rice

Oxcarts laden with paddy rice are all lined up in a long queue to transport the rice to the agricultural storehouse for processing and storage. These agricultural storehouses functioned as both rice-hulling mills and granaries during the colonial period. To ensure no interruptions occurred in the food supply in Japan, the colonial government instituted a government purchase and distribution plan. After harvesting the rice, farmers were required to turn over all rice (except what the farmers would eat themselves) to purchasing stations. As a way to control the quality and output volume of the paddy rice, the government paid for agricultural storehouses to be built and used for drying, hulling, and storing the rice.
The short, square building in the picture is a rice granary; the tall building is the rice-hulling mill.