Refers to the system or practice of farming land owned by a landlord, paying rent in cash or kind. Common in historical and agricultural contexts.
Before the war, many farmers made a living through tenant farming.
The tenant farming system was based on the relationship between landlords and tenant farmers.
小作 refers to tenant farming on rented land, the direct opposite of 自作 in its sense of farming one's own land.
小作 originally denotes cultivating land belonging to another person, and by extension tenant farming or a tenant farmer. It does not imply that the farm itself is small.