Feudalism in Japan

11 Key excerpts on "Feudalism in Japan"

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  Warfare in Japan

  • Harald Kleinschmidt(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  Part I Feudalism in Japan Passage contains an image

  [ 1 ] Feudalism in Japan—A Reassessment

  JOHN WHITNEY HALL

  The question of whether Japan can rightly be said to "have had feudalism" is by no means settled. Although Westerners have been writing about "Japanese feudalism" for well over a hundred years, the acceptability of this practice is still a matter of controversy among professional historians, notably among those who make the study of medieval Europe their specialty. To a long line of Western historians ending with Herbert Norman, however, there was no question about the appropriateness of placing the feudal label on Japan. Nor does the contemporary Japanese historian question a term which has become so important a part of his professional as well as everyday vocabulary. In a Japan in which the reading public is daily reminded that the "struggle against feudalism" is still being waged, feudalism seems a present reality which by its very nature cannot be denied to have existed in Japan's past.

  To the Japanese historian of today Feudalism in Japan is not only real, it is also the same universal reality against which the "more progressive" Western peoples had to struggle before their eventual emancipation. As Nagahara Keiji has put it,

  It is now generally accepted that capitalism in Japan developed upon a foundation laid in the semi-feudal land ownership pattern of the villages. The power of the feudalists landlords and the bourgeoisie, though on the surface full of mutual contradictions, served fundamentally to reinforce each other, leading inevitably to the military defeat of August 15th. Although it appeared at first that the land reform had decisively revolutionized the self-reinforcement of these two groups, dissolving large-scale landlordism and high rent tenancy and thereby destroying the feudal relationships within the village, actually it did not produce any such fundamental change. To the contrary, recent studies have shown that it resulted in a re-strengthening of feudal relationships under colonial control.1

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  The Mikado's Empire

  A History of Japan from the Age of Gods to the Meiji Era (660 BC - AD 1872)

  • William Griffis(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Stone Bridge Press

    (Publisher)

  245 XXII The Growth and Customs of Feudalism J apan, of all the Asiatic nations, seems to have brought the feudal system to the highest state of perfection. Originating and develop-ing at the same time as in Europe, it became the constitution of the nation and the condition of society in the seventeenth century. When in Europe the nations were engaged in throwing off the feudal yoke and inaugurating modern government, Japan was riveting the fetters of feudalism, which stood intact until 1871. From the beginning of the thirteenth century, it had come to pass that there were virtually two rulers in Japan, and as foreigners, misled by the Hollanders at Déshima, supposed, two emperors. The growth of Feudalism in Japan took shape and form from the early division of the offi cials into civil and military. As we have seen, the Fujiwara controlled all the civil offi ces, and at fi rst, in time of emergency, put on armor, led their troops to battle, and braved the dangers of war and the discomforts of the camp. In time, however, this great family, yielding to that sloth and luxury which ever seem, like an insidious disease, to ruin greatness in Japan, ceased to take the field themselves, and delegated the uncongenial tasks of war to certain members of particular noble families. Those from which the greatest number of shôguns were appointed were the Taira and Minamoto, that for several centuries held the chief military appointments. As Mikado's Empire.indb 245 7/13/2006 3:11:47 PM the mikado’s empire 246 luxury, corruption, intrigue, and effeminacy increased at the capi-tal, the diffi culty of keeping the remote parts of the empire in order increased, especially in the North and East. The War Department became disorganized, and the generals at Kiôto lost their ability to enforce their orders. Many of the peasants, on becoming soldiers, had, on account of their personal valor or merit, been promoted to the permanent garrison of household troops.

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  Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art

  An Outline History of East Asiatic Design

  • Ernest Fenollosa(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Stone Bridge Press

    (Publisher)

  The feudal system was to be a purely insular institution, owing nothing to continental inspi-ration. And after 280, when the Southern Sung also fell before the Mongols and China became ruled by a Tartar Emperor, indifference was succeeded by open hostility. Thus Japan was left to reorganize herself as best she might with native material. Yoritomo had begun the parcelling out of the North as military fiefs to his captains as early as 75; this he now extended to the whole country. Castled towns arose in a hundred central districts. All men with hopes and ambitions wished to range themselves under some local leader. The peasants tilled the land on rental; all trace of the Taihorio laws had vanished. Society tended to disperse to the provinces, or to Kamakura, leaving Kioto half deserted. Feudal Art in Japan 247 Here came in a reaction in architecture. Citadels arose with bases of faced stones and towered superstructures of heavy beams and plaster. Within the large enclosures stood residences for the daimyo families and storehouses for munitions of war. This feudal architecture of the castles is partly based upon the style of circumvallation of Chinese cities, and is not unlike the famous Thibetan Potala of Lhassa. For private law society fell back upon the unwritten rules of the primitive village organisation, with its head-man, and its germ of a town council, and the rough recognition of ordinary human justice. It was this preservation of waning forms that the modern codifiers of 890 seized upon in order to make an important factor of purely native institutions. A profound reaction took place upon Japanese character also. The formal, courtly manner, the deference to rank and precedent, the welcomed yokes of intellectual and of priestly sanction, were suddenly replaced by the bare physical and mental efficiency of a man. He who could think quickly, and plan resourcefully, and act firmly—any such might rise from the ranks to castle power.

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  A Survey of Constitutional Development in China

  • Hawkling L. Yen(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Columbia University Press

    (Publisher)

  (Record of Ceremonies). 4 i ] FEUDALISM 41 lost in the early beginnings of society. Ma Tuan-ling (13th century A. D.), the author of a Chinese political encyclopaedia, in his preface to the chapter on Feudalism said: Nobody knows the origin of feudalism. What is known is that at the meeting of Tusan (in the modern Province of Anhui) called by Yu, numerous nations are said to be present; at the time of Tang's succession to the throne there were 3,000 nations; the Chau dynasty established five classes of vassals which numbered 1,773; and by the time of The Spring and Autumn only 165 were recorded in the Classics. For the sake of conven-ience we may say that feudalism ended in 221 B. C., when the first Emperor of the Chin dynasty divided the country into thirty-six administrative districts. The feudal system at its height is described in the writings of the Confucian school, from which the follow-ing survey is taken. A. Structure. 1. The king. At the head of the feudal hierarchy is the king, who reserves to himself a domain of 1,000 li l by length and breadth to defray his public and private expenses, distributes honors and emoluments, sees that the royal constitution is upheld, and appoints advisers and assistants to carry out his work. 2. Feudal princes. Under and created by the king there are five classes of feudal princes, namely, the duke, the marquis, the earl, the count, and the baron. The feudal principalities of the first two classes are called large states ; those of the third, middle states; and those of the last two, small states. 3. Royal and feudal functionaries. Directly under 1 A modern It is equal to 1894.12 English feet, but an ancient li was less than this.

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  The History of Japan

  • Louis G. Perez(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Greenwood

    (Publisher)

  To guarantee these young men a livelihood, the imperial government granted them tax exemptions. Unfortu- nately, it could not continue this practice for very long without endangering the economic, and therefore political, future of the government itself. Feudal Japan. Courtesy of Jill Freund Thomas. Feudal Japan 23 These semi-independent land holdings, called shōen, became so numerous that by the eleventh century more land was under the control of religious and military leaders than was taxed and controlled by the imperial government. With the tax exemptions came also the rights to exclude government inspec- tion, census, and judicial jurisdiction. Therefore the shōen became, in effect, almost totally private estates. Because the government could no longer raise enough revenue to pay for an imperial national army, the shōen owners began to raise and maintain their own militias made up primarily of former farmers, now called samurai (lit- erally “men who serve”) or bushi (“warriors”). Because the national govern- ment provided almost no other services for the shōen, the shōen owners were forced to create systems of administration. It then made sense to consolidate these small shōen into more efficient larger units. This was accomplished by ceding the land to powerful military and religious leaders. The former shōen owners became managers and stewards on their former lands and retained their rights to collect taxes (all this in exchange for the protection of their new patrons). Before long, the consolidated shōen evolved into semi-independent states. The small militias were similarly consolidated into armies, each with their own local commanders (usually the former owners) but now controlled by even more powerful military leaders. Jealous military men began to vie with each other for the control of land and labor. Not surprisingly, the most important of these families were offshoots of the imperial house itself.

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  Japan

  An Attempt at Interpretation

  • (Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • The Floating Press

    (Publisher)

  Feudal Integration * It was under the later Tokugawa Shogun—during the period immediately preceding the modern regime—that Japanese civilization reached the limit of its development. No further evolution was possible, except through social reconstruction. The conditions of this integration chiefly represented the reinforcement and definition of conditions preexisting,—scarcely anything in the way of fundamental change. More than ever before the old compulsory systems of cooperation were strengthened; more than ever before all details of ceremonial convention were insisted upon with merciless exactitude. In preceding ages there had been more harshness; but at no previous period had there been less liberty. Nevertheless, the results of this increased restriction were not without ethical value: the time was yet far off at which personal liberty could prove a personal advantage; and the paternal coercion of the Tokugawa rule helped to develop and to accentuate much of what is most attractive in the national character. Centuries of warfare had previously allowed small opportunity for the cultivation of the more delicate qualities of that character: the refinements, the ingenuous kindliness, the joy in life that afterward lent so rare a charm to Japanese existence. But during two hundred years of peace, prosperity, and national isolation, the graceful and winning side of this human nature found chance to bloom; and the multiform restraints of law and custom then quickened and curiously shaped the blossoming,—as the gardener's untiring art evolves the flowers of the chrysanthemum into a hundred forms of fantastic beauty .... Though the general social tendency under 235 pressure was toward rigidity, constraint left room, in special directions, for moral and aesthetic cultivation. In order to understand the social condition, it will be necessary to consider the nature of the paternal rule in its legal aspects.

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  The Middle Ages without Feudalism

  Essays in Criticism and Comparison on the Medieval West

  • Susan Reynolds(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  23 Since historians do not agree about the phenomena they want to distinguish, or where to draw the line between them, none of these attempts to distinguish the words has eliminated misunderstandings and confusions. None of the terminological distinctions has shaken the old framework in which the interpersonal relations of vassalage and property rights derived from conditional grants are seen as distinguishing features of the society of the European Middle Ages. The framework bulges but for many it still seems strong enough to hold the essential features of medieval society.

  Most European historians of medieval Europe during the twentieth century concentrated in practice on the history of their own countries, interpreting the evidence of land-holding and political relations within the framework of feudal law and society embodied in something like the Bloch/Weber definition. Some have seen the feudalism of their own area as the most typical or complete, some have stressed its exceptional qualities, but relatively few have been ready to question whether the various phenomena they describe were all part of the same thing – whatever model or type of feudalism they accept or imply. As a result, where evidence of some supposedly feudal phenomenon in their own country is lacking they can either interpolate it from elsewhere or explain its absence as an exception that need not affect the general picture. In England and France historians have used different bits of the Ganshof and Bloch/Weber types to describe, and by implication to explain, quite different situations. Feudalism in England is characterized by a hierarchy of property (though the word tenure, which sounds more feudal, is generally preferred to “property”) and of military service owed from “knights’ fees” – what Bloch called “service tenements.” In England, however, these Blochian characteristics are associated with a strong central power that made noble jurisdiction over peasants relatively unimportant. Feudalism in France, on the other hand, as in Germany, has been seen in terms of fragmented power, with a weak monarchy and a nobility holding “immunities” of jurisdiction over their tenants, while noble obligations to military service have had, in the absence of much evidence, to be assumed.

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  The Sublime Perversion of Capital

  Marxist Theory and the Politics of History in Modern Japan

  • Gavin Walker(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Duke University Press Books

    (Publisher)

  The character of the Meiji Restoration, and indeed the economic and social character of the late Tokugawa Period, would furnish the basic question over which historical inquiry would fight it-self out over the years of the debate on Japanese capitalism. Was the Tokugawa social formation a properly “feudal” order? And was the Meiji Restoration the expected “bourgeois revolution” that would break the feudal power and place Japan on the road to capitalist development in the sequence familiar to the English enclosures and breakdown of the ancien régime? To many historians in the Japanese case, the Meiji Restoration could not easily be considered one in which the older forms of landownership and tenant farm rent ( kosakuryo ¯ ) had fallen away: rather, the Meiji Restoration, in this view, was seen more as “a transition from one form of feudalism to another.” 5 For starters, from 1875 to 1879, the taxation of land accounted for nearly 80.5 percent of government revenues, and this portion only continued to grow in the early Meiji Period, approaching 85.6 percent between 1882 and 1892 (the period of the most in-tense round of accumulation for the new state apparatus), 6 suggesting at a minimum a strong continuity between the two periods in terms of the eco-nomic basis of the state. Further, social studies of the transition, in terms of its e = ects on the peasantry, are relatively united in emphasizing that the land reforms ( Chiso ¯ kaisei ) of the early Meiji state in no way “solved” the agrarian feudal remnant and historical outside 31 question (of overexploitation in the countryside and despotic methods of rent extraction). In the years following the Restoration, particularly between 1869 and 1871, the land reforms of the Meiji government placed formal legal title to the land into the hands of a landless peasantry but supplemented this with a high rate of land taxation after national assessment of land values.

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  The Geography of Power in Medieval Japan

  • Thomas Keirstead(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Princeton University Press

    (Publisher)

  ONE IN GO-SANJO'S ARCHIVE D I S C O V E R I N G T H E S Y S T E M O F T H E E S T A T E S HE DISCOVERY of European historiography in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led Japanese historians to discov- eries about their own past. Reinterpreting Japanese experience in the light of European models, scholars in the late Meiji era located in their own history analogues to Western historical periods and insti- tutions. This quest for resemblances produced a Japanese history de- marcated, along Western lines, into ancient, medieval, and modern eras and distinguished by institutional formations, such as feudalism or, most pertinent for this study, manorialism—concepts of Western provenance. Arraying itself against the assertions of Westernizers (like Fukuzawa Yukichi) who taught that Japan must break with its past in order to modernize, this scholarship seemed to demonstrate startling similarities between Japanese and European history and to promise Japan's future progress along a trail blazed by the West. 1 As Asakawa Kan'ichi, a pioneering student of early Japanese institu- tions, remarked in describing feudal society in Japan, "I am inclined to think that feudal growth (like social progress itself) is not normal; and is, on the whole, a fortunate abnormality that has been the gift of a very few races in the world's history." 2 This early historiography did not merely fulfill the national mission of salvaging Japan's past for the modernizing nation; it also struc- tured that past by proposing the categories and lines of analysis that defined the modern historiographical endeavor. Molded by the con- cerns of contemporary European historical practice, this was an ob- jective, "scientific," and, perhaps most generally, systematic, history. It produced a vision of the past defined by the interplay of legal, polit- ical, and socioeconomic systems; and among its discoveries was the estate system (shoensei).

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  Land, Power, and the Sacred

  The Estate System in Medieval Japan

  • Janet R. Goodwin, Joan R. Piggott(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • University of Hawaii Press

    (Publisher)

  37 CHAPTER 2 Medieval Japan’s Commercial Economy and the Estate System Sakurai Eiji Translated by Ethan Segal S OME READERS MIGHT BE SURPRISED to discover that this chapter links two topics that are not usually associated with each other: economic history—the history of trade, markets, and coinage—and the history of medieval estates. Although we tend to think of economic history (and especially monetary history) as something distinct from the study of landed estates, in fact the fields did not develop in isolation from each other. To the contrary, medieval Japan’s economy grew in large part out of changes to the means and methods of collecting rents ( nengu ) under the estate system. Therefore I hope to demon-strate in the pages that follow why there is meaning in introducing to a non-Japanese audience recent advances in the field of commercial economic history ( ryūtsū keizaishi ), focusing in particular on its rela-tionship to the estate system. 1 Medieval Japan’s State Structure and the Evolution of Currency Recent research breakthroughs in commercial economic history have come from the subfield of the history of currency, so I will start by intro-ducing some of those findings. Starting in the late seventh century, the imperial court produced thirteen different types of bronze coins over a period of approxi-mately three hundred years. 2 These coins were inspired by the types of coins made by Chinese imperial dynasties: they were similar in size, shape, design, and metal content. But when the Japanese government 38 The Big Picture stopped producing new bronze coins in the mid-tenth century, its existing coins quickly lost the trust of those who had been using them. As a result, the circulation of bronze coins ceased in the early eleventh century, and for the next 150 years or so, Japanese did not use metal currency. Instead, late Heian society was an age of commodity money, relying on rice, silk, and linen to facilitate exchange.

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  The Modernizers

  Overseas Students, Foreign Employees, And Meiji Japan

  • Ardath W. Burks(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  a ::. te nr yo b including newly cultivated lands 35,000 (1645-1686) 103,000 (1720-1749) 83,836.134 47 (3) the fief holder could conscript corvee labor within his own fief)9 These three basic features of fief administration stood in contrast to the administration of daimyo territory*, where taxes were collected and corv'e labor conscripted by a deputy+ accprding to the general rates prevailing throughout the exclusive territory of the lord. The honored samurai vigorously exercised rights of adminis-tration, taxation, and jurisdiction until 1868, when the Grand Rule was instituted. Their authority and direct jurisdiction over the peasants in their fiefs is evidenced indirectly by an incident of 1612, in which a civil dispute between farmers under the jurisdiction of two different housemen (Kuze and Okabe) em-proiled the housemen themselves in a conflict. kurairi + d8Tkin, a bailiff. 48 TABLE 3.2 Categories of Land in Fukui Type: 1.Lands occupied by the castle-town, moats of Kitanosho; castles and moats, Fuchu and Ono Number (koku) 3,405.401 Percentage of Domain 0.6 2.Lands allotted to 555,902.239 81.6 fief holders 8 , i.e.hon-ored samurai 3.Granarylandb, i.e. 121,454.130 17.8 daimyo territory TOTAL Source: Kokuji soki a -kyunin b kurairi 680,762.370 100.0 Under the Grand Rule, great changes were made in the ex-isting fief system of the domain. At least one-half of the entire domain was confiscated and converted to the status of a shogunate territory. This was administered by a shogunal deputy resident at Katsuyama in Echizen. As a result of this confiscation, Yoshinori (formerly known as Masachika) was compelled to discharge about 2,000 retainers, especially those who had been newly employed between 1623 and 1674. Among the discharged personnel were 280 honored samurai with their 205 attendants, 602 stipend samurai and footmen, and many other clerks and servants.

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