The Making of Modern Japan / An Account of the Progress of Japan from Pre-feudal Days to Constitutional Government & the Position of a Great Power, With Chapters on Religion, the Complex Family System, Education, &c.

by John Harington Gubbins

“The great majority of feudal lords,” the writer says, “are generally persons who have been born and nurtured in the seclusion of the women’s apartments: ... who even when they have grown up to man’s estate still exhibit all the traits of childhood. Leading a life of leisure, they succeed to the inheritance of their ancestors.... And in the same category are those who, though designated vassals, are born of good family on the great estates.”

Of the truth of this statement there is abundant evidence. There were, indeed, a few instances of feudal chiefs who had some share of power and influence. But they were exceptions to the general rule, and the authority they exercised was brought to bear rather on the affairs of the State than on the administration of their own territories. Long before the Restoration the government of feudal fiefs had passed out of the hands of the nominal rulers, and their hereditary chief retainers, into those of clansmen of inferior status. These were the real authors of the measure of reform which swept away the feudal system. They were the same men who carried out the Restoration. Throughout all the negotiations for the surrender of their fiefs the feudal nobility counted for nothing, and, as a class, were only dimly conscious, if aware at all, of what was going on before their eyes.

In return for the voluntary surrender of their fiefs the dispossessed daimiōs received pensions amounting to one-tenth of their former revenues, the payment of the small hereditary incomes of the samurai, in their altered status of gentry, being continued for the present by the Government. From this arrangement, however, the samurai of one or two clans who had offered a prolonged resistance to the Imperialist forces were excluded, a distinction which caused much suffering and hardship.

The surrender of the clan territories involved, of course, the rendition of the lands, varying greatly in extent, that were held by the two large sections of the military class already mentioned, the hatamoto and gokénin. Their pensions were regulated on a scale similar to that adopted for the feudal nobility.

The amount of the revenues acquired by the Government in consequence of the surrender of all feudal territories, including the Shōgun’s domains, the administration of which had previously been taken over, is not easy to determine. A very rough estimate is all that is possible. The extent of the latter has already been noticed. Still more remarkable was its wide distribution. Out of the sixty-eight provinces into which Japan at the time of the Restoration was divided no less than forty-seven, by reasons of lands owned therein by the Shōgunate, contributed towards the Tokugawa exchequer. In the Tokugawa law known as “The Hundred Articles” the total assessed yield of the country is given as 28,000,000 koku of rice, the yield of all land, whatever the nature of its produce, being stated in terms of that cereal. Of this, 20,000,000 koku represented the produce of the lands of the feudal nobility and gentry, and the balance the yield of the Shōgun’s estates. This statement was made in the seventeenth century, and it is natural to suppose that by the time the Restoration took place the revenues in question may have increased with the general progress of the nation. In the absence of exact data we shall probably not be far wrong if we estimate the gross revenue which came into the possession of the Government by the abolition of the Shōgunate and the feudal system, of which it formed a part, as not much under 35,000,000 koku of rice, equivalent, at the average price of rice at that time, to about £35,000,000. From this had to be deducted the share of the cultivators, which varied according to the locality. Out of the residue, again, the pensions due to the feudal nobility, and other members of the military class, had to be paid, so that the net balance accruing to the national exchequer in the first years of the new administration could not have been large.

The effects on the various classes of the nation caused by the abolition of feudalism were very different, the benefit derived from it by some contrasting sharply with the hardship inflicted upon others. These effects, however, were for the most part gradual in their operation. They were not realized in their full extent until some years later, when the multifarious details connected with the carrying out of this great undertaking had been laboriously worked out.

With the exception of the fudai daimiōs and the feudal groups of hatamoto and gokénin—which constituted the hereditary personal following of the Tokugawa Shōguns, standing between the higher feudal aristocracy and the bulk of the military class—there is no reason to think that the territorial nobility suffered very greatly by the change, save, at once, in loss of dignity, and, later on, in the compulsory commutation of their pensions. Denied by custom all share in the management of clan affairs, they had little call to object to a measure the true import of which was imperfectly appreciated, or do anything else but silently acquiesce in the decisions of the masterful retainers by whose counsels they and their ancestors were accustomed to be guided. As a matter of State policy the change was as much beyond their control as it was above their powers of comprehension, which rarely strayed outside the orbit of trivial pursuits and pleasures in which they were content to move. Some, indeed, may have welcomed the change as a release from irksome conditions of existence, and as offering a prospect of wider fields of action. The case of the fudai daimiōs, and others in the same category, was different. To them the abolition of the feudal system was a severe blow, for it meant the loss of official emoluments which, under the Shōgunate, they had enjoyed as a special privilege for generations.

To the two classes of artizans and merchants the immediate effect may very naturally have been unwelcome in so far as it entailed disturbance of existing conditions of livelihood, of old-established usages of industry and trade. Under feudalism not only had a close system of clan guilds grown up, but, as in Europe during the Middle Ages, artizans and tradesmen engaged in the same handicraft or business were restricted to separate quarters of a town. The former may also have had reason to regret the liberal patronage of feudal customers, which allowed leisure and scope for the exercise of individual skill, and to view with concern the pressure of open competition in the industrial market. But as the new conditions became stabilized, and the benefits of uniformity of administration became apparent, neither class had any reason to be dissatisfied with the alteration in their circumstances. Certainly not the merchants and tradesmen. The disappearance of the barriers between provinces and between clans was all to their advantage, while the opening up of new channels of commercial activity must have more than compensated for any drawbacks attending the new order of things.

One class—the most important at that time—the samurai, suffered greatly by the change. Accustomed for centuries to high rank in the social order, to a position of superiority over the rest of the people, from whom they were distinguished by privileges and customs of long standing, as well as by a traditional code of chivalry in which they took a legitimate pride, the samurai found themselves suddenly relegated to a status little differing from that of their former inferiors. It is true that the military class, as a whole, had long been in an impoverished condition owing to the embarrassment of clan finances, which had led in several cases to the reduction of feudal establishments, and to the rigid rule which kept the members of this class from engaging in any of the profitable occupations open to the rest of the nation; and that the unrest and discontent which resulted from this state of things may have induced them to regard with favour any change which held out the prospect of a possible amelioration in their circumstances. There is some truth also in the view that the eager enthusiasm of the party of reform, inspired with a belief in the fulfilment of their cherished aspirations, may have found an echo in the minds of the military class and stirred the patriotic impulses so conspicuous in the nation; while, at the same time, the sentiment of feudal loyalty may have dictated implicit obedience to the decision of clan authorities. Making allowance for the influence of considerations of this nature, there can, nevertheless, be little doubt that the sudden change in the fortunes of the military class aroused a bitter feeling, which showed itself later in the outbreak of grave disturbances.

The unpopularity of the measure was increased by the commutation of pensions, which bore very hardly on the military class. In introducing in 1873 a scheme for this purpose the Government was influenced mainly by the pressing needs of the national exchequer. Under this scheme Government bonds bearing 8 per cent interest were issued. Samurai with hereditary incomes of less than 100 koku of rice were enabled to commute their pensions, if they chose to do so, on the basis of six years’ purchase, receiving half of the sum to which they were entitled in cash, and the remainder in bonds; while the basis for those in receipt of annuities was fixed at four and a half years’ purchase, the low rates of purchase in both cases being accounted for by the high rates of interest then prevailing.