Three years later the voluntary character of commutation was made compulsory, and extended to all members of the military class irrespective of the amount of income involved. The current rate of interest having by that time fallen, the basis of commutation was increased to ten years’ purchase for all alike, a slight reduction being made in the rate of interest payable on the bonds, which varied according to the amount of the income commuted. Indirectly this commutation resulted in further misfortune for the military class. Unversed in business methods, without experience in trading operations, many samurai were tempted to employ the little capital they had received in unremunerative enterprises, the failure of which brought them to extreme poverty.

CHAPTER IX
Effects of Abolition of Feudalism on Agricultural Class—Changes in Land Tenure—Land-Tax Revision.

The abolition of feudalism came as a boon to the peasantry. If it inflicted much hardship on the samurai, who formed the bulk of the military class, while the verdict as to its results in other cases depended on the conclusion to be reached after balancing the gain and loss attending its operation, to the farmers it was a veritable blessing. Its full significance was, however, not felt until after the lapse of several years.

Under the feudal system the position of the farmer varied to some extent according to locality. In Satsuma, for instance, besides the ordinary farming class, there were samurai farmers. Again, in certain parts of the province of Mito, and elsewhere, there was a special class of yeoman farmers who enjoyed some of the privileges of the samurai. But throughout the country generally the bulk of the agricultural class consisted of peasant farmers, who, while cultivating their land on conditions similar to what is known in Europe as the métayage system, were in many respects little better than serfs. The peasant farmer could not leave his holding, and go elsewhere, as he pleased; nor could he dispose of his interest in it, though by means of mortgages it was possible to evade the law in this respect. To the frequent call for forced labour he was obliged to respond. He was subject to restrictions in regard to the crops to be cultivated, and their rotation, while in the disposal of his produce he was hampered by the interference of clan guilds. The farmer had also to bear the expense and risk of conveying the tax-produce of his land to the receiving stations, besides being obliged to deliver on each occasion an extra amount to cover the loss supposed to occur in its transportation. On the other hand, though under the feudal form of land tenure he was tied to the soil and transferable with it when it changed hands, he was practically free from disturbance in his holding so long as he paid his rent, which took the form of a share of the produce of the land, and other imposts exacted from time to time by feudal bailiffs. Fixity of tenure, therefore, he certainly enjoyed; and, looking at the peculiar nature of his association with the feudal landlord, it seems questionable whether his rights in the land he cultivated may not be regarded as having much of the character of ownership. Holdings, it may be added, descended from father to son, or, failing direct heirs, in the same family, the right of adoption being, of course, recognized.

The interests of the peasantry were affected in many ways by the abolition of the feudal system. The abrupt change in the position of the cultivator caused by the disappearance of his feudal landlord opened up the whole question of land tenure and land taxation, not only as it affected the peasant cultivator, but in its bearing on the occupiers of all agricultural land throughout the country, as well as other land not included in this category. To enable the Government to cope with a task of this magnitude, and at the same time to carry out their declared aims in the direction of uniformity of administration, far-reaching legislation was necessary.

In view of the singular character of the feudal tenure we have described, under which landlord and tenant were associated in a kind of joint ownership, it might have been supposed that advantage would be taken of the opportunity offered by the surrender of fiefs to place the question of land tenure on a clear footing by defining accurately the position of the people, and more especially the cultivators, with regard to the land. This, however, was not done. No Decree affecting the broad issue raised by the abolition of the feudal system was promulgated. It was only by degrees that the intentions of the Government became apparent. Step by step the policy in view was manifested by the removal of the various restrictions which had curtailed the tenants’ rights, until at length it became clear that, while retaining the theory that the ownership of all land was vested as of right in the Crown, the intention was that each occupier of land should become virtually the proprietor of his holding.

One of the first acts of the Government at the end of the civil war had been to place all land as far as possible on a common footing, the earliest step in this direction being taken in the spring of 1869. It was then enacted that all land held in grant from previous governments should be liable to taxation. This measure affected all grantees of land, the yashikis, or feudal residences of the territorial nobility in Yedo, coming under the new rule. The ground covered by these yashikis, some of which were extensive, forming separate parks in the neighbourhood of the castle and in other quarters of the city, had originally, like other grants of land, been handed over in free gift, neither rent nor land-tax being paid.

An essential point in the uniformity of administration contemplated by the new Government was the reform of all taxation, precedence being given to the revision of the land-tax. No hesitation was shown in taking up this task. Finance was the weak point in the administrative situation, as it had been that of the previous Government; and land having since early days been the main source of revenue, it was natural that the question of the land-tax should be the first to receive attention. Before the abolition of feudalism, and while the clans still retained their own provincial administration, it was not possible to take practical steps towards fiscal changes that should apply to all parts of the country. But the movement in favour of the surrender of feudal fiefs had begun almost as soon as the triumph of the Imperialist forces was assured, and by the time the feudal system was abolished by the Decree of August, 1871, the subject had been examined by the new Government in all its bearings, and the shape which the revision of the land-tax should take had been determined. It was, therefore, possible for a complete scheme of revision to be brought forward by the Finance Department before the end of the same year, that is to say, within four months after the disappearance of the clans.

Before dwelling on the main features of this proposal, for which Marquis Ōkuma and Marquis Inouyé, then Minister and Vice-Minister of Finance respectively, and Baron Kanda, an authority on all questions of administration, were mainly responsible, it may be well to glance for a moment at the previous system of land taxation in order that a clear idea of the changes introduced may be formed.

Put shortly, the position of holders of land in regard to taxation in the last days of Tokugawa rule was this. Only land under cultivation was taxed. The land-tax was payable everywhere in rice, whatever the crop cultivated might be, and was based on the assessed yield of the land. But the methods of estimating this yield varied greatly. In one place this would be done by taking the measurement of the land bearing the crop; in another the appearance and condition of the crop would be the decisive factors; while in a third there would be “assessment by sample,” as it was called, specimens of the growing crop being selected for the purpose. The land measures, too, were not everywhere the same. Moreover, the principle which governed the distribution of the produce of the land between the cultivator and the landlord—the latter’s share being, in effect, the former’s land-tax—varied in different provinces, and in different districts of the same province. In some places seven-tenths of the yield of land went to the landlord, and three-tenths to the cultivator; in others these proportions were reversed; there were districts, such as the Shōgun’s domains, where the cultivator received three-fifths, and other, again, where the proportions were equal. There was a general resemblance, dating back to the time of the Great Reform, between the taxation systems in force throughout the country. The old classification, under which there were three main heads of taxation, the land-tax, the industrial-tax and forced labour—all payable by the cultivator—was retained everywhere in a modified form. But each clan went its own way in other respects, having its own methods of assessment and collection, as well as its own rules of exemption from, and remission of, taxation. Except in the Shōgun’s domains, where matters, generally, were regulated on a somewhat better basis than elsewhere, there was no very definite distinction between central and local taxation; and, whether it was a clan or the Shōgunate itself to which taxes were due, there was a constant liability to irregular exactions imposed at the pleasure of the authorities.