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Endogenous Formation and Development of Capitalism in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Yasukazu Takenaka
Yasukazu Takenaka
Affiliation:
Kinki University, Ōsaka
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Extract

Japanese historians have characterized the Tokugawa period (1600–1868) as an “early modern feudal system” (kinsei hòken seido). While there is disagreement on the nature of feudalism in general, and the form of feudalism in the Tokugawa period in particular, I believe that Tokugawa society does include the essential elements of a feudal system so as to justify this label. What is particularly conspicuous is that Japan, like Europe, experienced feudalism before the birth of the modern age. In the case of Japan, as Professor E. O. Reischauer has pointed out, feudalism permitted the development of a goal-oriented ethic, rather than a status-oriented ethic, a strong sense of duty and obligation, and excluded the non warrior class from political power. Professor R. N. Bellah has differentiated the social values of Japan's feudalism from those of European feudalism by stressing the element of “loyalty” in the former and identifying this value as a key to the modernization of Japan. Whatever the special characteristics of feudalism in Japan may be, all analysts agree that the term “feudalism” is appropriate as a description of Tokugawa society.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , March 1969 , pp. 141 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1969

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References

1 Edo may have been the biggest city in the world. At that time the population of London, die largest city in Europe, was only half a million.

2 Ten koku (a koku is a measure of capacity equal to 4.96 bushels) was the amount used at one time by those who refined rice by pounding. We have much evidence to show that denominations were standardized about 1700.

3 Rice from Kaga province (kaga-mai) was adopted as the standardized brand of rice (tatemono-mai) in the second term; in the other two terms tatemono-mai was selected by bidding from one of four storehouses: Echizen, Higo, Chūgougoku, or Hiroshima.

4 The Philadelphia Stock Exchange inaugurated the system of stock clearing in 1870; the New York Stock Exchange did not have a special clearance system until 1892.

5 The “booked rice” market was opened at 8 o'clock every day, that of rice security at 10 o'clock.

6 There are several records to show that many people, including Buddist priests and public servants, to say nothing of rice merchants, dabbled in speculation.

7 In Ōsaka alone 129 kabu-nakama were officially licensed.

8 When Ōsaka arrivals of various types of merchandise in 1730 was compared with those in 1804–30, the latter was greater than the former by 1.5 times in the case of rice, 3.5 times in the case of charcoal, and from 7 to 50 times in the case of cotton.

9 Kuniso was a complaint submitted directly to the Bakufu's representative in Ōsaka by over 1000 villages from many fiefs. It is noteworthy because rarely did villages of different fiefs join together for legal action.

10 Hirschmeier mentions this point. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964)Google Scholar.