Kobe University Repository : Kernel タイトル THE ECONOMIC PLIGHT OF THE FIFTH TOKUGAWA SHOGUN Title 著者 Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice M. Author(s) 掲載誌・巻号・ページ Kobe University Economic Review,44:37-54 Citation 刊行日 1998 Issue date 資源タイプ Departmental Bulletin Paper / 紀要論文 Resource Type 版区分 publisher Resource Version 権利 Rights DOI JaLCDOI 10.24546/81000916 URL http://www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/handle_kernel/81000916 PDF issue: 2021-10-08 . Kobe Jnl.1'lpr.'~it...IEconomic Review 44 37 THE .ECONOMIC PLIGHT OF THE FIFTH TOKUGAWA SHOGUN This article discusses the economic conditions at of .the fifth Tsunayoshi in 1680. It is that Tsunayoshi was the first ruler who a government without subs tan· financial reserves, but at the same time had to take for . a wide range of obligations his had contracted. I. Introduction traditionally been re~ His most criticized pol- infamous .. Laws of Compassion" (shorui awaremi no rei which earned him the nickname of . Shogun. Even though these dealt with much more than contained' un- policies 1 such as the of of seven prevent infanticide. they. nU.!ea'lile as the of a The Genroku period (1688-1704), which .spanned the central part the fifth shogun's governrnent, was one of the most in prior to the post-Wodd War boom in the second half' of the Sh6wa era. As a result the term Showa-Genroku has been coined. of the prosperity of the period, the finan- government, just as . the of roundly as bankrupt lu~ury-Ioving and spendthrift tyrant. Such. still made. even though plenty of evidence. that, unlike .Tsunayoshi inherited a government with empty coffers. Moreover, the financial kept the bakufu have almost totally the of the 1 The author wishes to thank Dr and Professor for the and valuable comments. 2 For details see B.M. Bodart-Bailey, "The Laws of \.,;ompa,SfilOll," Monumenta Nipponica, 40:2, Summer 1985, pp. 163-189. 38 BEATRICE M: BODART-BAILEY Tsunayoshi cannot be ,documented., While records outside the bakufu have made it to reconstruct to some extent the government's financial situation from the ,....,,.,.1"1"'1'; "'..,'....... '·'n Yoshimune onwards~ this has been in the lier period. During the last decade, however, fragmentary material on the expenditure of the fifth shogun come to light. Yet this interpreted with the a priori that it must thrift habits. When the first Tokugawa shogun the bakufu Keicho 5 (1600), had various sources revenue at his disposaL most lucrative were the revenue the lands had his political the output of gold and mines, as weH as alluvial precious and the profit from trade. When revenue from the latter two the four were to on' had accumulated. With rich sources of revenue the of the central ernlTIent were initially well and no financial contribution to the of administration of the country was sought from the daimyo or hatamoto when the of the bakufu were established. The early shogunate, moreover, had the financial resources to its hegemony over the country by providing for up- keep ,. national institutions, J! such the imperial and the Kyoto aristocracy. important shrines, like those at· and Atsuta, as well as many Buddhist temples. At the course, this had political significance. as their support and were considered for the continued and prosperity of the country. To expenses were added after Ieyasu's death not only the construction the shrine at Nikko, but an additional (Toshogu ..mrS) in various parts of the country. Another way the shogunate came to publicly demonstrate the scope of its powers and riches was to the lrn ..... o,...., or the mausoleum Nikko. The fifth shogun Tsunayoshi came to inherit but not the resources had pay them. paper bad reputation of the fifth ......." .... r""' .... quate consideration. THE ECONOMIC PLIGHT OF THE FIFTH TOKUGAWA SHOGUN 39 n.. The First Shogun leyasu the bakufu by erable wealth. the of his uv~<vu,,,c;u enE::mlles, the so-called tenryo ~ffj or chokkatsuryo under the control of the bakufu. the battle (1615) reached approximately 2,300,000 koku/' Y\V"'"""Hr>lY'1 ...... with a A further source of wealth was his direct In both dornestic and 4 But the g'n~avest source of wealth was undoubtedly the country's and mines. Indeed, some maintain that the bakuhan could not have been established without < the wealth derived from the < mines in first half of the century.s ""Y""JCJ.LU,<lO IS sources as as < the cen- tury, but it was only in the middle the sixteenth century that tech- < niques came to be known that permitted adequate exploitation of Japan's mineral resources.6 From the late Ashikaga onwards it '"''''' ....' ......... '''' apparent that of mines was an In determining political C'1l1'... or1l'YY'11"..r Tensho 17 (1589), one after the minting of his gold coin, the Tensho :RI£**'L began to confiscate the coun~ mines and declare them tenka no yama :.R""fO)W, .. (or government's) mountains." This was backed by the that the central government taking on the responsibility the system the bullion to strike the CQllIlag-e. On establishing his political superiority over the Toyotomi regIme, Ieyasu sirnilarly of the country's Moreover, was In in Okubo (1545-1613) a skilful administrator who t by introducing Western methods and new management techniques, considerably 3 Kokushi daijiten henshu iinkai Kokushi daijiten m5f:~1A, Tokyo, 1979. 9:1043; Mizuo *!Jf!l~. Edo baku/u zaisei shiron rlp.f&Iti&.5f:iiB, 1996, p. 28. 4 Tokutomi lichiro fiam-~, Kinsel nihon kokuminshi iEft!t B -r·"""',.· ...L..- 1936, 13:190-192; Kurita Edo shi 1976, 1:234. 5. Keiji WO;a:=., Sakohu to kaikoku OOm), Tokyo, 1993, p. 20. 6 Kokushi daijiten t 5:354-5. 7 Junnosuke and Watanabe Norifumi fti~*.zIlb .. vtma1j)(, "Sho sangyo no gijutsu to rod6 keitai mm~O)U:&C:11(1:w3~" in lwanami kfJza Nihon rekishi, ~!~IH3*Hl~. 11:212; 13:177. productive gold and of and equally rich and Izu came under and superViSIon """.tv'.AV 6 (1601). cient management the of 6,000 kan of during and at 10,000 han ih .LI.. C.lvH.V at the 181,800 ry8 In given an obligatory tour Buddha of 8 13:177~181; Kurita, Edo jidai 9 Kurita, Edo jidai ski, 1:150-152; :m::frJlJ~IJSJllX, Sado kinginzan ski no kenkyfl 1tii1l~ihij!if:O)iJf9¥:, Tokyo, 1991; p. 62. One kan is 3.75 10 See B.M. trans. and Tokugawa ,Culture Observed. 1999, pp. 378-384. 424-428. 11 Michael Cooper, Rodrigues the Interpreter. New York; 12 Michael trans, and ed., This Island of Japan, 13 For some of the difficulties encountered in ..... ",,'<>.,uuu,u.o "''''''\.,UCLJ''6'' " The and Uses of and Silver in S12ctetmU'l- ua.l-,eHl, " Economic History 2"" ser., 18, no. 14 Mich'ael trans and ed., They Came p. 10. The tael is usually considered G4U.,Q.H:;H. grams. at the time measurements f ... .c.r,,,,,.,+l .. 'rHE ECONOMIC PLIGHT OF FIFTH TOKUGAWA SHOGUN 41 U.UJ,'lvO when he died in Genna 2 (1616). Adding up ,'VOl,.UJl~'a,IVv ' that it to nearly two' million valuable Tv·c,ne>. r-,.r.,"'lrl", 15 But this was bullion stored by Initially his successor Hidetada intended to divide the bullion "'-LJ.,IVL"':;;; Mito domain, and initial claim that v..::,.'.<J.J.J. ..... "",.;;> that reserves at most CO]t1S1SLeU of some four million ryo, that total anlount amoun~ed to' minion. III But there no reason why the did no.t an even fraction of the wealth m. The Third Shogun Iemitsu Scholars '-'!J~,"U,'iA<"'V that on his death in Kanel 9 (1632) Hidetada left some and a half million ryo to ,his successor. The third shogun Iemitsu funds, because he distributed a hundred thousand .ryo as from his fa- thousand people. ranged from two thousand and ten ,thousand pieces of silver to T6fukumon-in, 1/"1" ..... 1''''' .... who ,married the down "rA'''''''''' of Iemitsu's rule, though there are no of govern- available, Iemitsu's, extraordinarily lavish spending The most f arnousof his 1:0~3nC)gu at Nikko, where the body of In In 3 (1617), to turn it still admired 18 What 15 , Nihon no rekishi B:;$:,co!Mse, vol. 13, Edo haifa , 173-176. Kurita Mototsugu's calculatio,ns amount to 1,930.,0.0.0- tn.l.lrn,a.' Edo fideii ski, 1:226). (A History Japan~ Stanford 1963, gives 1,950.,000 but does not state source" 16 Kurita, Edo fidai shi, 1:226; pp. 176-177. 17 pp. 176-177; Kurita, Edo 1:230.. 18 Nikko shishi hensan iinkai Nikko shishi (3 1979-1986, 2:223, 342-345. 42 BEATRICE M. AJ"-".lJ.n...... " attention that the bakufu also constructed some thirteen !es:ser Toshogu shrines throughout the country.19 Among the moreelabo- rate' of these was the no maru (Second Enceinte), construction which began in Kanei 13 (1636). From 'Kanei 17 (1640) Iemitsu also began enlarging the original Toshogu at Kunosan Rff~ili in Suruga.Finally in 3 (1650), one year before his death, Iemitsu construction of a at Kaneiji *jXwJl7l<:~ Ueno.:!!) 110reover, in his he that he himself be buried at Nikko, thus committing the bakufu to further build- lng 21 The cost of at Nikko Iemitsu amounted to over 570,000 ryo the time. 22 This was of course only the initial outlay of what was to prove a constant drain on the nances of all future governments. finely buildings with their extensive use of and painted inside and out re- quired constant maintenance and frequently major repairs.