Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
frommorethan200tookpart.Thisrepresents anaverage ofmorethansixincidents ayear,
so that while they were hardly a feature of most farmers' lives, news of these risings must
have reached everyone's ears, and the thought of them must have been in all minds. One
of their characteristics, as it was of all protest in the Tokugawa period, is that they did not
seek to overthrow the regime or threaten a local lord, but had only limited objectives and
looked for redressment of a specific wrong, such as oppression by certain officials or the
insistence on tax payment in a year of crop failure. A villager seemed to think that it was
worth while taking part in a rising provided that somebody else organized it: his particip-
ation increased the numbers, making the mob more formidable in appearance, and giving
him the opportunity to vent his resentment by smashing down a few doors or burning a
house or two in a castle-town, and possibly getting at a rice-store or breaking open some
barrelsof sake .Therewasaverygoodchancethatthedemandswouldbemet.Thedisturb-
ances themselves seem to have been remarkably bloodless, with the samurai making sure
of getting out of the way, and being strangely unwilling to open fire on the mob from the
castle.
Punishment for the leaders of these risings was, however, often severe. For example, at
one place in north Japan, the crops had failed in 1745 and 1746 and by early 1747 there
was no more rice available. The local authorities refused to permit rice to be brought in
from outside, and 33 villages rose and presented a series of demands, largely concerning
local conditions. These were granted, and in addition the farmers received a considerable
sum of money and an issue of rice. But then the reprisals began. The leaders were arrested,
and confessed under torture. Eventually, five leaders were executed, and some of their re-
latives sent into exile. Seventeen farmers and four group-leaders received heavy fines, but
it is clear that the majority of those who took part in the rising reaped only the benefits.
In folk memory and in plays there is often the suggestion that the leaders of such a rising
went into it with the full knowledge that death might well be the outcome for them, but
they considered that the benefit to the community made their sacrifice worth while. The
high proportion of cases in which the leaders were punished would lend color to this inter-
pretation.
In most of the literature of the time the farmer is depicted as a crude, uncultured
creature, with little in his favor. It must be realized, however, that this was largely written
for townspeople, who fancied themselves as smart and progressive, enjoying themselves
as only they knew how, and despising anything rustic. The samurai thought of the farmers
most often as near-criminals, out to deprive them of their just dues. The farmer clearly did
his best to keep to a minimum the amount of rice and tax that he handed over, and there is
no doubt that surveyors were bribed or deceived whenever possible into not recording new
fields, or that domain administration was sometimes slack enough not to carry out surveys,
so that the percentage of tax actually handed over was less than the full amount due. The
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