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Originally published in 1980.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780691643281 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
| Publication date: | 04/19/2016 |
| Series: | Princeton Legacy Library , #694 |
| Pages: | 476 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.00(w) x 10.10(h) x 1.20(d) |
Read an Excerpt
Tokutomi Soho, 1863-1957
A Journalist for Modern Japan
By John D. Pierson
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 1980 Princeton University PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-04674-7
CHAPTER 1
The Son of Kumamoto Goshi
* * *
The Tokutomi were a family with a complex character that cannot be placed neatly in any of the usual categories of social stratification for feudal Japan. Most Japanese historians would categorize them as gono, "wealthy peasants" (or, in the view of some Marxist scholars, nascent bourgeoisie). This is accurate in part. During the Tokugawa era (1600-1868), the Tokutomi prospered as farmers who cultivated their own lands and as landlords with tenants, and they were also active in local commerce and industry. But the Tokutomi were more than just prosperous peasants. They also had the status of zaichu-gokenin, or goshi (country samurai), and as such they were members of a small stratum of rural elites. They had many of the social privileges of the samurai, and they had the right to service in local government. Soho once described the "composite" character of his family in these terms:
"The former family system can hardly be comprehended by the people of today. It was not simple as it is today. Regardless of social position, of course, there were somewhat simple families and there were extremely complex families. As for our family, it was perhaps one of the most complex. If it were clearly samurai, merchant, or farmer, then it would be easy to understand. However, our family was neither samurai, nor farmer, nor merchant. It was a cross-blend of all these. ... We were goshi and officials, and as possessors of land [worked by tenants] we were landlords on the one hand and cultivating farmers on the other. And, judging from the fact that our family made malt by steaming the rice we received, prepared the tobacco we produced, and sold the berries from our wax trees to wax brokers, etc., we were also commercial. In all, in one family there were merchants, and there were farmers. And on the side we raised silkworms and did weaving. Moreover, as a public-spirited man [yushisha] my father traveled widely on orders from the han, and when at home he trained groups of young people."
With the status of goshi and with their wealth, which they used to educate the family and advance their political and social standing with the goshi system, the Tokutomi were an important family in their local community. In his autobiography Soho said they ranked third in status and first in influence in his home village. Their importance, however, was narrowly and conspicuously limited to the immediate area in which they lived and served. They owed to higher officials, and indeed to all members of the samurai class, the same obligations of deference and absolute obedience as the common farmer and merchant. They were also bound by the same restrictions on their mobility as the common farmer and merchant. They could move with some degree of freedom within the specific context of their assigned place and status, but never out of them.
This situation frustrated the Tokutomi, who by the latter part of the Tokugawa period had reached the upper limits of social mobility under the feudal system and yet found themselves more prosperous and better educated than many of the regular samurai they served. When the reforms of the Meiji Restoration finally brought the opportunity for further advancement, the Tokutomi were well prepared, and eager to seize it. Their education and experience in local government gave them the ambition and drive, and their wealth gave them the economic security to leave their home village and seek a new role for themselves in the new society.
The Tokutomi Family in Higo
On the southwest coast of Kyushu, just north of the border dividing Kumamoto and Kagoshima Prefectures, which were formerly the fiefs of Higo and Satsuma, lies the city of Minamata. Today the city is notorious for "Minamata-byo," the mercury poisoning contracted from polluted waters that has horribly killed and disabled scores of local residents, and has made the city a national symbol of post-war Japan's ruthless disregard of the environment in its quest for economic progress. Surrounded by rugged mountains and isolated until the modern age from any major urban center and from the capital of Kumamoto city by distances of one- to three-days' walk, Minamata was largely unknown outside southern Kyushu. In feudal times the community (then a village, later a town, and not a city until 1959) served as an administrative center for the surrounding district of Ashikita-gun and as a minor center of trade and communications for Amakusa and other nearby island communities. It was also an outpost of defense for the Higo domain against attack from Satsuma to the south. But Minamata was mainly a fishing and farming community. Before the Chisso chemical plant polluted the waters with its poisonous wastes, the offshore seas provided a plentiful supply of fish, seaweed, and shellfish essential to the Japanese diet. The surrounding farm lands, laboriously reclaimed from the mountains and the ocean, washed annually by warm plentiful rains in early summer and dried by long days of hot sun until well into autumn, were carefully cultivated by people who loved the soil and knew how to work it; and it produced adequate and at times abundant crops of such staples as rice, beans, and millet. Forested hills provided ready and ample resources of timber for shelter and tools, and, when planted, these lands yielded some of the best fruits, vegetables, and tea in the region. Life was simple and the patterns of livelihood, at least before modern times, changed little from generation to generation. Were it not for the irregular, but unfortunately not infrequent, calamities of nature and the heavy demands of the tax collector, the people of Minamata might have had a comfortable and secure existence. As it was, there were many who lived in or near poverty; most had an economically marginal existence. Only a few enjoyed either comfort or security. Among these fortunates were the Tokutomi family, who lived in Minamata for eight generations, until the early years of the Meiji era (1868-1912).
When the Tokutomi family settled in Minamata and where they came from is not known. Family records indicate that they lived in the area from about the late sengoku period (late sixteenth century), possibly earlier. They were primarily farmers by occupation. But they also served, it is recorded, the Sagara daimyo (lord) in the castle town of Hitoyoshi until Ashikita-gun was incorporated into the Higo domain at the beginning of the Tokugawa era; it is likely that this service included some military experience.
The first member of the family for whom there is any reliable information is Tokutomi Tadasuke (Mataemon). According to family records, Tadasuke was called from Minamata in 1638 by the Higo daimyo, Hosokawa Tadatoshi, to serve in the forces assigned to put down the Shimabara rebellion. Tadasuke was the leader of a company of musketeers in the Higo army, and he served with some distinction. He is credited with having been responsible for clearing the beach at the Arima castle of firearms and then leading the first unit to penetrate the castle's inner citadel. For his services in the campaign Tadasuke, along with others from Ashikita-gun who had fought successfully against the rebels, was granted the status of goshi, or country samurai, by the Hosokawa daimyo in 1639. Tadasuke's rank was Korizutsu-kogashira. With the acquisition of goshi status, the Tokutomi became members of a small stratum of political and social elites in Higo.
The goshi system had been established by Hosokawa Tadatoshi in 1632 as a means of protecting and controlling the countryside. The goshi were designed to function first as a militia to preserve peace in their home areas and then to serve as the first line of defense for the domain in the event of war. In times of peace they handled the civil administration of their home areas, serving as officials of local government or, when not holding any specific post, as an auxiliary constabulary. With most of the regular samurai retainers of the Hosokawa daimyo confined to the castle town of Kumamoto, the goshi were the most powerful and influential group in rural Higo. They were the only officials or representatives of authority with whom most commoners in the countryside ever had any contact. The goshi were a small group, about the same size as the Hosokawa kashindan (corps of retainers; vassal band), which in 1643 numbered 863 regular samurai. Their status above the common farmer and merchant was marked by the privileges of having surnames, having the right to wear swords, and by being given, in many instances, a small stipend of from five to ten koku a year.
The rank of Korizutsu-kogashira received by Tadasuke, and inherited by his descendants, was not a particularly high grade; it was at about the middle of all goshi ranks. The basic rank was Korizutsu, which in Ashikita-gun was given only for meritorious service in the Shimabara campaign. It carried the specific privileges of possessing firearms and of wearing two swords in time of war and one sword in time of peace. There was no stipend with this rank. There was, however, an initial land grant valued at five koku. The duties of the Korizutsu were minor: keeping peace in the district and maintaining public works. More than anything else, the Korizutsu served as symbols of authority. The suffix of kogashira in Tadasuke's title brought the Tokutomi family an added measure of influence and prestige, for it indicates that he was the leader of a unit, or perhaps several units, of Korizutsu, of which there were probably less than forty in the district. There were few in Ashikita-gun who held higher ranks or positions. The position of kogashira also brought the Tokutomi family an annual stipend of ten koku.
Other than knowledge of Tadasuke's service in the Shimabara campaign and of his subsequent appointment to goshi status, nothing of substance is known about his life. Even the dates of his birth and death are uncertain. Nor is anything of significance known about the two subsequent heads of the family except their names, Kazuyasu and Kazusada, and that each inherited the rank of Korizutsu-kogashira. All that is known about the fourth-generation family head, Kazunobu, is that he committed seppuku (harakiri) in 1756 as a way of taking personal responsibility for a murder committed by two family servants. As suggested by this act, warrior values remained strong in the Tokutomi family, as they no doubt did in most goshi families, even more than a century after the last military campaign.
While goshi status brought social prestige and a measure of economic security to the Tokutomi family, it did little to change the basic pattern of their lives during the first half of the Tokugawa era. They continued to live mainly by their own efforts in farming, as they had done for generations. In the mid-eighteenth century, however, this pattern changed considerably. Through the efforts and accomplishments of Kazunobu's son, Hisasada (Tadashichi), the Tokutomi became economically prosperous, politically active and important, and socially influential. The economic activities of the family were extended to local commerce and industry, and the working of the family lands was turned over to tenants. The family moved up the scale of goshi ranks, which brought not only greater prestige but also the privilege of entering local government as administrators.
Hisasada (1739-1819) was only seventeen years old when his father committed seppuku and he inherited the family headship. A highly ambitious and exceptionally talented young man, he was determined to raise the standing of his family in the community. One of his first concerns as family head was to acquire an education. Since there were no schools or even teachers in the district, he persuaded a visiting priest from the Daitokuji in Kyoto to stay on in Minamata as his tutor. In addition to study, Hisasada devoted the rest of his youth to the goal of increasing the economic worth of the family. By the age of thirty-one he had managed to amass considerable wealth through a brief venture in marine transport and in sake brewing. He ultimately founded three separate breweries and acquired extensive holdings in land, most of which was leased to others in the district.
Education and wealth were not, however, Hisasada's ultimate goals. Rather, these were the means for upward mobility. In 1770 he used part of his fortune to acquire, by contributing to the daimyo's treasury, the rank of Ichiryo-ippiki, one of the highest goshi grades. This brought him the privileges of owning a horse, a suit of armor, and of wearing two swords at all times. While there was no regular stipend with this rank, a special rice allotment of five koku per year was usually given for family maintenance. But, most importantly, this new rank brought Hisasada the opportunity for regular service at the higher levels of rural administration. This opportunity he was quick to seize, and for the next twenty-nine years Hisasada was continually engaged at some administrative position. His first assignment was that of Yokome for Ashikita-gun, a post he held for fourteen years. In 1784 he was transferred to the nearby district of Tsunagi and given administrative control over four villages at the combined posts of Tenaga, Sojoya, and Daikan. After serving at Tsunagi for another fourteen years, he was then transferred to Seiin in Yamamoto-gun, where as Sojoya he administered the sixty-three villages in that district. He finally retired from official service in 1799 at the age of sixty. During his long years of public service Hisasada gained a reputation as a very able and highly conscientious administrator who worked hard to improve the welfare of the people under his jurisdiction. In recognition of his dedication and accomplishments, the Higo daimyo gave Hisasada at his retirement permanent title to the rank of Ichiryo-ippiki, which when acquired by purchase was normally held only while in service and for only one generation.
After returning to Minamata from Seiin, Hisasada, still healthy and active, continued to manage the affairs of the family for almost another decade. In 1808, at the age of sixty-nine, he finally turned over the duties of the family headship to his eldest son, not with the intention of retiring from an active life but rather with the aim of giving his remaining years to one final project of community service. That year he founded the first formal school in the district, the Minamata Shodo. The school was completely financed by the Tokutomi family fortune and was personally managed by Hisasada until his death at the age of eighty in 1819. It was open to sons of local goshi families, who were trained in both academics (bun) and the martial arts (bu) by instructors hired from the fief academy in Kumamoto. While the Minamata Shodo remained in operation only six years beyond the death of Hisasada, until 1825, the institution had a significant impact on Minamata culture; many who studied at the Minamata Shodo later became teachers at the terakoya, or commoner schools, that opened in the district during the last decades of the Tokugawa era. Because of Hisasada's concern and efforts, the people of Minamata were no longer almost completely isolated, as they had been previously, from intellectual and cultural developments in other parts of the domain.
Subsequent generations of the Tokutomi family benefited greatly from Hisasada's achievements. The Tokutomis ranked second only to the Fukami family, who served as Sojoya in Minamata, and the Tokutomi name was known and respected throughout Ashikita-gun. The economic well-being of Hisasada's descendants for several generations was insured by his wealth, which he divided among all his sons a few years before his death. Each was given land and one of the family breweries. Each received the higher rank of Ichiryo-ippiki. And each, like his father, also spent the greater portion of his adult life in official service.
Soho's ancestry goes back to Hisasada's second son, Sadanobu (Mujuro), who established an independent branch family with the inheritance he received. All that is recorded in the family history about Sadanobu are his dates, 1771-1811; that he took over the offices Tenaga, Sojoya, and Daikan at Tsunagi when his father was transferred to Seiin; and that he held these posts until his death thirteen years later. The lack of detailed information about Sadanobu's life and character is undoubtedly due to his early death, at the age of forty, and the fact that he died before his active father.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Tokutomi Soho, 1863-1957 by John D. Pierson. Copyright © 1980 Princeton University Press. Excerpted by permission of PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS.
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Table of Contents
- FrontMatter, pg. i
- Contents, pg. vii
- List of Illustrations, pg. ix
- Introduction, pg. 3
- CHAPTER I The Son of Kumamoto Gōshi, pg. 14
- CHAPTER II Training in Western Studies and Christianity, pg. 40
- CHAPTER III Study and Teaching in Kumamoto, pg. 79
- CHAPTER IV Heiminshugi for Modern Japan, pg. 125
- CHAPTER V The People’s Friend, pg. 152
- CHAPTER VI New Goals and New Principles for Modern Japan, pg. 199
- CHAPTER VII Friend of the Oligarchs, pg. 248
- CHAPTER VIII Prominence Regained, pg. 305
- CHAPTER IX Autumnal Reflections, pg. 381
- Notes, pg. 399
- Bibliography, pg. 435
- Index, pg. 447