A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (45 page)

However, such generosity did not help government finances, which had been unhealthy from long before the Restoration. A number of financial reforms were carried out in the first few years of the regime. A modern mint was set up, along with a modern banking system, and a standardised decimal currency was established based on the yen. These reforms were overseen by key figures such as Okuma Shigenobu (1838–1922, from Hizen), who was minister of finance, and It
Hirobumi, who had been sent to the United States to study currency systems and served as Okuma’s assistant.

A particularly important financial reform was the introduction of a fixed land tax in July 1873, based on a percentage of the assessed value of a given plot of land. This replaced the former feudal system of variable tax linked to the harvest. Ownership of a given plot of land was now deemed to lie with the person (usually head of family) who had traditionally paid the tax on the harvest from it. This reform helped provide greater incentive to increase productivity. However, it had the less desirable effect of increasing the rate of tenancy up to as high as 40 per cent, since poorer farmers in bad years were forced to mortgage their land in order to pay the tax.
¹⁰

Another major reform implemented by the new government to pave the way for modernisation was the abolition of the restrictive class system. This was very definitely not a reflection of Nara period influence. In keeping with the promises of the 1868 Charter Oath the restrictions on class occupations were removed in 1869. The classes were restructured from
shi-n
-k
-sh
into
kazoku
(nobles, including
daimy
),
shizoku
(samurai), and
heimin
(commoners), with the imperial family constituting an additional separate ‘class’,
k
zoku
. In 1870 commoners were officially allowed surnames. In 1871 the
eta
and
hinin
outcasts were in theory dis-established as specific sub-classes and given full equality with commoners, though in practice discrimination remained strong. Also in the cause of equality, universal education was proclaimed as an aim in 1872, though it was to be some years before it became a reality.

Probably the biggest blow to the old class system was the phased elimination of the samurai class. In practice, the upheaval of the Restoration meant most samurai were left with no real occupation, even of a bureaucratic nature. They were increasingly expected to fend for themselves by finding some new form of employment. Some did continue to work as administrators, this time for the government, and some did succeed as businessmen, or became policemen or farmers, but many relied on gradually decreasing stipends. However, in 1873 – the same year it introduced conscription, so that men of all walks of life were now officially potential military men – the government offered the option of a final lump sum payment of government bonds in lieu of stipends. This became compulsory in 1876. That same year of 1876
shizoku
/samurai who had not already chosen to do so were finally banned from wearing swords.

These various reforms were substantial, and although they signalled a reassuring confidence and authority on the part of the new government, they were not always well received. Many peasants were strongly opposed to conscription – known as the ‘blood tax’ – and the new land tax. On more than a few occasions they expressed their feelings in violent demonstrations.

The most serious expression of dissatisfaction, however, came from former samurai, not peasants. Its culmination was the Satsuma or Seinan (Southwest) Rebellion of 1877. Ironically, at the centre of the rebellion was one of the new government’s most prominent figures, Saig
Takamori.

Saig
had suffered a political setback in October 1873. While many senior government figures such as O kubo, Kido, It
, and Iwakura were overseas on the Iwakura Mission of 1871–73,
¹¹
Saig
had proposed an invasion of Korea. For form’s sake this was meant to be a punitive invasion, since Korea was felt by some to have insulted Japan by not directly opening relations with its new government, However, despite his involvement in the new regime Saig
was a staunch old-fashioned samurai, and it is also possible to interpret his proposal as a means of providing a sense of purpose and worth for the former samurai.
¹²
As it happened, following the Iwakura Mission’s return in September 1873 the plan was overturned by the Grand Council.
¹³