The weakness of Shogun Yoshimune’s descendants paved for the rise of corrupt officials like

the chamberlain Tanuma Okitsugu and his son, who sought to solve Japan’s economic problems

by granting monopolistic rights in return for payments and taxing merchant guilds instead of

employing austere policies. Nevertheless, his administrational reforms didn’t come to fruition

due to incessant natural disasters and the perverse corruption of public servants. The endurance

of 1783’s famine spelled the end to Tanuma’s reign and facilitated the rise of Matsudaira

Sadanobu, the enlightened grandson of Yoshimune. Working as the chief official in the Bakufu,

Matsudaira embraced frugality aiming at reducing the expenditures of the Bakufu and curtailing

its officials’ extravagant lifestyles. In addition, he imposed conservatism upon the society by

censoring prurient books and precluding the spread of unorthodox philosophies, leading to

widespread disenchantment that culminated in aggressive resurgence of malfeasance which

precipitated various rebellions and revolts.

As a result, the short-lived Tempo reforms which held resemblance to Matsudaira’s reforms

were enacted yet proved inefficient because the measures, despite aiming to solving the

Bakufu’s economic problems by opposing any change in the market dynamics, precluding the

rise of merchants’ class, and emphasizing an agrarian economy which was incompatible with

soaring expenditures of the ruling class, as evidenced by the sumptuous lives of the samurai, and

the growing life expectations of the commoners, who immigrated en masse to cities to engage in

bankable trades and pursue indulgence. In addition, Daimyos were required to engage in public

works like construction water-control facilities and paving roads, resulting in budgetary deficits

even after overtaxing the peasants. As a consequence, the Daimyo had to borrow exorbitant

amounts of money from the rich merchants, who grew in prestige and power.

Hans attempted to mitigate the economic crisises by instigating various reforms towards

increasing agricultural output, specializing in producing certain commodities, engaging in trade

with other hans ,and obliging the samurai to lend a portion of their stipend to the Han,
impoverishing them and pushing them towords occupations, like umbrella fixing, which were

deemed inferior to their class, and banditry. The peasants were pushed to even more

circumstances being subjected to overtaxation and forced labor. It was evidenced by the

increasing disparity between the poor and the rich who grew richer through land acquisitions,

marketing cash crops, and engaging in industrial activities. As a result, infanticide and abortion

abounded. Moreover, peasants had bore the brunt of incessant droughts which led to massive

loss in life that kept the Japanese population stable over long periods.

As a consequence, peasant outbursts which varied from submitting petitions through the

official channels to brutal riots ensued. Moreover, the deterioration in life standards touched

poor townsmen who rioted against the rich and ignorant city commissioners. Nevertheless, there

were people like Ninomiya Sontoku who led initiatives towards improving irrigation and

augmenting productivity of lands. In addition, they promulgated philosophies among the

peasantry that targeted practical aspects of life in contrast to the mainstream philosophies that

foregrounded theoretical and idealistic moral concepts. Despite the dire circumstances, it was

noted that agricultural output had increased; between early 1600s and mid-1800s, it is estimated

that rice varieties increased from mere 175 to 2000. In addition, the output of cash crops like

cotton had soared substantially. The conditions of many farmers had improved since land taxes,

called nengu, estimations couldn’t keep up, even mostly didn’t change, with the rising

productivity of farms thanks to administrational difficulties hindering surveying lands and the

stable population. Nevertheless, not all farmers were better off since they were exploited as

Corvee labor for constructing castles and water-control facilities that barred them from engaging

in profitable trades. Furthermore, some farmers were obliged to keep large animal population for

the transportation of officials and their retinue. Nevertheless, the aforementioned exceptions

were noticed mostly in few villages, those straddling the main roads used by the officials to

travel to or from the capital Edo; however, this shouldn’t be misconstrued as underestimation of

the misery of farmers who bore indignation to their circumstances and forced them to riot.
 The latter half of the Edo era, in addition to rising riots, had coincided with exposure to

incursions from western countries, most notably Netherland. As a result, various non-Zhu Xi

philosophies and schools had emerged.

Rangaku, the school of Dutch learning, had fully espoused western teachings and

acknowledged the superiority of western sciences, especially in medicine, astronomy, and

cartography. They were the most proponents of opening Japan to the west and detractors of the

Bakufu’s anachronistic policy of seclusion which resulted in official animosity towards them as

many people were apprehensive towards the European advances in Asia.

The school of rational criticism of the Tokugawa society acquired Dutch learning and

emphasized the importance of foreign trade and expansion, especially to northern territories like

Hokkaido. They believed that the government is accountable for people’s misery and had to

reform itself to change Japan to wealthy and powerful nation. They believed in a highly

centralized totalitarian government that can control the economic activities and allocation of

resources.

In contrast to the aforementioned schools sympathetic to the west, the western exposure gave

rise nationalist movements. The scholars of the Mito School were Confucians in essence yet

embraced the shintoist reverence of the Emperor and perception of the Imperial Family’s

uniqueness. In addition, they bore obstinate hatred towards Christianity. On the other hand,

scholars of the national learning fervently promoted Shintoism and tried to reconcile it with

Christianity. In addition, they fanatical in their opposition to Buddhism calling out its ascetic

view to the world in favor of materialistic enlightenment. Nevertheless, they were both

proroyalist and xenophobic towards Europeans who were approaching Japan for establishing

commercial relationships.

The Western powers had a history of encroaching upon the Japanese coasts with the

Russians probing Japanese northern coasts, alarming the Bakufu of the imminent dangers. In
addition to Russia, France and England expressed interest in trading with Japan which

vehemently denied the English and French overtures. Eventually, Japan submitted to the

American intimidation, as Commodore Mathew Perry threatened to bombard Edo itself should

Japan not open for American merchants. The Bakufu councilor signed the agreement with the

American representative Townsend against the Shogun will and without the Emperor’s sanction

as he believed that Japan can’t put up with Europeans. The controversial lead to the

assassination of the councilor which destabilized the Bakufu and the rise of Shishi, young

activist warriors who embraced Sonno Joi” Revere the Emperor and expel the Barbarians”.

Despite their low numbers, they were influential in the ruling circles that opposed opening

the borders, as they employed terrorist tactics like assassinating dissidents. Despite the

Shogunate efforts to align the imperial court with it through marriage, the court was eventually

dominated by Sonno Joi’s proponents and edict expelling foreigners from Japan was issued. The

Western retaliation was very harsh that Hans that espoused Joi started modernizing their military

and acquiring advanced weapons which made them far superior to the Bakufu’s army.

Eventually, Satsuma and Chosho daimyos managed to topple the Bakufu and restore power to

the imperial court. Hence, the modern history of Japan commenced.

Despite having lower GDP per capita compared to that of European countries like England

before industrialization, Japan managed to become the earliest non-western industrialiser thanks

to substantial minor technical innovations, steady rising agricultural yields, lofty levels of

literacy, prevalent experience with mass production among manufacturers, and the plentifulness

of labor despite the indiscernible increase in the Japanese population by 3% only between 1721

and 1846. Although Japan experienced premodern growth similar to that of Western European

countries, its growth diverged from the main trend in Europe.

Concomitant with premodern growth in Europe, urbanization wasn’t perceived in Japan. In

fact, the population of Japanese cities fell or stagnated. It’s staggering that the cities that suffered
the largest losses witnessed the greatest economic growth! This chasm was ascribed to the

economic development in the countryside which incentivized urban citizens to immigrate from

towns. This trend is most commonly observed in castle-towns that served as ports due to the

convenience and speed of the means of transportation there. On the other hand, inland cities

possessed stable population due to the antithesis of the aforementioned reasons. Despite the

successive governments’ industrious efforts to combat deurbanization, their initiatives were

ineffectual due to forceful settlement of samurai warriors near castle-towns which led to absence

of effective law enforcement in countryside. Although the expansion of the market economy

helped widening the scope of castle-towns’ markets, it devastated their economy due to the

brutal competitiveness attributed to lower production costs, less stringent commercial strictures,

reclamation of swaths of underdeveloped lands to agriculture, and the proclivity of ships to

deliver goods to country ports in order to sell at more favorable prices. The urban population of

Europe maintained steady growth due to the surge in trade which reached intercontinental

dimensions encouraging migration to cities, whereas foreign trade was nonexistent in Japan.

For these reasons, country merchants were far wealthier and prosperous than their castle-

town counterparts, having acquired lands and fortunes. As a result, country merchants started

displaying extravagance - through presiding over festivals and constructing opulent residents -

and brandishing swords like the samurai. Meanwhile, the samurai lived in straitened and dire

impoverishment due to the precipitous decline in the government revenues, their sole source of

income. This happened in part due to the decentralization of village administration which was

granted autonomy in reporting the productivity of farms and the expansion of arable areas. As a

result, the government attempted to bail itself by pushing the samurai to deprivation through

stipend and pension cuts, reducing the purchasing power of the samurai, an additional reason for

the decline of castle-towns.

 Another tentative explanation of the success of the Japanese Industrialization is it is ability to

create a reliable and disciplined workforce that made labor-intensive industries like textiles,

which was the dominant Japanese industry until the 1930s, successful despite backwardness,

unlike European countries that depended on capital-intensive industries due to the difficulty of

procuring efficient labor force. Japan’s ability to nurture such workforce is ascribed to the

Tokugawa Era when farmers took on different jobs on part-time bases aside from farming. Since

most of the worker were immigrant, they had to rely on their employer for housing and social

credentials: perks most commonly associated with textile industry. Moreover, there was sheer

willingness to work for very long hours for wages, bestowing upon workers invaluable

experiences in industry.