English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

What role did samurai play in the functioning of civil administration in early modern Japan, and how did they interact with peasants in the areas they were charged with supervising? Did the administrative organizations under the feudal lords (the shogunate and domains) employ a large number of samurai, and what did they contribute to the governing of rural areas? The answers to these questions are important for thinking holistically about the provision of public goods by the feudal lords, as well as for gaining a more concrete understanding of the allocation of human resources. In early modern Japan, the shogunate and domains collected land levy called nengu (annual tributes)1 from commoners, out of which the samurai’s salaries were paid. This system of public finance gave rise to two obligations in the relationship between feudal lords, retainers (samurai), and commoners (Ravina 1999). The first obligation is that, in order to pay retainers’ salaries, feudal lords levied tributes on commoners; the second is ethical in nature: feudal lords were to act with mercy toward commoners. This is the starting point for understanding the civil administration and society of early modern Japan and the relationship between feudal lords and subjects. The topic we expand is the ways samurai and peasants were involved in tribute collection and in the governance of the domain. Collection of the annual tribute was based on a cooperative effort between samurai and the peasants who were delegated to represent their village communities. Let us begin with an examination of who was appointed to the civil administration and what roles they played. Did the samurai play a leading role in the departments of civil administration, which were created to facilitate the domain’s rule of rural areas, or did the representatives of the peasants take the lead? One of the key 3

Samurai and Peasants in the Civil Administration of Early Modern Japan