Oxford University Japanese History and Feudalism Essay

This assignment is addressing to separate prompts. The first is asking you to agree or disagree in whole or in part with whether Japan was Feudal in the time periods from 850-1250, 1250-1650, and 1650-1800. The second asks you to Choose a social problem or vice identified by the author of Lust, Commerce, and Corruption. How does he see this particular issue play out among the different classes of Tokugawa society? What does he see as the cause(s)? How do his attitudes towards the various social classes influence his interpretation of the problem/vice? Use evidence and quotes from the text to support your answer. I have uploaded the assignment sheet to this document.

Midterm Exam
Essay Questions (each worth 50% of the exam):
1)
Agree or disagree with the following statement, in whole or part: Japan was
“feudal” in 850, 1250, and 1650.
2)
Choose a social problem or vice identified by the author of Lust, Commerce, and
Corruption. How does he see this particular issue play out among the different
classes of Tokugawa society? What does he see as the cause(s)? How do his
attitudes towards the various social classes influence his interpretation of the
problem/vice? Use evidence and quotes from the text to support your answer.
Essay Instructions:
The midterm will be worth 15% of your final grade. Students must take the midterm to
pass the course.
Each essay is required. Please deposit your work on each question, individually saved
under your surname, in MS Word format, in the designated dropboxes (labeled “Midterm
Question 1” and “Midterm Question 2”) on Canvas by 4:15 p.m. on Fri., Oct. 18. Failure
to follow submission instructions will be penalized. We will NOT have class on Weds.,
Oct. 16. The dropboxes will continue to accept midterms until 4:15 p.m. on Weds., Oct.
23. Your exam will not be considered complete until answers to both questions have been
submitted. Each day late (counted from 4:16 p.m.) will incur a penalty of a full letter
grade. The exam is not timed—you may work on it for the full 48 hours if you wish.
Students who require a make-up midterm must be able to furnish documentation of
unexpected incapacity for the duration of the exam.
Your essays should each be no less than two full pages and no more than three full pages,
double-spaced with standard margins, and a heading consisting of nothing more than
your name and a title. Where applicable, they should demonstrate mastery of the readings
as well as lecture material and terminology. You may use any recognizable citation style
with which you are comfortable (bibliography does not count towards page limit). Do not
cite lecture material. Your essays should be carefully proofread.
You are welcome to consult your notes and the course material on Canvas. No outside
research is expected or encouraged (though you are permitted to use other sources if you
choose). Your submission should represent your own work only.
The professor will be able to answer administrative questions only for the duration of the
exam. Good luck!
Copyright © 2014. Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
prefaCe
The core of this volume is a translation of a late Edo account of the ills
of the day titled Seji kenbunroku (Matters of the World: An Account of What
I Have Seen and Heard; 1816). It was quite by coincidence that a pocket
edition of this work caught my attention in a Tokyo bookshop. I knew
the text, by an unknown author presumably of samurai background, as
a favored source of juicy quotes, with passages from it brightening up
many books and articles on Edo-period history, and was immediately
attracted by the notion of a social critique written by a samurai who
thought it best to stay anonymous. It had to be worth its 860 yen.
Back at my university in Oslo, I decided to use Seji kenbunroku for an
MA course on Japanese history. I expected that the book’s close examination of all levels of the status order that defined Edo society would
make it a superb introduction to that period, and that its obvious biases
would provide many openings for further discussion. This proved correct, but as I got to know the book better, I found other unexpected qualities. It wasn’t only an informative historical source; it was in fact a very
good read.
The author, who calls himself Buyō Inshi, is at times tiresome in his
hammering at what he sees as the decline in people’s customs and moral
Lust, Commerce, and Corruption : An Account of What I Have Seen and Heard, by an Edo Samurai, edited by Mark
Teeuwen, et al., Columbia University Press, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucb/detail.action?docID=1603590.
Created from ucb on 2019-10-16 16:20:40.
Copyright © 2014. Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
viii
prefaCe
disposition. But in contrast to many of his contemporaries, he does not
stop there. Buyō is at his best when he reveals the concrete details of
the corruption that in his view permeated life in Edo. In these passages
he gives the reader a vivid taste of the inner workings of his society. He
writes, for example, about contractors who put in formal offers for construction work at daimyo domain compounds, in what appears to be fair
competition for a contract; but behind the scenes, jobs have been shared
out beforehand, and all parties make a good profit—while the samurai
officers who handle the paperwork enjoy evenings out in the pleasure
quarters and a cut of the proceeds. Builders’ groups in the townspeople’s
blocks double as firemen, and they make sure that those house owners
who fail to pay their protection fees are on their own when the next blaze
occurs—accidentally, or otherwise. In the countryside, wealthy village
leaders shift tax obligations to the low-quality fields left in the hands of
the poor, so that the good fields in their own possession become less
burdened with taxes and can be sold for a higher price. And so on and
so forth. Buyō describes in revealing detail how some people were doing
very well, while others paid the price.
Buyō’s analyses are premised on the traditional understanding that
the economy is a zero-sum game, a view that was becoming old-fashioned even in his own time. His opinions on class and gender are, from
a modern perspective, prejudiced to the point of bigotry. Yet at the same
time, he consistently argues that moral indignation should be directed
at the system that corrupts, rather than at the individuals who have no
choice but to let themselves be corrupted. Buyō makes a convincing
analysis of the systemic impossibility of living up to warrior-like ideals of principled uprightness and decisiveness in dealing with injustice. In this, he offers insights that are not easily found in other Edoperiod materials.
The translation and the introductory essay that precedes it are the
products of teamwork among five historians who individually have written extensively on various aspects of the Edo period. Each undertook an
initial translation of specific sections: John Breen did “Warriors” in chapter 1 and the section “Pariahs and Outcasts” in chapter 7. Miyazaki Fumiko
did “The Way of Yin and Yang” in chapter 4 and “Lower Townspeople”
in chapter 5. Kate Wildman Nakai did “Lawsuits” in chapter 4 and “On
Japan Being Called a Divine Land” and “The Land, People, and Ruler”
in chapter 7. Anne Walthall translated chapters 2 and 6. I translated
Lust, Commerce, and Corruption : An Account of What I Have Seen and Heard, by an Edo Samurai, edited by Mark
Teeuwen, et al., Columbia University Press, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucb/detail.action?docID=1603590.
Created from ucb on 2019-10-16 16:20:40.
Copyright © 2014. Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
prefaCe
ix
the “Prologue,” the introductory section of chapter 1, chapter 3, “The
Blind” in chapter 4, “Townspeople” in chapter 5, and “Rice, Grains, and
Other Products,” “Mountains and Forests,” and “Untimely Deaths” in
chapter 7.
All translations were discussed by the team as a whole and commented upon in word-by-word detail by other team members. Especially
valuable was the contribution of Miyazaki Fumiko, who solved many riddles in all parts of the text. Kate Wildman Nakai and I are responsible for
the overall editing of the translation and have added subheadings and
paragraph divisions (the original has neither) to enhance readability. The
introductory essay, “Buyō Inshi and His Times,” is a cooperative piece
by the two editors but also incorporates corrections and additions by the
other team members. It has benefited as well from comments made by
the anonymous readers of the manuscript. The maps were produced by
Kirsten Berrum of Oslo University.
For annotation we have utilized a broad range of materials, starting
with the invaluable Kokushi daijiten (Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1979–1997,
15 vols.). Buyō touches on so many different subjects that a full list
of references to further reading would have ballooned to unmanageable proportions; therefore we have limited citations to sources that
seemed to us particularly relevant to the issues Buyō raises or that refer
directly to his text. We have also tried, so far as possible, to identify the
sources of the quotations and anecdotes that he introduces, often without specific attribution. Following the conventions of his time, Buyō
frequently refers to people by their honorary court title or a “common
name” rather than their formal given name. Instead of adhering literally to his usage, we have adopted the names by which the people
in question can be found most readily in modern reference works. To
ensure consistency, the translators compiled and utilized an extensive
list of terms. For readers wishing to know the Japanese originals of
key terms, we have appended a brief extract from this list to the end of
the volume.
Mark Teeuwen
Lust, Commerce, and Corruption : An Account of What I Have Seen and Heard, by an Edo Samurai, edited by Mark
Teeuwen, et al., Columbia University Press, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucb/detail.action?docID=1603590.
Created from ucb on 2019-10-16 16:20:40.
x
era names
era Names
Buyō refers to dates and spans of time by era name (nengō). Those he
mentions are as follows:
Copyright © 2014. Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
Genki: 1570–1573
Tenshō: 1573–1592
Bunroku: 1592–1596
Keichō: 1596–1615
Genna: 1615–1624
Kan’ei: 1624–1644
Shōhō: 1644–1648
Keian: 1648–1652
Manji: 1658–1661
Kanbun: 1661–1673
Genroku: 1688–1704
Hōei: 1704–1711
Shōtoku: 1711–1716
Kyōhō: 1716–1736
Tenmei: 1781–1789
Kansei: 1789–1801
Bunka: 1804–1818
measures
Buyō uses the following measures (the U.S. and metric equivalents are
approximate):
1 sun: 1 in; 3 cm
1 shaku: 1 ft; 30 cm (10 sun)
1 ken: 6 ft; 1.82 m (6 shaku)
1 ri: 2.4 miles; 3.93 km
1 tsubo: 36 ft2; 3.3 m2 (1 sq. ken)
1 tan: 0.25 acres; 1,000 m2 (300 tsubo)
1 chō: 2.45 acres; 1 ha (10 tan)
1 shō: 1.6 quarts; 1.8 L
1 koku: 5 bushels; 180 L (100 shō)
Lust, Commerce, and Corruption : An Account of What I Have Seen and Heard, by an Edo Samurai, edited by Mark
Teeuwen, et al., Columbia University Press, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucb/detail.action?docID=1603590.
Created from ucb on 2019-10-16 16:20:40.
CurrenCies
xi
One hyō (bale) varied in quantity regionally between one-fifth and onehalf of a koku; Buyō counts 1 hyō as roughly equivalent to one-third of a
koku.
CurreNCies
Copyright © 2014. Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
In the Edo period, gold, silver, and copper cash served as the basic mediums of exchange. Gold and silver were used for larger transactions, copper cash for smaller ones. The shogunate tried to maintain a stable rate
of exchange between the different mediums. Official rates established in
1700 set the value of 1 ryō in gold (also known as 1 koban) at 60 monme in
silver, or 4,000 mon in copper coins. In practice, exchange rates varied
over time and in different locales. Most notably, the value of copper cash
relative to gold and silver declined steadily, so that by Buyō’s time, 1 ryō
in gold was equal to about 6,500 coppers. Silver fluctuated less; between
1800 and 1816, 1 ryō equaled between 61 and 67 monme.
Rice prices were in principle geared to the basic currency units, with
1 koku (theoretically the amount consumed annually by an adult male)
equal to 1 ryō or 60 monme, but they too fluctuated, and in times of famine the value of 1 koku could easily top 100 monme. Between 1800 and
1816, the value of 1 koku varied between 50 and 70 monme.
The major monetary units in late Edo were as follows:
gold: 1 ryō (or koban) = 4 bu = 16 shu = 400 hiki
silver: ca. 60 monme = 1 ryō gold
copper: ca. 6,500 mon = 1 ryō gold
1 kanmon = 1,000 mon (coppers)
Lust, Commerce, and Corruption : An Account of What I Have Seen and Heard, by an Edo Samurai, edited by Mark
Teeuwen, et al., Columbia University Press, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucb/detail.action?docID=1603590.
Created from ucb on 2019-10-16 16:20:40.