HIST 236 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Kyōhō Reforms, Wage Labour, Dekasegi
8 Feb 2018
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Increased mortality: famines, poverty, disease, epidemics, no bubonic plague, dysentery, influenza, small pox, std"s: chla(cid:373)ydia (cid:449)idespread a(cid:374)d affe(cid:272)ts fe(cid:373)ale fertility, birth control, abortion, infanticide, late marriages. Inheritance practices: splitting up land among offspring = smaller plots, small plots support less people. Less productive: need to supplement income = send children to work in other villages or towns and cities (dekasegi) Dekasegi versus bakufu: dekasegi, delays marriage and reproduction, requires travel, growth of wage labour, bakufu. Indicates disparities in wealth among villagers: less peasants = decline in tax base, 1642 edicts: no work outside of villages, should be no high and low among peasants. Inheritance practices: successor as family head inherits bulk of land (main family, siblings receive smaller portion (branch family) Increase punishments for tax evasion/absconding: prohibit presentation of petitions, provide short-term relief and temporary/ emergency tax reductions. Income-generating products: handicrafts, vegetable oils, firewood, cash crops, tobacco, silk, trees, tea, lacquer = candles, mulberry = paper, plants, safflower = cosmetics.
