CHAPTER IX

Effects of Abolition of Feudalism on Agricultural Class—Changes in Land Tenure—Land-Tax Revision.

The abolition of feudalism came as a boon to the peasantry. If it inflicted much hardship on the _samurai_, who formed the bulk of the military class, while the verdict as to its results in other cases depended on the conclusion to be reached after balancing the gain and loss attending its operation, to the farmers it was a veritable blessing. Its full significance was, however, not felt until after the lapse of several years.

Under the feudal system the position of the farmer varied to some extent according to locality. In Satsuma, for instance, besides the ordinary farming class, there were _samurai_ farmers. Again, in certain parts of the province of Mito, and elsewhere, there was a special class of yeoman farmers who enjoyed some of the privileges of the _samurai_. But throughout the country generally the bulk of the agricultural class consisted of peasant farmers, who, while cultivating their land on conditions similar to what is known in Europe as the _métayage_ system, were in many respects little better than serfs. The peasant farmer could not leave his holding, and go elsewhere, as he pleased; nor could he dispose of his interest in it, though by means of mortgages it was possible to evade the law in this respect. To the frequent call for forced labour he was obliged to respond. He was subject to restrictions in regard to the crops to be cultivated, and their rotation, while in the disposal of his produce he was hampered by the interference of clan guilds. The farmer had also to bear the expense and risk of conveying the tax-produce of his land to the receiving stations, besides being obliged to deliver on each occasion an extra amount to cover the loss supposed to occur in its transportation. On the other hand, though under the feudal form of land tenure he was tied to the soil and transferable with it when it changed hands, he was practically free from disturbance in his holding so long as he paid his rent, which took the form of a share of the produce of the land, and other imposts exacted from time to time by feudal bailiffs. Fixity of tenure, therefore, he certainly enjoyed; and, looking at the peculiar nature of his association with the feudal landlord, it seems questionable whether his rights in the land he cultivated may not be regarded as having much of the character of ownership. Holdings, it may be added, descended from father to son, or, failing direct heirs, in the same family, the right of adoption being, of course, recognized.

The interests of the peasantry were affected in many ways by the abolition of the feudal system. The abrupt change in the position of the cultivator caused by the disappearance of his feudal landlord opened up the whole question of land tenure and land taxation, not only as it affected the peasant cultivator, but in its bearing on the occupiers of all agricultural land throughout the country, as well as other land not included in this category. To enable the Government to cope with a task of this magnitude, and at the same time to carry out their declared aims in the direction of uniformity of administration, far-reaching legislation was necessary.

In view of the singular character of the feudal tenure we have described, under which landlord and tenant were associated in a kind of joint ownership, it might have been supposed that advantage would be taken of the opportunity offered by the surrender of fiefs to place the question of land tenure on a clear footing by defining accurately the position of the people, and more especially the cultivators, with regard to the land. This, however, was not done. No Decree affecting the broad issue raised by the abolition of the feudal system was promulgated. It was only by degrees that the intentions of the Government became apparent. Step by step the policy in view was manifested by the removal of the various restrictions which had curtailed the tenants’ rights, until at length it became clear that, while retaining the theory that the ownership of all land was vested as of right in the Crown, the intention was that each occupier of land should become virtually the proprietor of his holding.

One of the first acts of the Government at the end of the civil war had been to place all land as far as possible on a common footing, the earliest step in this direction being taken in the spring of 1869. It was then enacted that all land held in grant from previous governments should be liable to taxation. This measure affected all grantees of land, the _yashikis_, or feudal residences of the territorial nobility in Yedo, coming under the new rule. The ground covered by these _yashikis_, some of which were extensive, forming separate parks in the neighbourhood of the castle and in other quarters of the city, had originally, like other grants of land, been handed over in free gift, neither rent nor land-tax being paid.

An essential point in the uniformity of administration contemplated by the new Government was the reform of all taxation, precedence being given to the revision of the land-tax. No hesitation was shown in taking up this task. Finance was the weak point in the administrative situation, as it had been that of the previous Government; and land having since early days been the main source of revenue, it was natural that the question of the land-tax should be the first to receive attention. Before the abolition of feudalism, and while the clans still retained their own provincial administration, it was not possible to take practical steps towards fiscal changes that should apply to all parts of the country. But the movement in favour of the surrender of feudal fiefs had begun almost as soon as the triumph of the Imperialist forces was assured, and by the time the feudal system was abolished by the Decree of August, 1871, the subject had been examined by the new Government in all its bearings, and the shape which the revision of the land-tax should take had been determined. It was, therefore, possible for a complete scheme of revision to be brought forward by the Finance Department before the end of the same year, that is to say, within four months after the disappearance of the clans.

Before dwelling on the main features of this proposal, for which Marquis Ōkuma and Marquis Inouyé, then Minister and Vice-Minister of Finance respectively, and Baron Kanda, an authority on all questions of administration, were mainly responsible, it may be well to glance for a moment at the previous system of land taxation in order that a clear idea of the changes introduced may be formed.

Put shortly, the position of holders of land in regard to taxation in the last days of Tokugawa rule was this. Only land under cultivation was taxed. The land-tax was payable everywhere in rice, whatever the crop cultivated might be, and was based on the assessed yield of the land. But the methods of estimating this yield varied greatly. In one place this would be done by taking the measurement of the land bearing the crop; in another the appearance and condition of the crop would be the decisive factors; while in a third there would be “assessment by sample,” as it was called, specimens of the growing crop being selected for the purpose. The land measures, too, were not everywhere the same. Moreover, the principle which governed the distribution of the produce of the land between the cultivator and the landlord—the latter’s share being, in effect, the former’s land-tax—varied in different provinces, and in different districts of the same province. In some places seven-tenths of the yield of land went to the landlord, and three-tenths to the cultivator; in others these proportions were reversed; there were districts, such as the Shōgun’s domains, where the cultivator received three-fifths, and other, again, where the proportions were equal. There was a general resemblance, dating back to the time of the Great Reform, between the taxation systems in force throughout the country. The old classification, under which there were three main heads of taxation, the land-tax, the industrial-tax and forced labour—all payable by the cultivator—was retained everywhere in a modified form. But each clan went its own way in other respects, having its own methods of assessment and collection, as well as its own rules of exemption from, and remission of, taxation. Except in the Shōgun’s domains, where matters, generally, were regulated on a somewhat better basis than elsewhere, there was no very definite distinction between central and local taxation; and, whether it was a clan or the Shōgunate itself to which taxes were due, there was a constant liability to irregular exactions imposed at the pleasure of the authorities.

The main features of the new scheme show the importance of the changes proposed.

A new official survey of land throughout the country was to be carried out. Title-deeds were to be issued for all land, whether cultivated or not. Land everywhere was to be valued, and the value stated in the title-deed. In the case of cultivated land the land-tax was to be made payable in money, instead of in rice, as before, and was to be based on the selling value of the land, as declared in the title-deed, and not, as before, on the assessed yield of the holding. The proprietor—for this, in effect, the farmer became when the revision was accomplished—was to be free to cultivate his land in all respects as he pleased, and could sell or otherwise dispose of it as he chose.

The _Sei-in_—that curious body in the reorganized Government of 1869 which represented an attempt to combine in one branch of authority legislative, deliberative and executive powers—signified its approval of the scheme, and arrangements were made to give effect to some of its provisions. In January, 1872, as a tentative measure, title-deed regulations were issued. These were made operative at first only in the Tōkiō prefecture, but their operation was gradually extended to other places. Shortly afterwards further regulations providing for the annual payment of land-tax at the rate of 2 per cent on the value of land, as entered in the title-deed, were published. And in March of the same year the restrictions on the alienation of land, which had previously prevented all transfers of land between the military class and other classes of the people, as well as between members of the latter, were removed.

Before, however, this scheme for the revision of the land-tax assumed its final legislative shape it underwent various modifications. It was submitted early in 1873 to a conference of the chief administrative officials in the provinces which took place in the Capital. The necessity of reform on the lines suggested was admitted by all concerned. The main point on which opinions differed was whether the revision of the land-tax should be carried out as soon as possible, or gradually. The advocates of prompt action urged that the question should be dealt with quickly and decisively, arguing that whatever disadvantages might attend this course would be more than counterbalanced by the benefits resulting from a uniform system of taxation. The other side held that it would be unwise to do away suddenly with old customs and usages, and that it would be better to carry out the contemplated changes very gradually, taking care not to offend local prejudice. In the end the views of the advocates of prompt action prevailed, and a draft law was prepared. This, having received the sanction of the Throne, was notified to the country by Imperial Decree in July of the same year. No direct reference was made in the Decree either to the change of government, or to the abolition of feudalism, which were the real causes that had inspired the measure. It may have been thought inadvisable to refer to a past so full of dangerous memories, and so recent as to invite inconvenient comparisons.

The Decree itself merely stated the object of the measure, which was “to remedy the existing harsh and unequal incidence of taxation,” and the fact that local authorities, besides other officials, had been consulted in its preparation. In the notification accompanying it further information was given. It was explained that the old system of paying taxes on cultivated land in rice was abolished; that as soon as fresh title-deeds had been prepared land-tax would be paid at the rate of 3 per cent on the value of the land; and that the same course would be followed in the case of local land taxation, with the proviso that the local land rate should not exceed one-third of the Imperial land-tax.

By a looseness of wording, which may have escaped notice at the time, both the Decree and the Notification spoke of the land-tax as having been revised. It needed more than a stroke of the pen to do this. Neither those who in the conference objected to hasty measures, nor those who were in favour of prompt action, had foreseen the length of time that would be occupied in the execution of the reform. It was left to the practical exigencies of the situation to effect a compromise between the two parties which the conference had failed to bring about. The original estimate of the time needed to carry out the measure was found to be quite inadequate. Though the task was set about at once, several years elapsed before it was completed; and eventually it was decided to allow the new scheme to come into operation in each district, as soon as the requisite arrangements had been made, without waiting for its adoption in other places.

Voluminous regulations were appended to the Notification. In one of these a promise was given that the rate of land-tax would be reduced to 1 per cent whenever the total annual revenue from other sources should have reached the sum of _Yen_ 2,000,000 (£400,000). This promise was never fulfilled. By the time the revenue from other sources had reached the amount stated the needs of the new Government had so outgrown its resources that reduction to the extent contemplated was not possible. A reduction from 3 to 2½ per cent was, however, made a few years later, while the work of revision was still proceeding.

Some other points may be noted in passing which throw light on the principles underlying the measure.

All holders of land were required to remeasure it, and furnish a statement of its value. These estimates were then to be checked by comparison with similar estimates made by official experts. In the case of a holder of land refusing to agree to the value fixed by the assessors, the land was to be sold.

The land-tax of 3 per cent was to be levied only on cultivated land, this category including both rice land and other arable land. The tax on house land was higher, while that on other classes of land, such as land covered by forests, pasture or moorland, was almost nominal.

The plan adopted, wherever possible, in fixing the value of land in a district was to take a certain village as a specimen, and, having fixed the value of the land in it, to make that value the basis for determining the value of all other land in the district, the guiding principle being to ascertain the actual profit it yielded to the cultivator. With this principle in view, the method employed for determining the value of cultivated land was as follows: Land was first of all divided into two classes, rice land, and land on which other crops were grown. The official assessors having, with the assistance of the cultivator, estimated the annual yield of the holding, this yield was, in the case of rice, wheat and beans, converted into money by taking the average market price per _koku_ (about five bushels) of each of these articles of produce for the five years 1870–4 inclusive. In fixing this average market price it would have been impossible to have taken one price for the whole country, since the prices of all staple articles varied in many districts. The difficulty was, therefore, met by fixing several market values, to be used as the separate bases of valuation wherever local conditions and circumstances required special consideration. Thus in some cases one market price for rice, or for wheat, was made the basis for valuing land in a whole province; whereas in other cases separate market prices had to be determined for particular districts, or even villages. In the case of land on which other produce, such as tea, silk, hemp and indigo, etc., was grown, the method adopted was to estimate what crops of wheat, or beans, land of the same kind in the same place yielded. This yield was then taken as that of the land in question, and converted into money in the usual way. Up to this point the method followed was the same for all land, whether a man cultivated his own holding, or held it on lease from the proprietor. In the former case the next step in the process of fixing land values was to deduct from the total value of the yield of the land 15 per cent, as cost of seed and manure. From the sum that remained the land-tax and local taxes were again deducted, as well as the cost of wages, if these were paid, for labour employed. The balance remaining over was taken to represent the net value of the yield of the land. And, as the Government decided to regard 6 per cent as the average rate of profit accruing to a cultivator, the value of a holding was determined by a simple calculation. This value, so determined, became the assessed or taxable value of the land, and on this the land-tax was levied. The process by which the value was arrived at in the case of a cultivator who held his land on lease was a little more complicated. Stated in other words, the taxable value of cultivated land, as determined by the revision, was in all cases the net value of its yield to the cultivator, whether the latter was owner, or only tenant.

To the question of the periods of payment of the land-tax much attention was given. The three instalments in which it was at first made payable were afterwards reduced to two, the dates of payment varying according to the nature of the crop cultivated. It should be noted, also, that in making the revised land-tax uniform throughout the country an exception was introduced in favour of Yezo, or the Hokkaidō, to give it its administrative name. There, in order to encourage the development of what was then the northernmost island, the rate of tax was fixed at 1 per cent.

Four years after the work of revision had begun the land-tax was, as already stated, reduced to 2½ per cent. In the Decree announcing this reduction allusion was made to the growing needs of the country, which had not yet been able, it was said, to adjust itself to the changed conditions brought about by the Restoration, and to the distress still prevailing amongst the agricultural classes. The apparent slowness with which the work of revision proceeded was brought to the notice of the local authorities by the Government, and the year 1876 was fixed as the date by which the revision must be concluded. Neither that year, however, nor the next saw the end of the undertaking. It lasted five years longer, being eventually completed in 1881.

By a very rough computation, which is all that the unreliability of statistics in those days will permit, the extent of taxable land occupied, or owned, by the people previous to the revision may be estimated at about ten million acres. As the result of the revision this area was more than quadrupled. On the other hand, the revenue derived from the land showed a falling off of 5 per cent. This result is explained by the fact that some of the land had before been over-taxed, while a large portion of the new taxable area consisted of uncultivated land paying only a nominal tax, and, therefore, contributing little to the revenue.

The total cost of the revision of the land-tax, according to official estimates, was about £7,500,000. Of this sum about £6,000,000 were repaid by the people, the balance being defrayed by the provincial authorities, with the exception of an item of some £100,000 which was charged to the central government. Heavy as this expense was, the gain to Japan would have justified a greater cost. For the first time in her history there was one uniform system of land taxation for the whole country, and, with the exception above mentioned, one uniform rate.

Since the completion of the task of revision the system of land taxation has _in its main features_ remained unchanged. But the heavy expenditure entailed by the Russo-Japanese war in 1904–5 made it necessary for the Government to increase taxation of all kinds. Special war taxes were then imposed. Amongst these was an additional land-tax. When the war came to an end this additional tax was retained, as was the case with our own income-tax, and the Chinese transit tax on commodities (_lekin_), both of which were also originally war taxes.

A feature to be noted in connection with this land reform is the change that was made in the title to land. Hitherto the registration of land in the local land register, in accordance with the practice of centuries, as well as entries regarding the transfer of land recorded in the same land register, had constituted the holder’s title. Henceforth the title to land was determined by the possession of a title-deed. The new system, however, did not come to stay. After a trial of over fifteen years it was abandoned in March, 1889, in favour of the old method of registration in the land books of a district which, with certain later modifications in matters of detail, is now in force.

The reclassification of land—one of the results of the land reform—was set forth in an elaborate schedule, into the details of which it is unnecessary to enter. A reference to the various classes into which land was divided establishes two facts:

1. All cultivated land, with a few exceptions, belongs to the people.

2. All waste land, with a few exceptions, belongs to the Government.

To these we may add a third, that all land in Japan is subject to land-tax, with three exceptions:

(_a_) Government land.

(_b_) Land held for religious purposes.

(_c_) Land used for purposes of irrigation, drainage, and roads.