Japanese civilization began its formation in the 1st millennium BC. e. The first human settlements in this part of East Asia appeared much earlier - about 40 thousand years BC. e., even before the separation of the Japanese Islands from the Asian mainland. For many centuries, Japan was an almost closed world, culturally and politically. The very existence of the people and the state was known only in neighboring China and Korea, with which difficult relations had long developed. The influence of Chinese civilization on the early development of Japan was significant, even hieroglyphic writing came from China. However, subsequently, Japanese civilization formed its own and unique tradition of state and legal structure, which expressed both the originality of the cultural and religious world of the nation, and the features of the military-feudal system, which subjugated the social organization of Japan from an early time. The influence of ancient traditions on the subsequent development of state organization was especially significant. This made the Japanese statehood of the Middle Ages one of the most stable and original.
Formation of Japanese statehood
In the I-II centuries. the population of the southern Japanese islands (where there were significant groups of immigrants from Indonesia, Korea, etc.) was at the stage of forming a supra-communal administration. The basis of the social organization was a clan “family” of several thousand members (families of up to 60-70 thousand people are also known). It was headed by an elder-patriarch, who was also considered the priest of the clan. A stable social hierarchy has developed in families: lower people (geko) and “big people” (daijin). Sometimes entire small clans were dependent on their superiors. Slavery was also known, but slaves were expensive and rare. Clan families represented separate associations, and Chinese chronicles of the era wrote about the Japanese: “They are divided into more than a hundred states. They come to us every year and bring us tribute.”
From the turn of the 2nd-3rd centuries. the social hierarchy in clans began to quickly turn into proto-state institutions. The powers of rulers became hereditary, they were sanctified by religious authority. The increasing role of rulers was facilitated by the recognition of vassalage in relation to China, as well as military campaigns. The supremacy of one of these tribal unions gradually emerged. Primary public education in Japan was named after such a union.
An association Yamato (mid 5th - early 7th century) was a typical proto-state. It developed under significant Chinese influence. This influence especially increased from the 6th century, after the spread of Buddhism in Japan; The role of Buddhist monasteries in strengthening the centers of statehood was great.
By the 6th century local clan rulers turned into representatives of the central government. This hierarchy, already completely state-level, was strengthened by the system of social ranks - kabane (established in the 5th century). The heads of the most influential families and clans secured ranks associated with discrete management functions: omi - courtiers, muradzi - military, etc.; In total, up to 9 such specializations have been identified. Tribal clans began to turn into provinces with their own governors; the number of provinces reached 120, they were divided into communities. In 569, the first census of lands and duties of the dependent population was recorded. The tax system moved from periodic offerings to regular taxes (rice) and labor duties. Through the growth of economic coercion for the bulk of the peasant population, the tribal authorities began to form large estates, and the former tribesmen began to turn into semi-free (tomobe) with the consolidation of professional occupations and functions.
Throughout the 6th century. The noble families that emerged as a result of the formation of the proto-state administration waged a fierce struggle for leadership. The struggle continued until about 587, when the powerful Soga clan prevailed, seizing the imperial throne. Centralization reforms were undertaken in the Chinese spirit, aimed at strengthening the rank hierarchy, the formation of bureaucrats, and a new tax apparatus.
With the reign of the Prince Regent from home Soga Umayadaw The appearance of the first laws is associated - 12 Articles (603) and 17 Articles Laws (604-622). Laws were not so much legal norms as a set of political and moral teachings. However, they were the basis of government activities. Clans were encouraged to unite and serve the common good. The entire population was divided into three classes: rulers - nobles - people. The ruler was no longer considered just the head of the highest clan, but a sole ruler with special powers of government. Following Chinese models, it expressed “universal law,” which was considered the basis of legal order. For the purposes of such a legal order, the ruler had the right to demand unconditional submission from lower officials. At the same time, the ruler was not recognized as completely autocratic: he was required to have advisers with him. It was proclaimed that “matters should not be decided by the sovereign alone.”
From the end of the 6th century. The unification of Yamato began to strive to liberate itself from the suzerainty of the Chinese Song Empire (very conditional) and turn into an independent early state.
The final formation of the state organization was a consequence of transformations called Taika coup (645–646).
Taking advantage of the discontent of the peasant masses, other clans overthrew the regime of the Soga rulers and established a new imperial dynasty. The most important social turn was the declaration of all land as state (imperial) property only. A state system of land allotment was established, following a hierarchy of traditional and newly established ranks. This marked the beginning of a new class system in the country.
Due to political changes in the second half of the 7th century. a central administration was formed. Supreme governance was carried out by the State Council (dazekan), which included the heads of the ruling clans and senior administrators. The real work on current management was carried out by the State Secretariat of 2 divisions: right and left (according to Chinese tradition). The Secretariat supervised 8 departments: punishment, treasure, military, court, central affairs, ranks, administration, and people's affairs. In addition, there were special departments: for the affairs of the Shinto cult and for the investigation of crimes (dadzedan). The activities of the bureaucratic administration practically embodied the entire state organization. The authorities paid special attention to its correct flow. At the end of the 7th century. a special administrative code was issued; the old ranks were abolished, and in their place a new branched bureaucratic system (of 48 ranks) was formed. At the end of the 7th century. The position of first minister was established in the government.
The country acquired a new rigid division into provinces, counties and villages. Villages (up to 50 households) became the basis of a new tax and military recruitment system. In local government, tribal traditions were also eliminated, and management was entrusted to appointed officials. The basis for the existence of a branched state organization was the so-called. triad of taxation, known from ancient China: land tax, taxes on peasant crafts, labor service (for the construction of buildings, roads, irrigation systems).
In its internal structure, the monarchical state of ritsur (law), established after the Taika coup, was similar to the European barbarian states. And just as in Europe, the new state became an incentive to reshape the social system in the direction of feudal relations.
Feudal-feudal system. Shogunate
The centralized power that emerged in the 7th-8th centuries was conditional. Actually, centralization was limited to a unified system of tax collection, maintaining land records and control over the governors of the provinces, who were appointed not from the clan nobility, but from those subordinate to the emperor. This entire organization was based on a state-allotment system of land use. As soon as this system began to disintegrate, the influence of the center weakened significantly.
From the 8th century the hereditary plots of warriors and officials of middle and high ranks began to turn into fiefdoms (seen). State control over fiefdoms was weakening (although there was no tax immunity in Japan). By the 10th century relations like Western European ones have become widespread in the country comments(see § 23), which began to cover both the peasantry, and layers of provincial officials, and soldiers in a multi-tier social and legal hierarchy. The main responsibility of the patron in such relationships became protection from outside attacks on his sehen. Since the re-registration of an allotment into a fiefdom-seen required the participation of the governor's power, the governors became, as it were, conditional centers of such commendation relations. Governor's councils became the main bodies of government and court. The provincial government began to appoint the district government. Under the governors, their own armies began to be formed - from detachments at the provincial, district, and community levels. The main issues of government activity (land distribution, taxes, military service) also moved to the provincial level. This formed an important prerequisite for the formation feudal on the internal structure of the state.
The new social support of the emerging power of feudal magnates was the class of warriors - samurai. Due to the growing wealth of the peasantry, by allocating land to junior officials and the sons of the lower ranks of the aristocracy since the 10th century. A fairly large class of feudally obligated warriors emerged, serving for rice “rations” and the estate. Samurai united in detachments and larger groups, often based on kinship. This traditional formation of the class, combined with the peculiarities of the Shinto religion, national culture, as well as the futility of life with the loss of suzerainty, fostered in the samurai class a special attachment to feudal moral and legal values - the bushido code (“the way of the warrior”). The sacrifice of vassals, cultivated by Bushido, became the most important tool in the unfolding political struggle of the magnates.
In the XI-XII centuries. Most of the medieval Japanese cities arose. Their population became another factor in the ongoing struggle for class privileges. From the 11th century The first craft and trade associations are known - workshops (dza). At the same time, the clergy was determined in terms of class. Buddhist monasteries became large feudal lords, maintaining significant vassal squads and samurai detachments.
The formation of the feudal estate system was accompanied by a sharp decline in the political significance of imperial power. From the end of the 7th century. The imperial throne was under the control of one of the largest aristocratic clans - the Fujiwara. From the 8th century the clan obliged the emperor to take wives only from their household. In the 9th century. seized the posts of prince regent and first minister (with the overall title of sekken), placing himself under control of the state administration. Public administration took on the appearance of an unofficial dictatorship of the sekken. The position of imperial power was reduced to religious-court supremacy. From the end of the 10th century. under pressure from the regents, emperors began to regularly abdicate the throne in favor of young children, so that the real powers of power were retained by the sekken. A unique institution has emerged ex-emperors(or “monastic emperors,” since rulers retired to a monastery). It happened that some emperors ruled themselves, without Fujiwara. However, by the 11th century. the threads of government were firmly captured by the new system of regency rule.
The final establishment of a new kind of dual power occurred towards the end of the 12th century. After a long rivalry between several noble feudal houses (and family clans), among which the Taira and Minamoto houses stood out, the Minamoto won (1185). The head of the clan was granted by the emperor the rank of “great commander who conquers barbarians” (seii-taishogun), shogun. In reality, the main levers of state governance passed into the hands of the field headquarters of the commander-shogun of the bakufu. The former early feudal central administration practically collapsed, only departments and councils related to court affairs and the sacred and religious rights of the emperor remained. Such a new state-political organization was called shogunate. The support of the shogunate regime was the military-service feudal hierarchy, primarily the class of samurai, who turned into direct (gokenin) or indirect vassals of the shogun.
During Kamakura Shogunate (1192-1333) the imperial throne was placed under the direct control of the shoguns. Even the succession to the throne of the imperial house required consent and a kind of approval in the bakufu. A special position was introduced as an adviser to the shogun at court (1221), to whom a special squad was subordinate and whose duties included the “political patronage” of the emperor. In the 13th century The rulers of the new Hojo clan initiated the division of the Fujiwara house into 5 branches, which were given the titles of sekken in turn. At the same time, the imperial house itself was divided into southern and northern branches, with the right of alternate succession to the throne. The guarantors of this extensive system of monarchy were the shoguns. Thus, a real military-political dictatorship of the new government was established.
Governance within the shogunate began to be carried out through a new system of local representatives: shugo, who were entrusted with police and military-vassal affairs (from 1190), and jito, land representatives to control taxes, including in the fiefs-seen (from 1185). ). Over time, the shugo became, as it were, military-police governors in the provinces, including having judicial rights. The shogun was considered the “head of shugo and jito,” thereby concentrating military, police and judicial power. The central government of the country was carried out bakufu, in which several departments were identified: Administrative (mandokoro). Judicial (montyudze), Military (samuraidokoro). The departments were also courts for the claims of vassals (gokenin). A special council of 10 senior vassals of the shogun was created to supervise the nobility.
At the end of the 13th century. The military dictatorship of the shoguns acquired a more open appearance. From the State Council, the Hojo rulers moved simply to home clan meetings. The real position of the sekken fell, and the state secretariat was liquidated. The growth of the importance of the military organization was facilitated by the long struggle against the invasion of the Mongol fleet, which was defeated, among other things, thanks to the “sacred help” of the typhoon ( kamikazee), which scattered enemy ships.
The governance system of the Kamakura Shogunate exacerbated the aspirations of different clans, and now territories, towards separatism. After powerful rebellions and the restoration of the temporary power of the emperors, the shogunate regime of the Ashikaga house was established in the country. This second one Muromachi shogunate (1335-1573) contributed to the overall decentralization of the country. In Japan, up to 250 principalities were formed, subordinate to their daimyo, who were not only the richest feudal lords, but also had a special class status and exclusive judicial and administrative rights. Throughout the 15th century. The country was torn apart by constant internecine wars and peasant uprisings. State power and administration were limited to the feudal group, which at one time or another gathered around the shoguns.
Centralization of the country. Tokugawa Shogunate
In the last quarter of the 16th century. The largest feudal lords of Central Japan fought for the political unification of the country. In this struggle, they relied on the increased dissatisfaction with feudal strife between peasants and townspeople, as well as on the changing class of samurai. The war against the regime of the former shogunate took on the character of a political reconstruction of the country under the leadership of the leader of the opposition groups of feudal lords and samurai Toetomi Hideyoshi(1536-1598). The military successes of the opposition were complemented by a number of centralization reforms. During the land reform, a tax census was carried out on new principles, the majority of the peasant population was included in the number of those subject to taxation, and taxation itself was streamlined and unified. The class reform in the country established a new class division into three classes: samurai, peasants and townspeople, each with its own prescribed occupations and associated responsibilities and privileges. The peasantry was prohibited from owning bladed weapons. According to the decree of 1588, the so-called "hunt for swords" in the country, which, according to the seizure, were to be used for nails and rivets for the construction of a Buddha statue. The missionary activity of Christian preachers (who began to penetrate Japan in the mid-16th century, after its “discovery” by the Portuguese) was prohibited. In order to create a unified financial and economic space of the country, internal customs were eliminated, uniform weights and measures were introduced, and monetary reform was launched.
To ensure the succession of power in his family and prevent a new inter-feudal war, Hideyoshi formed a special Council of Regents (1598) of five chief ministers-princes (tairo), who were to rule until Hideyoshi's son came of age. However, in 1600 the most influential and wealthy of the princes-regents Tokugawa Ieyasu destroyed the established system, crushed the opposition of other princes and became the sole military ruler of the country. By 1603, the emperor granted Ieyasu the title and powers of shogun. Thus, a new shogunal regime was established in the country, covering the entire centralized country. The new political and administrative regime was finally consolidated in the middle. XVII century, under the third shogun of the dynasty, after a number of legal and administrative transformations.
During social and legal reforms the former class structure of society was strengthened and partially transformed. She got the name si-no-ko-se. The upper class was represented by samurai (shi), the middle class by the peasantry (no), artisans (ko) and merchants (se). The nobility also did not represent a single category. The highest stratum was the court aristocracy (kuge), associated only with the imperial family and deprived of real wealth and influence. The main and significant part of the nobility was formed by military houses (buke), among which were the ruling princes - daimyo, and the ordinary nobility. Having retained the possessions and influence of the daimyo, Tokugawa transformed the composition of the class. Significant confiscations of possessions and resettlement of princes were carried out (up to 1/2 of all lands in the country changed owners). Lands were redistributed, also taking into account the internal categories of daimyo: relatives of the shogun, his direct vassals (adherents), disgraced and hostile. Only from the first two categories were state bodies formed and vacancies of governors in the provinces were filled. To keep the daimyo in obedience, the practice of hostage was introduced (1635), when the princes provided their relatives to the shogun to ensure fidelity. At the same time, the princes remained the only land owners, besides the state; Otherwise, the seen estates were liquidated. The samurai class received conditional land holdings, different in status for those who belonged to the personal vassals of the shogun, vassals of other princes. A particularly large stratum was made up of declassed samurai - ronin, whose practically only rights were to carry weapons and the freedom to immediately deal with the offender without resorting to court.
By the middle of the 17th century. a new one has emerged central administration, preserved without significant changes throughout the Tokugawa era. The main body was government(roju) of several senior ministers (usually five). They were in charge of almost all state affairs, including supervision of the imperial court, finances, and relations with princes (except for the military). They were appointed from among the highest feudal lords, adherents of the shogun, and they ruled for a month, replacing each other. The next circle of government bureaucracy consisted of heads of departments headquarters - bakufu, mayors, etc. (buge). Three buge were considered the most important: finance, temples and monasteries of the capital Edo. In total, there were up to 60 departments of the central administration in the capital (Edo) and up to 40 in other cities (including those involved in weapons, coinage, fleet, etc.). Members of the roju, relatives of the shogun, and members of the regency council also formed an irregular advisory body - goebey (named after the hall where the meetings were held).
Each principality was an independent administrative unit, which had its own small government (qiro). As a rule, in the principalities there were up to 4 main departments involved in finance, religion, court and police. Supervision over the activities of the daimyo princes was carried out by the police inspectors (metsuke) of the shogun, led by senior police officers. A special law was even adopted about their positions and activities (1632). Management in the shogun's domain was structured in a special way: here the main figures were managers (daikins) and volost elders. Special samurai rulers were installed in cities. In addition, city councils were formed from merchants and rich artisans (participation in such a council gave the right to carry a sword). As bodies of intra-city self-government, they were responsible for water supply, street cleanliness, tax collection, etc.
The shogunate did not impose taxes on the principalities. But there was a practice of bringing “gifts” to the ruler in proportion to the wealth of the provinces, the number of cities and, accordingly, the level of vassal relations.
The military-police department of the shogunate constituted the main, but not the only aspect of Japanese statehood. The system of traditional monarchy with its own system of governance and its own powers was maintained.
Emperor was the nominal head of the country. His powers were limited to his own court and religious affairs. According to the special “Testament of Ieyasu,” all real state powers were transferred to the shogun, his power was recognized as hereditary in its own way. The emperor was obliged to provide his son as a hostage to the shogun. With the emperor there was a special representative of the shogun - sesidai(from 1600), who was simultaneously considered the governor of the capital Kyoto. Without his participation, the emperor's orders that went beyond the boundaries of his court were not carried out. In 1615, special rules were established for the imperial court, according to which the emperor's duties were directed to the study of ancient history, poetry, study of ceremonies and observance of traditions.
Despite the fact that for two and a half centuries the shoguns were not even in the capital (so as not to show “humiliating” respect for the emperor), their influence on the affairs of the imperial court was enormous. Even the choice of the heir to the throne was subject to agreement with the bakufu. Emperors could only marry brides from the five traditional houses of the highest nobility. Financially, the dependence was also significant: the imperial court was allocated a rice ration and was not supposed to have any income of its own. The imperial domain represented an economy autonomous from the bakufu, but also under its supreme supervision.
Imperial court had its own administrative organization. The imperial (former State) Council included the positions of first minister, left and right ministers, and other senior dignitaries, traditionally replenished only from the families of the highest aristocrats (kuge). However, their role was limited to palace ceremonies, religious and scientific-educational affairs in the capital.
The historically formed dual power of the emperor and the shogun was the most unique feature of the feudal monarchy of Japan. The shogunate regime was supported mainly by the medieval class system and the influence of the samurai service layer. As soon as the historically old class system began to disintegrate, a state-political crisis of power began.
Omelchenko O.A. General History of State and Law. 1999
In the I-II centuries. the population of the southern Japanese islands (where there were significant groups of immigrants from Indonesia, Korea, etc.) was at the stage of forming a supra-communal administration. The basis of the social organization was a clan “family” of several thousand members (families of up to 60-70 thousand people are also known). It was headed by an elder-patriarch, who was also considered the priest of the clan. A stable social hierarchy has developed in families: lower people (geko) and “big people” (daijin). Sometimes entire small clans were dependent on their superiors. Slavery was also known, but slaves were expensive and rare. Clan families represented separate associations, and Chinese chronicles of the era wrote about the Japanese: “They are divided into more than a hundred states. They come to us every year and bring us tribute.”
From the turn of the 2nd-3rd centuries. the social hierarchy in clans began to quickly turn into proto-state institutions. The powers of rulers became hereditary, they were sanctified by religious authority. The increasing role of rulers was facilitated by the recognition of vassalage in relation to China, as well as military campaigns. The supremacy of one of these tribal unions gradually emerged. Primary public education in Japan was named after such a union. Omelchenko O.A. General history of state and law: Textbook in 2 volumes. Third edition, revised. T. 1-M.: TON - Ostozhye, 2000. - p.278
The emergence of the early feudal state in Japan was preceded by a long struggle between tribal groups, which led to the hegemony of a tribal group led by the strongest Yamoto clan.
Representatives of the Yamoto house began to be seen as bearers of the power of the highest leaders, priests and judges. Relying on the Buddhist church, which had significant political influence in the country, they appropriated to themselves the title of “sons of heaven” emperors, and, together with the clan aristocracy, usurped the power of tribal leaders, turning it into hereditary. Melekhina E.V. History of state and law of foreign countries - M.: Education, 2002 - p.48
The Yamato Unification (mid 5th - early 7th century) was a typical proto-state. It developed under significant Chinese influence. This influence especially increased from the 6th century, after the spread of Buddhism in Japan; The role of Buddhist monasteries in strengthening the centers of statehood was great.
The power of the head of the dominant union was gradually recognized as national. The king (okimi) acquired the title of tenno (“heavenly sovereign”, emperor). The ruler combined both religious and state power. Gradually he was granted the powers of the supreme judge.
By the 6th century local clan rulers turned into representatives of the central government. This hierarchy, already completely state-level, was strengthened by the system of social ranks - kabane (established in the 5th century). The heads of the most influential families and clans secured ranks associated with discrete management functions: omi - courtiers, muradzi - military, etc.; In total, up to 9 such specializations were identified. Tribal clans began to turn into provinces with their own governors; the number of provinces reached 120, they were divided into communities. In 569, the first census of lands and duties of the dependent population was recorded. The tax system moved from periodic offerings to regular taxes (rice) and labor duties. Through the growth of economic coercion for the bulk of the peasant population, large estates began to form under the tribal authorities, and former fellow tribesmen began to turn into semi-free (tomobe) with the consolidation of professional occupations and functions.
Throughout the 6th century. The noble families that emerged as a result of the formation of the proto-state administration waged a fierce struggle for leadership. The struggle continued until about 587, when the powerful Soga clan prevailed, seizing the imperial throne. Centralization reforms were undertaken in the Chinese spirit, aimed at strengthening the rank hierarchy, the formation of bureaucrats, and a new tax apparatus.
From the end of the 6th century. The unification of Yamato began to strive to liberate itself from the suzerainty of the Chinese Song Empire (very conditional) and turn into an independent early state.
The final formation of the state organization was a consequence of the transformations called the Taika coup (645-646). Omelchenko O.A. General history of state and law: Textbook in 2 volumes. Third edition, revised. T. 1-M.: TON - Ostozhye, 2000. - p.279-280
The socio-economic innovations of this time were reflected in a series of reforms enshrined in the Taika Manifesto, supplemented by a special code "Taiho ryo" *. The reforms were designed to reorganize the management system and agrarian relations along the Chinese model. Based on the subsequent introduction of the allotment system, land, along with dependent people, was confiscated from private individuals and transferred to state ownership.
Land plots, allotments subject to redistribution every six years, were distributed among full-fledged peasants (remins) according to the number of eaters. Slaves also received an allotment equal to a third of the free allotment. The state, as the owner of the land, provided for triple duties for the peasants: rent (to give) in grain, tax on handicraft products and labor duty, lasting up to one hundred or more days a year.
The allotment system proved to be economically ineffective and short-lived in Japan. From the very beginning, the scope of its application was limited to the regions adjacent to the capital; the terms of land redistribution were violated, which were accompanied by abuses of officials, etc. Its foundations were increasingly undermined by the growth of private land ownership by the feudalizing clan nobility, which the weak central government could not resist.
Further feudalization of Japanese society led to the collapse of the allotment system. Periodic redistribution of land actually ceased in the 10th century, when the allotment system was replaced by the average private estate (shoen), created through the expropriation of communal lands, the development of virgin lands, which was only possible for the rich community elite, and numerous imperial land grants for merits and service. etc. The formation of privately owned estates was accompanied by the gradual transformation of allotment peasants into feudal-dependent ones.
The new local system swept away all obstacles to the creation of large feudal land ownership, and, consequently, the political fragmentation of the country with inevitable internecine wars, stimulating the development of relations of patronage, domination and subordination, and vassal-fief ties. The ranks of the emerging feudal class began to be replenished by the warriors of the rulers and large feudal lords, who received land plots as fiefs as remuneration for military service. History of state and law of foreign countries Textbook for students of law universities and faculties
Part 1/edited by N.A. Krashennikova - M. - NORMA Publishing House, 1996.-p.243
In the first half of the 3rd century. In Japan, a fairly extensive tribal union was formed, which, according to some researchers, occupied the island of Kyushu, and, according to others, the southern part of the island of Honshu, the area of the later provinces of Yamato, Kochi and Setsu. Later information speaks of the “kingdom of Yamato” on the island of Honshu. From this tribal union the Japanese state grew. Initially it occupied the northern part of Kyushu, the southern part of Honshu, and from the middle of the 4th century. and the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula (Mimana area). The formation of the state took place in the struggle of the leaders of the tribal groups living in each of these areas, and in the second half of the 5th century. hegemony in the tribal union passed to the Yamato tribal group.
The emergence of the early feudal state
The formation of the early feudal state in Japan should be attributed to the second half of the 4th century. This was expressed in a change in the relationship between the heads of the tribal union - the kings of Yamato - and local leaders: the latter began to be considered as representatives of the central government. The relationship between the leaders - the elders and the community members - also changed: the place of “offerings” - part of the hunting catch and home craft products - was taken by the quitrent - grain (tatikara) and handicraft products (mitsugi); there was an obligation to carry out construction, irrigation and drainage work (eti). The emergence of feudal production relations was also evidenced by the separation of the tribal nobility from the community's own possessions (ata), who turned into feudal lords. Forced cultivators (tabe) from among the impoverished community members who became dependent on the former clan elders worked in their fields. In their position, such tabe were close to slaves. They differed from slaves, who appeared much earlier and were only household servants (yatsuko), in that they kept their property and the owner could not sell or kill them. In view of this, many historians call these farmers semi-free.
These semi-free people played a big role in the formation of the Japanese state, as their labor contributed to the development of productive forces. A significant portion of Koreans and Chinese fell into the category of semi-free, either brought to the Japanese islands by waves of migrations, or taken away during Japanese raids on Korea. These people from Korea and China were carriers of a much higher culture, in particular, higher farming techniques. Some of the immigrants from China and Korea were artisans - potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers, embroiderers, etc. Local tribal leaders, under whose authority they fell, provided them with the opportunity to have their own property and tools of production, but obliged them to live in certain places compact groups and took away all their products. Thus, in their position, such artisans were closer to slaves. At the same time, what distinguished them from slave-servants, like tabe, was that the master could not kill or sell them. Japanese sources call this category of semi-free ones tomobe and kakibe. So, along with the emergence of feudal relations in Japan, slave relations also took place.
However, many factors hampered the development of slaveholding relations. The main branch of the economy - agriculture - was overwhelmingly in the hands of community members. Large latifundia, creating conditions for the profitable use of slave labor, were impossible in a mountainous country. The source of labor supply was also limited: slaves were captured mainly in Korea during raids. But in the VI century. On the peninsula, one of the three Korean kingdoms, Siyala, grew into a powerful state, which not only successfully repelled the attacks of the Japanese, but in 562 even ousted the Japanese from Mimana. The acquisition of slaves on the Japanese islands from the Ebisu (Ainu, Ainu) and Kumaso (Hayato) tribes was associated with distant and difficult campaigns and encountered strong resistance from these then still numerous tribes. Therefore, the slaveholding path of development in the 7th century. has already exhausted its possibilities, and Japan has not become a slave state; its development followed the path of feudalism. ( Some modern Japanese historians find that slave relations in ancient Japan developed so much that we can talk about the existence of a slave system spanning the 8th and even subsequent centuries. However, other Japanese historians, as well as Soviet scientists, believe that feudal relations dominated in Japan already in the second half of the 7th century, which, of course, did not mean the complete disappearance of slavery.)
Feudal relations became dominant in Japan in the second half of the 7th century. The process of establishing feudal relations was accompanied by a struggle in which separate groups of the ruling class, striving for power, collided. At the beginning of the 7th century. Among the members of the family of Yamato kings, tendencies arose to consider their power fundamentally different from the power of other families of the nobility. In this regard, in 605, Prince Regent Umayado (Shotoku-taishi) announced the “law of 17 articles” - the declaration of the kings of Yamato. At the same time, an attempt was made to rely on the Sui Empire, formed in 589 in China: embassies were sent to the Sui court one after another. In the messages transmitted by these embassies, the new title of tenno, Chinese in origin, came into use for the first time, which the rulers of Japan began to call themselves in foreign relations. This title is retained by the rulers of Japan to this day and is translated into European languages by the word “emperor”).
External factors played a major role in subsequent events: the political influence of China, where at that time a powerful, centralized feudal empire was created, the influence of Chinese education, especially law, and political theories; the influence of Buddhism, which passed from China to Korea, and from there to Japan. The centralized, hierarchically organized Buddhist church was a kind of model for the feudal state. The unity of the cult and the absolute significance of the supreme deity (Buddha) contributed to overcoming in the field of ideology ideas associated with the remnants of the former tribal disunity.
"Taika's Coup"
Under these conditions, in 645 a coup took place, which was called the “Taika coup” (after the name of the year when it occurred) In Japan, as in China and Korea, chronology was carried out according to the years of reign, which were given special names.). Prince Nakanoe destroyed the Soga clan, which for a time completely pushed the royal clan out of power. In this coup, the royal family was supported by the Nakatomi clan, that is, the family of hereditary priests of the original Japanese religion - Shinto (the cult of the forces of nature, combined with the cult of ancestors), who received the Fujiwara surname after the coup. However, the main force behind the revolution was the Tabe, Tomobe, and Kakibe, who sought to free themselves from their semi-slave position. Immediately after the coup, in 646, the liberation of all tabe, tomobe and kakibe was announced, with their equal rights with feudal dependent peasants. Thus, the “Taika coup” led to the establishment of the feudal mode of production as the dominant one.
In the same manifesto of 646, all private ownership was declared abolished, and the land became the property of the state. The population turned into holders of state allotments. Consequently, as in China and Korea, the Japanese early feudal state was based on state feudal ownership of land.
The bulk of the population - peasants - received per capita plots and was subject to a grain tax and a tax on household products, and also bore responsibility for public works (construction, irrigation, etc.) for a certain number of days a year. The ruling class retained land holdings under the guise of allotments - official, rank. Thus, for feudal lords, land ownership was conditioned by service and was of a beneficial nature. Peasant farmers were not formally deprived of personal freedom; they retained their property and tools of production, which entailed their well-known initiative in managing the economy. But at the same time, they were deprived of the right to leave their plots, i.e. found themselves virtually attached to the ground.
To govern the state, an extensive apparatus was created, consisting of central bodies (the Supreme State Council and 8 departments subordinate to it) and local authorities (provincial governors and district commanders); The country was divided into administrative regions - provinces (kupi) and counties (kori). The entire population was obliged to perform military service. A system of secular education, built on the Chinese model, was introduced to train officials. The Chinese language became the official language of government use and even entered the everyday life of the upper stratum of the ruling class. In 701, this entire system was recorded in a code of laws - the Taihoryo Code. In 710, the construction of the city of Nara, the first city in Japan, was completed.
Slaveholding remnants after the "Taika coup"
The establishment of feudalism in Japan did not lead to the complete elimination of the slave system. The category of semi-free tomobe and kakibe was destroyed, but the category of yatsuko - house slaves - was preserved. A new category of state slaves also appeared - servants in government agencies. Owning slaves was one of the means of obtaining land at that time. According to the law, the owner of a slave received from the state an additional plot of land in the amount of 1/3 of the free plot. The ruling elite therefore sought to increase the number of slaves.
However, the main source of their receipt - prisoners from among local foreigners - at this time could only be important on the outskirts. The enslavement of members of the defeated clans after the cessation of the struggle between them could also no longer take place. Therefore, it was necessary to resort to other means: the forcible abduction and abduction of peasants, especially children, or the purchase of younger members from the head of the family. One could also be enslaved for a crime and for non-payment of a debt. There was also self-sale into slavery of people who had no means of subsistence. In the VII-VIII centuries. the number of slaves reached 10-20% of the total population. Their labor was used most of all in construction. But by the end of the 8th century. slave labor began to be used less and less, and the use of slaves in agriculture ceased altogether.
Feudal lands
According to the law, it was believed that representatives of the ruling class also had their lands in the form of “allotments” received from the state. However, these plots were fundamentally different from peasant plots. They included the so-called “rank allotments”, “official allotments”, as well as “allotments received for services to the state”, i.e. for participation in the “Taika coup”. Finally, there were lands granted by the emperor up to 250 cho ( 1 cho at that time was about 1.2 hectares.). The smallest allotment of a feudal lord was 40 times larger than the peasant's allotment, and the granted allotments were 1,250 times larger than the peasant's.
Rank and official allotments were given for the duration of the state in one or another rank or position. Granted plots were for life. Allotments for merit were given for one, two or three generations, and in the case of major merit - forever, in other words, they were actually the property of individual feudal lords. All other lands were given formally for temporary use for different periods. However, given that the owners of all these plots belonged to the aristocracy, as well as the fact that the feudal lords filled the entire apparatus of government, the transformation of the right to use these plots into ownership was only a matter of time.
In addition to land, representatives of the ruling class also received peasant households as “feed awards” (jikifu), which were also distributed according to rank (from 100 to 500 households) and according to positions (from 800 to 3,000 households). A different number of households could complain for services to the state. The peasants of these households gave half of the grain tax to the treasury, and the other half to the feudal lord to whom the peasants were assigned. The fishing tax from the peasants went entirely in favor of the feudal lord.
The imperial house enjoyed income not only from its possessions, but also from the entire country. These incomes in the form of salaries were shared among other representatives of the ruling class, who made up the central and provincial government apparatus and received the rights of the upper class. A sign of belonging to the upper class was the receipt of some rank.
Legislative measures after the “Taika coup” strengthened the position of the feudal lords in Japan. The overwhelming majority of them were descendants of clan elders, who turned into a feudal aristocracy and secured the most important economic and political privileges.
Culture in the 8th century
The Para period, as is usually called in Japanese historiography, the time when the capital of the state was the city of Para, i.e. 710-794, was marked by many significant phenomena in the material and spiritual culture of the country. First of all, the appearance of the city of Nara itself, which was built under the supervision of Chinese builders on the model of the city of Chang'an, the capital of the Thai Empire, is noteworthy. In the Todaiji Monastery, erected in 728, a bronze statue of the “Big Buddha” (Daibutsu) about 16 m high was installed. This was an unprecedented achievement of foundry art for that time. Not far from the city was the Horyuji Monastery, founded back in 607, the buildings of which were wonderful examples of wooden architecture. The frescoes of this monastery were of no less artistic value.
In the palaces and temples of the city of Nara there were numerous objects of art, especially sculptures and artistic crafts made of bronze, gold, lacquer - products of Japanese, Korean and Chinese masters. The sculptural images of leaders of the Buddhist church were realistic in nature, and many of them were distinguished by the perfection of artistic execution.
The first historiographic monuments also appeared in Japan: “Kojiki” (“Ancient History”, 710) and “Nihongi” (“Annals of Japan”, 720). These works record ancient myths, ancient tales, historical legends, and provide chronological records. They also contain examples of ancient poetry. The authors of these works, who belonged to the highest court nobility, created the concept of the “divine origin” of imperial power, designed to strengthen the authority of the Nara monarchs.
By the second half of the 8th century. includes the collection “Man'yoshu” (“Collection of Myriad Petals”) - the first collection of Japanese folk song poetry and literary poetry that flourished at the same time. The latter began in Japan the line of lyrical poetry of the ruling class, characteristic of early feudal society. It was, first of all, the lyrics of love, combined with lyrics in descriptions of nature. The largest poets were Hitomaro, the author of heartfelt elegies, and Yakamochi, a prominent representative of love lyrics. A special place was occupied by Okura, whose poems reflected the bitter fate of the people who experienced painful oppression from the feudal lords.
In the 3rd century. In Japan, the process of decomposition of the primitive communal system began. Within clans, a clan aristocracy stands out, property and social inequality develop, and various forms of exploitation by the privileged clan elite of their relatives and foreigners captured during wars develop. Slave forms of exploitation, which contributed to the strengthening of the socio-economic and political positions of the clan nobility, did not, however, become widespread. The geographical conditions of Japan, its island position, and mountainous terrain constrained their development. Here it was impossible to create large latifundia with primitive tools (since irrigated rice cultivation required intensive peasant labor on a small plot of land), and also to obtain a sufficient number of slaves through military campaigns.
Not the least role was played by the special influence of the highly developed Chinese civilization, with its traditional socio-economic structure and state system, as well as religions: Buddhism and Confucianism, which was especially strong in the early stages of the development of Japanese society and the state. Speaking about the strong religious influence of China, it should be noted that of the two Chinese religions (Confucianism and Buddhism), the influence of Confucianism was superficial. It did not take deep roots in Japan in comparison with the easily digestible Buddhism, since at the time of its penetration there had not formed a sufficiently educated layer of religious ideologists capable of introducing its philosophical dogmas to the masses.
From the 4th century Tribal unions were formed in Japan, and in the 5th century. the leader of the Yamato tribal union unites most of the country's territory under his supremacy.
To intensify the processes of social stratification in the 6th century. and the formation of the state apparatus in Japan was greatly influenced by the long struggle of individual clans for supremacy in the tribal union and the victory of one of them, led by Shotoku-taishi, during whose reign the first legislative document appeared, the first declaration of the kings of Yamato - the Shotoku Constitution, or the Law of 17 articles (604), which determined the principles of public administration.
Being not so much political and legal provisions as the religious and ethical basis of such provisions, the Law of 17 articles advocates agreement, harmony, service to the common, not the personal, of all Japanese. At the same time, their inequality is directly consolidated, the ruler is especially singled out, then the nobles and the common people. The ruler is considered as a single sovereign, the nobles are his officials, and the people are the mass of people subordinate to them (Article 15).
The basis of order is proclaimed to be “universal law” (Articles 4, 5), and the sovereign is its spokesman, who as such has the right to demand unquestioning obedience from his officials. “If the superiors command,” says Article 3, “then the inferiors must obey.” The Law condemns planned civil strife, private ownership of land, and proclaims state ownership of land and state taxes for farmers.
The internecine struggle prevented the creation of an effectively functioning central government at this time, which was established only after another clan victory - the Taika coup (645).
The socio-economic innovations of this time were reflected in a series of reforms enshrined in the Taika Manifesto, supplemented by a special code "Taiho ryo" *. The reforms were designed to reorganize the management system and agrarian relations along the Chinese model. Based on the subsequent introduction of the allotment system, land, along with dependent people, was confiscated from private individuals and transferred to state ownership.
*The “Taika Law Code” (Taiho Ryo Code), which summarized all the legislative acts of this period from 646 to 700, was published in 702. The Yoro era that followed the “Taika era”, 717-723. (in Japan, unlike China, the change of dynasties is not recognized; it is believed that one dynasty established back in the 6th century rules), was marked by new legislation, which was included in the general code of laws "Taiho Yoro Ryo", the most important source of information about early stages of Japanese society and state.
Land plots, allotments subject to redistribution every six years, were distributed among full-fledged peasants (remins) according to the number of eaters. Slaves also received an allotment equal to a third of the free allotment. The state, as the owner of the land, provided for triple duties for the peasants: rent (to give) in grain, tax on handicraft products and labor duty, lasting up to one hundred or more days a year.
The introduction of the allotment system in Japan did not mean, however, an equal redistribution of land. A significant part of the land passed into the hands of officials (replenished by the same nobility) as official official allotments, the size of which depended on position and rank. The nobility received some lands for lifelong use, sometimes with the right to inherit the land in a straight line, from one to three generations.
The allotment system proved to be economically ineffective and short-lived in Japan. From the very beginning, the scope of its application was limited to the regions adjacent to the capital; the terms of land redistribution were violated, which were accompanied by abuses of officials, etc. Its foundations were increasingly undermined by the growth of private land ownership by the feudalizing clan nobility, which the weak central government could not resist.
Further feudalization of Japanese society led to the collapse of the allotment system. Periodic redistribution of land actually ceased in the 10th century, when the allotment system was replaced by the average private estate (shoen), created through the expropriation of communal lands, the development of virgin lands, which was only possible for the rich community elite, and numerous imperial land grants for merits and service. etc. The formation of privately owned estates was accompanied by the gradual transformation of allotment peasants into feudal-dependent ones.
The new local system swept away all obstacles to the creation of large feudal land ownership, and, consequently, the political fragmentation of the country with inevitable internecine wars, stimulating the development of relations of patronage, domination and subordination, and vassal-fief ties. The ranks of the emerging feudal class began to be replenished by the warriors of the rulers and large feudal lords, who received land plots as fiefs as remuneration for military service.
This layer of professional warriors, replenished by small landowners who sought protection from powerful landowners, turned over time into a closed class of samurai (bushi), with its own code of honor based on the strict requirement of loyalty to the master, up to the unconditional readiness to give his life for him.
From the 10th century In Japan, therefore, a feudal organization of land ownership, so unusual for the East, begins to take hold, together with the widespread development of small-peasant farming, which determines the similarity of the Japanese and Western Middle Ages.
A number of factors contributed to this. First of all, the creation of feudal forms of property in Japan, unlike China, was not prevented by an omnipotent state with its control and regulatory functions, since neither an influential Confucian elite nor a strong numerous corps of official administrators, together with an effectively reproducing bureaucracy, competitive examination system.
The traditional dominance of large clan groups, which weakened the center and did not let go of the reins of power, also had an effect. The power of clan feudal houses, relying on their own military strength of loyal samurai, became the main reason for the long-term fragmentation of the country, the ineffectiveness of the attempts of the first two shoguns ("great commanders") in the 12th and 14th centuries. combine it. The strengthening of central power, relying on military force, occurred only during the period of the third Tokugawa shogunate (beginning of the 17th - first half of the 19th century).
Long-term fragmentation, in turn, hampered the socio-economic development of Japan. The almost undivided dominance of feudal relations existed in this country until the middle of the 19th century, until the revolutionary, bourgeois in nature changes in the era called the “Meiji restoration”*.
* Meiji is the official name for the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito (1868-1912).
During the period of feudalism in Japan, the supreme owner was considered the emperor (tenno or mikado), as well as his vassals - the princes (daimyo). Japan was divided into feudal principalities, and each principality was an independent 11th state - it had its own army and collected duties at the borders. Thus, there was feudal fragmentation in Japan.
The Emperor was only nominally considered the head of Japan. I" power was concentrated in the hands of the shogun - the military ruler or commander-in-chief. In the 17th century, the position of shogun was seized by princes from the Tokugawa clan, and therefore the period of history from the 17th century to the bourgeois revolution is usually called the triode of the Tokutawa shogunate.
The top of Japanese society were samurai - military personnel. It should be emphasized that in Japan, except for samurai, no one was allowed to serve in military service; Representatives of other classes were forbidden to take up arms on pain of death.
European feudal lords were a military class. But the samurai were not landowners and did not have land holdings with the peasants. For their service they received a “rice ration” - payment in kind in rice. The state received this rice from the peasants in the form of a war tax, that is, a tax for the maintenance of the samurai army. If we assume that there was feudalism in Japan, this tax can be considered as “priced” rent, since the ruling class existed at the expense of it. According to the law, peasants had to give 40% of the harvest as tax, but in practice up to 50-70% of the harvest was taken from them.
Since there were no landowners, there was no corvee. But there was state labor service, public works characteristic of the Asian mode of production: peasants built canals, roads, brought various goods, etc. The population of Japan was divided into four classes: samurai, peasants, artisans and merchants. The transition from one class to another was categorically prohibited by law; the whipping of classes, characteristic of feudalism in general, was introduced here to such an extent that the law dictated the life of each class, down to clothing and food. For example, peasants were forbidden to eat rice, and they could only wear clothes made of cotton and linen. Only samurai wear silk clothes. Before the samurai, everyone else had no rights. A samurai, by law, could kill a prostitute; just to “test a new weapon.”
At the same time, the classes of artisans and merchants occupied an officially lower position than the peasants. Trade and craft were considered humiliating occupations. Natural trade and craft developed slowly in this regard, and even the population of cities consisted mainly of samurai. So, at the beginning of the 18th century. samurai made up 3/4 of the townspeople, and artisans and merchants made up only 1/4.
The natural economy, characteristic of European feudalism, was reinforced here by the fact that taxes and salaries for the samurai were in kind. And in the interior of Japan, barter in kind was widely practiced, and rice was also used as a measure of value.
The decomposition of feudalism began at the end of the 17th century. It manifested itself in the destruction of the class structure and the development of usury. In Japan, other areas of business offered too few opportunities. The development of domestic trade was hampered by the extreme narrowness of the domestic market, while foreign trade was generally prohibited. And the weakness of trade and lack of market hampered the development of industry. Under these conditions, usury received an exaggerated and ugly development. First of all, peasants who pledged plots of land to secure debt fell into bondage with moneylenders. Which was illegal because the land was the property of the peasants. When the peasant could not repay the debt with interest, the moneylender, again bypassing the law, became the owner of his land. The peasant continued to farm on this land and pay taxes to the state, but now he had to pay rent to the owner of the land. These illegal landowners were called jinushi. By the middle of the 19th century. 1/3 of the cultivated land came into the possession of the jinushi, and a third of the peasants found themselves in the position of bonded tenants.
But samurai also fell into bondage with moneylenders. The reason for this was the in-kind form of their salary: to satisfy their needs, the samurai needed money, and not just rice. Money could be obtained from moneylenders. In the 18th century A special guild of moneylenders appeared who were engaged in buying up receipts for rice rations from samurai. According to some estimates, by the middle of the 19th century. 7/8 of Japan's national wealth was already in the hands of moneylenders.
Of course, in this case, the lowest class (and moneylenders belonged to the class of merchants) actually no longer occupied the lowest rung of the social ladder. Taking advantage of the enslaving dependence of the feudal lords, some of the samurai found themselves without work. Such “unemployed” samurai (ronin) did not receive rice rations, but lived in cities, engaged in crafts and trade, which was strictly prohibited by law.
The disintegration of feudalism was manifested in this discrepancy between real life and the law. The penetration of capitalist relations into the country was prevented by the policy of forced isolation of Japan from the rest of the world, which the shoguns carried out since the 17th century. The purpose of this policy was to preserve the existing system and prevent foreign influence, which could undermine the foundations of existing relations. The policy was that the Japanese were prohibited from visiting other countries or even building ships suitable for sea travel. Foreign ships were not allowed into Japanese harbors. An exception was made only for merchants of Holland and China, but it was limited: the arrival of two Dutch ships and several Chinese ships was allowed to one of the harbors of Japan during the year, and foreigners could trade and even have contact not with the population, but only with government officials.
Isolation indeed slowed down the penetration of capitalist orders into Japan, but it also slowed down the economic development of Japan. The result was economic stagnation in Japan from the end of the 17th century. before the revolution of 1868. For more than a century and a half, the cultivated area, annual rice production and even the population remained at the same level.
True, at this time manufacturing was still born and took its first steps. Manufactories arose here in two ways.
In subsistence farming, peasants were forced to prepare handicrafts at home. Over time, a buyer appeared and a scattered manufactory was born, mainly for the production of silk and cotton fabrics. Some princes organized porcelain metallurgical manufactories. It is known that even samurai worked as workers in such factories.
We call the crisis of the feudal-serf system a process that is progressive in content - the transition from a feudal-serf to a capitalist economy.
The main features of the transition period from feudalism to capitalism:
1. This is the period of primitive accumulation, that is, the retraining of the basic conditions for the development of capitalist production.
2. This is the manufacturing period, the period of dominance in industry not by factories, but by manufactories.
3. In most European countries at this time the feudal system and method of production were still preserved. Only two countries have taken the lead and are developing along the capitalist path - England and the Netherlands.
The era of primitive accumulation of capital had the following features:
1. The ruin of the peasants and the formation of an army of people who were later to become workers.
2. The accumulation of capital is primarily in the sphere of circulation and credit, and not in industry.
3. Capital accumulated over a long period of time in trade and usury during the transition to capitalism begins to be invested in industry.
4. An important source of capital accumulation was the robbery and exploitation of colonies.
Manufacture is a capitalist enterprise using not technology, but manual labor. She was distinguished;
1. Capitalist exploitation of labor, when the worker works for the owner of the factory, receiving wages.
2. Division of labor, in which the worker performs only a specific operation, rather than making the entire product from start to finish.
In Holland, the main role was played not by industrial capital, but by commercial capital. Holland became the world center of trade, it owned 60% of the world's merchant fleet. She controlled almost all maritime transport.
In Holland, accumulated capital remained in the sphere of accumulation, in trade, and did not flow into industry. Therefore, Holland was defeated in the competition with England and lost its leadership.
In the 17th century In Russia, largely through the efforts of the state, a symbiosis of feudal and capitalist relations in the economy is born. This ensured the further growth of the feudal-serf economy, strengthened the state, and increased international prestige. However, the contradictions between developing capitalist production and serfdom led to a crisis of the feudal-serf system.
It was serfdom that became the instrument that made it possible to adapt capitalist manufacturing to the feudal system. Serf manufacture was the “second edition of serfdom,” large-scale commodity production using serf labor.
A unique feature of Russia was that, as a result of Peter’s reforms, the bulk of manufactories were state-owned and possessional, owned by the state. The bulk of the products went to the treasury, and prices for them were set by state decrees.
Manufacture could still be made by serfs, but a serf factory was impossible. The use of machines is incompatible with serf labor.
Progress in agriculture was expressed in essentially capitalist phenomena. But their development was hampered by the feudal-serf state system, so progressive phenomena took on an ugly form.
Serfdom slowed down the industrial revolution in Russia
