The Taika Reform Edicts

Note: The documents below were written in and after 645 A.D. during the reign of Emperor Kotoku of Japan, who had just defeated his internal rivals and unified the Japanese State. The actual documents were written mainly by two scholars who had traveled to China and were exposed to Chinese political ideas.

Study Questions:

1) Based on your reading of the text, what are the most important obstacles to the centralization of the Japanese state?

2) What similarities can you find between political struggles between local and regional elites in Japan and the same elites in China, as based on Sunday’s lecture?

3) To what degree do you think that Chinese political philosophy influenced these political reforms? Cite specific links (or contradictions) between these laws and the political ideas of Confucius and/or the Legalists.

On the Nature of Government

Edict of 647 AD 4th month, 29th day

"The Empire was entrusted (by the Sun-Goddess to her descendants, with the words) 'My children, in their capacity as Deities, shall rule it.' For this reason, this country, since Heaven and Earth began, has been a monarchy. From the time that Our Imperial ancestor first ruled the land, there has been great concord in the Empire, and there has never been any factiousness. In recent times, however, the names, first of the Gods, and then of the Emperors, have in some cases been separated (from their proper application) and converted into the Uji of Omi or Muraji, [common clan names in Japan]... In consequence of this, the minds of the people of the whole country take a strong partisan bias, and conceiving a deep sense of the "me" and "you," hold firmly each to their names…

The consequence is that the minds of the people have become unsettled and the government of the country cannot be carried on. The duty has therefore now devolved on Us in Our capacity as Celestial Divinity, to regulate and settle these things. In order to make them understood, and thereby to order the State and to order the people, We shall issue, one after another, a succession of edicts, one earlier, another later, one to-day and another to-morrow…

On the Corruption of Local Officials

Edict of 645 AD 8th Month 19th day

"In the times of all the Emperors, from antiquity downwards, subjects have been set apart for the purpose of making notable their reigns and handing down their names to posterity. Now the Omi 11 and Muraji 12, the Tomo no Miyakko 5 and the Kuni no Miyakko 2 [Japanese elites], have each one set apart their own vassals, whom they compel to labor at their arbitrary pleasure. Moreover, they cut off the hills and seas, the woods and plains, the ponds and rice-fields belonging to the provinces and districts, and appropriate them to themselves. Their contests are never-ceasing. Some engross to themselves many tens of thousands of shiro 13 of rice-land, while others possess in all patches of ground too small to stick a needle into. When the time comes for the payment of taxes, the Omi, the Muraji, and the Tomo no Miyakko, [Japanese elites] first collect them for themselves and then hand over a share. In the case of repairs to palaces … they each bring their own vassals, and do the work according to circumstances. The Book of Changes 15 says, " Diminish that which is above: increase that which is below: if measures are framed according to the regulations, the resources of the State suffer no injury, and the people receive no hurt."

"At the present time, the people are still few. And yet the powerful cut off portions of land and water, and converting them into private ground, sell it to the people, demanding the price yearly. From this time forward the sale of land is not allowed. Let no man without due authority make himself a landlord, engrossing to himself that which belongs to the helpless."

The Capital, Taxes, and the Army

Edict of 646 AD 1st month, 1st day [excepts]

II. The capital is for the first time to be regulated, and Governors appointed for the Home provinces and districts. Let barriers, outposts, guards, and post-horses, both special and ordinary, be provided, bell-tokens made, and mountains and rivers regulated.

For each ward in the capital let there be appointed one alderman, and for four wards one chief alderman, who shall be charged with the superintendence of the population, and the examination of criminal matters. For appointment as chief aldermen of wards let men be taken belonging to the wards, of unblemished character, firm and upright, so that they may fitly sustain the duties of the time. For appointments as aldermen, whether of rural townships or of city wards, let ordinary subjects be taken belonging to the township or ward, of good character and solid capacity. If such men are not to be found in the township or ward in question, it is permitted to select and employ men of the adjoining township or ward.

The Home provinces shall include the region from the River Yokogaha at Nabari on the east, from Mount Senoyama in Kii on the south, from Kushibuchi in Akashi on the west, and from Mount Afusaka-yama in Sasanami in Afumi on the north. Districts of forty townships are constituted Greater Districts, of from thirty to four townships are constituted Middle Districts, and of three or fewer townships are constituted Lesser Districts. For the district authorities, of whatever class, let there be taken Kuni no Miyakko [officials] of unblemished character, such as may fitly sustain the duties of the time, and made Tairei and Shorei. Let men of solid capacity and intelligence who are skilled in writing and arithmetic be appointed assistants and clerks.

The number of special or ordinary post-horses given shall in all cases follow the number of marks on the posting bell-tokens. When bell-tokens are given to (officials of) the provinces and barriers, let them be held in both cases by the chief official, or in his absence by the assistant official.

III. Let there now be provided for the first time registers of population, books of account and a system of the receipt and re-granting of distribution-land.

Let every fifty houses be reckoned a township, and in every township let there be one alderman who shall be charged with the superintendence of the registers of population, the direction of the sowing of crops and the cultivation of mulberry trees, the prevention and examination of offences, and the enforcement of the payment of taxes and of forced labor.

For rice-land, thirty paces in length by twelve paces in breadth shall be reckoned a tan. Ten tan make one cho. For each tan the tax is two sheaves and two bundles (such as can be grasped in the hand) of rice; for each cho the tax is twenty-two sheaves of rice. On mountains or in valleys where the land is precipitous, or in remote places where the population is scanty, such arrangements are to be made as may be convenient.

IV. The old taxes and forced labor are abolished, and a system of commuted taxes instituted. These shall consist of fine silks, coarse silks, raw silk, and floss silk, all in accordance with what is produced in the locality. For each cho of rice land the rate is ten feet of fine silk, or for four cho one piece forty feet in length by two and a half feet in width. For coarse silk the rate is twenty feet (per cho), or one piece for every two cho of the same length and width as the fine silk. For cloth the rate is forty feet of the same dimensions as the fine and coarse silk, i.e. one tan for each cho. Let there be levied separately a commuted house tax. All houses shall pay each twelve feet of cloth. The extra articles of this tax, as well as salt and offerings, will depend on what is produced in the locality.

For horses for the public service, let every hundred houses contribute one horse of medium quality. Or if the horse is of superior quality, let one be contributed by every two hundred houses. If the horses have to be purchased, the price shall be made up by a payment from each house of twelve feet of cloth.

As to weapons, each person shall contribute a sword, armour, bow and arrows, a flag, and a drum.

For servants, the old system, by which one servant was provided by every thirty houses, is altered, and one servant is to be furnished from every fifty houses [one is for employment as a menial servant] for allotment to the various functionaries. Fifty houses shall be allotted to provide rations for one servant, and one house shall contribute twenty two feet of cloth and five masu 25 of rice in lieu of service.