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(★)(´E-109´ y ´LA-56´ son mismos libros.) (Quantitative Analyses of Economic and Social Aspects of the Samurai in Tokugawa and Meiji Japan) ([de ´Preface´] ´Samurai´ has become a familiar word. It is in any English dictionary and few people would have any difficulty in offering some sort of definition of samurai. Many may immediately envision sword-wielding Toshiro Mifune in one of his many movie roles, while others may think of the admiration of the samurai culture expressed by Yukio Mishima who committed harakiri in 1971. But how much do we really know about this group of men? Even for those of us specializing in some aspect of Japanese history, what we know of this ruling class of Tokugawa Japan is limited by most standards of the academic profession. Beyond selected aspects of their political roles, their ethics, and the samurai code, the knowledge we can obtain from English sources consists generally of random information on their attire, battles, and legendary exploits. But, even in the domain of political and intellectual history, few books have been written in English and almost no one focuses on the economic and social aspects of their life. Thus, this book is written to fill a small part of this gap in our knowledge, and, I must confess, to indulge in my fascination with them. As an economic historian, my concern is with the economic aspects of samurai life and with some social and demographic questions related to their economic life. [de ´Introduction´] This book sets forth in two parts the results of quantitative studies in Japanese economic history. In the first part an untested but widely accepted view that the samurai class suffered from increasing poverty during the Tokugawa period is examined. To support this view, scholars have relied only on evidence culled from contemporary essays and on occasional references to price changes and to increasing daimyo debts. That is, no one has established quantitatively whether or not samurai income in real terms did indeed decline during the Tokugawa period. In most instances, writers who have discussed the samurai´s ´increasing poverty´ have failed to define what they meant by it, and frequently, their real income has not been distinguished from their relative nominal income in relation to that of merchants and peasants. In the second part of the book, I have re-examined with the aid of quantitative evidence the long-accepted generalization that the former samurai class became, after the Meiji Restoration, a dominant group of entrepreneurs who were motivated by the so-called samurai spirit. This is one of the typical examples of deductive theorizing which is only weakly supported by empirical evidence. The reasoning goes as follows : the educated samurai class with its reputed samurai spirit was a uniquely Japanese social class, and Japan was the only nation which succeeded in industrializing as rapidly as it did. The supporters of this generalization say that this suggests the samurai class and the samurai spirit were important explanatory variables for Japan´s successful industrialization and modernization. Of course, the generalization is rarely stated so crudely. Most authors support it by emphasizing the samurai´s education, their nationalistic visions, and even their close connections with government leaders. The gist of their argument, however, is that the so-called samurai spirit was essential for Japan´s rapid industrialization. The evidence marshaled in support of this thesis has been limited and has failed to convince a minority of the students of Japanese economic history.) |
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