Commercialization Of The Tax Rice And Its Consequence During The Edo Period

The Edo period, also called Japanese Modern Age, was the transitional period ofJapan from mid-ages to modern times, whose main ruling form was the TokugawaRegime. The Tokugawa Regime was based on the small-scale peasant economy inwhich contained combined with the flourishing commodity economy, which wascharacterized with the commercialization of the tax rice. As the most important formof taxation, tax rice played a significant role in the Japanese history. First, theexistence of the tax rice was the economic foundation of the Tokugawa Regime;second, the feature of the Tokugawa Regime determined that the tax rice should besold to ensure the whole system to run regularly. So the commercialization of the taxrice promoted the development of commodity economy in every aspect. However,The development of commodity economy and the development of small-scale peasanteconomy were in conflict, which thus shook the foundation of the Tokugawa Regimeand caused the whole system to go into disintegration. The thesis starts with the features of the Tokugawa Regime,and introduces theinfluences of the commercialization of the tax rice on the Tokugawa Regime and themodernism of Japan. The thesis includes preface, body and conclusion. The preface is the literaturereview. The body is composed of three parts: Part 1 is about the conditions of thecommercialization of tax rice. Part 2 is the specific circulation of tax rice, includingthe trading process, the formation and transportation means of the rice market. Part 3introduces the reversal change of the social status of the two classes--samurai andmerchants in the Tokugawa Regime after the commercialization of tax rice, whichinfluenced the wheel of Japanese history. In the end, a conclusion about thefulfillment of modernism of Japan is drawn based on the former analysis.