>From: Nate Ledbetter <ltdomer98@...>
>Subject: Re: Change of subject
>--- Mateusz Ostrowski <ostrowski75@...> wrote:
>> But the politics were shaped by the martial arts.
>
>No, they weren't--at least not nearly as much as by
>expediency, a desire to secure and remain in power,
>socioeconomic factors, etc. Tokugawa Ieyasu was not
>some mystical warrior-monk who ran out and did a
sword
>kata every time he had to make some critical
political
>decision. If anything, he was the ultimate
pragmatist.
>
>> The way they were thinking and planning was a
>> "fruit" of their's commitment to martial arts. By
>> the way, it wasn't only a martial art but the way
of
>> thinking.
>> Matt
>Spoken like you subscribe to "Martial Arts
>Illustrated". Look, I'm not saying that martial arts
>experience wouldn't have aided a decision or two, but
>it's ridiculous to say that Shinkage-ryu, or any
>martial art, was the basis of the Tokugawa political
>construct. Inspired politician, great leader, and
good
>general--Tokugawa was all of these. Mystical martial
>arts warrior king? Not so much. Considering at the
end
>of his life he was fairly fat, I'm not sure he did
>much training beyond the "tempura-do" school.
I've been lurking for the most part in this forum, but
this topic drove me out of the shadows :)
Japan was an extremely rich country. Its many feudal
lords could field armies greater in size than most
great European powers of the time could. Also, the
various religious sects had great influence and
strength, which could rival those all-too powerful
daimyos. It was importing advanced, and therefore
expensive, weaponry (matchlocks, cannons, breast-plate
armour) all the way from Europe. Its lords were
financing the construction of massive strongholds and
fortifications.
My opinion is that Togukawa Ieyashu chose to counter
this by making everyone poor. He confiscated and took
under direct (appointing daikan) or indirect (through
the hatamoto families) bakufu control the most
strategically and economically important lands, he
overtaxed the rest of the daimyo, and he came up with
an ingenious hostage system, which also strained
greatly the finances of the daimyo. They had to
maintain two residences (double expenses), travel to
and from Edo according to a very strict and luxurious
protocol, etc. Plus they had two counselors (Edo- and
Kano-Karo), which were usually the actual rulers of
their particular domain (Edo estate or Han), and often
conspired against each other.
In order to cope with the above, the daimyo had in
turn to overtax their serfs. So the economically
strangled daimyo were in turn doing the same to their
populations, thus doing the job of the bakufu
themselves.
Also, another important factor might have been the way
the bakufu was able to benefit financially from the
pricing of rice. It was paying its retainers in rice,
the rice merchants bought that cheap, and later on
sold it expensive, paying adequate taxes to the
bakufu, while at the same time samurai, peasants, and
even jikisan retainers were strugling with poverty.
As it's been pointed out before "It's the economy,
stupid!"
Thodoris
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