Feudal Ibaraki

from the 9/97 paper Ibaraki Report

During the Edo Period, the ruling Shogunate established a feudal society in Japan. From 1639 to 1853, Japan blockaded itself from the outside world; it became isolated from almost all foreign contact under the "sakoku" (鎖国, literally country in chains) policy. However, in 1853, Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perry, commander of the United States Navy's East Indian Fleet, sailed his warships into Uraga Harbor (浦賀港) and demanded the immediate re-opening of the country. He returned the next year to conclude a treaty of goodwill between Japan and the U.S.

In 1609, Yorifusa Tokugawa (徳川頼房) became the first of Mito's feudal lords, and by 1638, under his restructuring plans, had seen the completion of Mito Castle. That plan also saw the establishment of the Jōkamachi (城下町, the vassal towns surrounding the castle), such as Kasama (笠間), Shimodate (下館), Yūki (結城), Koga (古河), and Tsuchiura (土浦). The ruling warrior class and its servants lived in the mansions and houses of the vassal towns, while the working classes also began to gather around them and take up residence. Traces of these smaller towns, such as Teppō-chō (鉄砲町), Kaji-chō (鍛冶町) , Daiku-machi (大工町), Koga No Takajō-chō (古河の鷹匠町), Daikan-chō (代官町), Yūki No Kaji-chō (結城の鍛冶町) and Koku-chō (石町) are evident in the names of some of Mito's subdivisions.

Along with the feudal society came a rigidly hierarchical social organization, generally known as Shi-Nō-Kō-Shō (士農工商, or Warrior, Farmer, Artisan, Merchant) with social status in descending order. There was also a criminal and untouchable class below the main four, known as Etahinin (穢多非人, people whose work usually involved handling human bodies or animal carcasses). The high-ranking warrior class (which included feudal lords and samurai) discriminated against all other classes. The farmers, laborers and merchants practiced a certain restraint in the way they dressed and their daily activities based upon their social position. Farmers, in particular, had to pay an annual tribute to the feudal lord, for which they were given the use of laborers. The untouchable class had to perform duties such as leather working (curing and tanning hides of slaughtered animals) or cleaning up at the site of an execution, and many were beggars. Because of their status, the higher-status citizens harshly discriminated against them, and they were forbidden from interacting with the general populace.

There is a story concerning the tribute collection in Namasemura (生瀬村, present day Daigo-machi 大子町). Two men, pretending to be tax collectors, came to the village, and the farmers paid them their tribute. However, when the two real tax collectors later arrived, the villagers thought they were fakes, and one of the collectors was killed. The remaining man fled back to its lord, and when he told what had happened, the lord sent his soldiers to kill every one of the thousand inhabitants of the village, regardless of age and sex. There are no written records remaining of this incident, but ominous-sounding place names like Kubizuka (首塚, the Mound of Heads) and Jigokuzawa (地獄沢, Hell's Marsh) exist, and with them are legends of the massacre.

In 1653, by order of the feudal lord Mitsukuni Tokugawa (徳川光圀), "The Great History of Japan" (大日本史) was begun, though it would not be completed until 1906. This huge compilation contains the records of 100 generations, and is printed on 397 scrolls made of Nishi No Uchi Washi (西の内和紙, a type of Japanese paper).

During the time of sakoku, Mitsukuni Tokugawa invited two Chinese men, Zhu Shun Shui and Dong Gao Xin Yue, to Mito. Zhu Shun Shui was invited during his exile in Nagasaki (1664) to bring Confucianism, help improve methods of farming, and aid in the design of Koishikawa Kōrakuen (小石川後楽園, a park in Tōkyō). Dong Gao Xin Yue had also come to Nagasaki from abroad, in 1677, and after visiting Mito in 1683, he eventually became a priest at the Tentokuji (天徳寺, a Buddhist temple), where he was skilled in poetry, calligraphy, and seal engraving.