A Chapter from Japanese History 



223 



cording to the rank and influence they 

 enjoyed at the time. Under the feudal 

 system the people were divided into four 

 classes, viz, Samurai, or military class, 

 farmers, tradesmen, and merchants. Of 

 these the Samurai was the privileged 

 class, which was maintained at the pub- 

 lic expense of each feudal lord, and it 

 was in the hands of this class that the 

 political activities of Japan found their 

 home. 



The feudatories, with the assistance 

 of the retainers or Samurai (who num- 

 bered some 400,000 men, and, with their 

 families, 2,000,000 people in the whole 

 Empire), formed the bone and sinew of 

 the nation at that time. While, in the 

 latter part of theTokugawa government, 

 education was diffused more widely 

 among the farmers, tradesmen, and 

 merchant classes and their social status 

 gained some elevation, yet they remained 

 the class of producers for the support of 

 a government in which they had no 

 voice. 



In a word, Japan, under the feudal 

 system, can be considered as having been 

 divided into so many states with com- 

 plete political autonomy within the re- 

 spective domains of the feudatories as 

 to legislative, administrative, judicial, 

 and military affairs. Every institution 

 was in its nature local and heteroge- 

 neous. There existed no single sys- 

 tem of law or finance that was common 

 to the nation. 



WHAT THE VOLUNTARY SURRENDER 

 OF PRIVILEGES BY THE 

 SAMURAI MEANT 



The restoration of the Imperial power 

 meant the unification of the govern- 

 mental powers, and the unification of 

 the governmental powers meant the sur- 

 render of the powers, rights, privileges, 

 properties, and what-not possessed by 

 the feudatories and Samurai, because, 

 without a complete abdication by the 

 feudal lords and vassals of their prerog- 

 atives, a real unification of the govern- 

 mental powers and the restoration of 



the Imperial authority was impossible. 

 This meant to the feudal lords the sur- 

 render of that exalted position which 

 resembled that of an independent po- 

 tentate, and taking rank not only among 

 their former vassals, but even with the 

 tradesmen and merchants, who, in their 

 eyes, had no place in the political and 

 social existence of Japan. This aban- 

 donment of the high position involved 

 the surrender of the landed property 

 which had been inherited from time im- 

 memorial. The surrender of the pre- 

 rogatives and property by the feudal 

 chiefs meant in the case of the Samurai, 

 a class in whose hands the real political 

 power of the nation rested, the loss of 

 the very means of subsistence to the 

 2,000,000 of the cream of the population 

 of the nation ; it meant the disposses- 

 sion of their military employment, the 

 privilege of wearing a sword, the mark 

 of a gentleman, the cherished pride of 

 this class ; it meant to them that they 

 had to throw away all that distinguished 

 this order from time immemorial and to 

 step down into the company of the peas- 

 ant or the merchant and to join the ranks 

 of common bread-winners, whom they 

 despised ; and what was the most mar- 

 velous aspect of the situation was that 

 this grand coup d^ctat could be carried 

 out only by the efforts of those who had 

 to suffer the consequences of the change. 



JAPAN IS TODAY MORE DEMOCRATIC 

 THAN THE MOST DEMOCRATIC 

 OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 



And yet it was done. Japan of today 

 is perhaps more democratic in its insti- 

 tutions than the most democratic of 

 European nations. Although the de- 

 scendants of the old Samurai still retain 

 their ancient class name, it has only a 

 historic value in the political and social 

 life of Japan of today. The spirit of 

 equality, liberty, and fraternity per- 

 vades the instituiions of Japan. 



It is almost beyond human power to 

 fully comprehend this most dramatic 

 incident in history, which resulted in 



