Changes

==Meiji Period==

==Meiji Period==

In the [[Meiji period]], the [[Meiji government|government]] gradually abolished the stipends, along with the samurai class itself. In [[1873]], the government began taxing stipends, and offered samurai the option to convert their stipends into bonds, valued at five to fourteen times the annual stipend, at 5-7% interest; around this time, the paying out of stipends consumed as much as half of all state revenues.<ref>Andrew Gordon, ''A Modern History of Japan'', Oxford University Press (2013), 64-65.</ref> Thus, in [[1876]] this conversion became mandatory. Many scholars point to the loss of stipends (along with other elite privileges) as the key impetus for the [[shizoku rebellions|''shizoku'' rebellions]] which followed.

In the [[Meiji period]], the [[Meiji government|government]] gradually abolished the stipends, along with the samurai class itself. In [[1873]], the government began taxing stipends, and offered samurai the option to convert their stipends into bonds, valued at five to fourteen times the annual stipend, at 5-7% interest; around this time, the paying out of stipends consumed as much as half of all state revenues. In [[1876]] this conversion became mandatory, and samurai lost 10 to 75% of their incomes.<ref>Andrew Gordon, ''A Modern History of Japan'', Oxford University Press (2013), 64-65.</ref> This, along with the loss of other elite privileges, would be the key impetus for the [[shizoku rebellions|''shizoku'' rebellions]] which followed.

As the ''daimyô'' became members of the ''[[kazoku]]'', the new European-style aristocracy, and returned their fiefs to the Emperor, they were granted stipends equal to 10% of their former ''[[kokudaka]]''.<ref>Ravina, 203.</ref>

As the ''daimyô'' became members of the ''[[kazoku]]'', the new European-style aristocracy, and returned their fiefs to the Emperor, they were granted stipends equal to 10% of their former ''[[kokudaka]]''.<ref>Ravina, 203.</ref>