Changes

The ''[[Nihon shoki]]'' indicates that a Japanese emperor may have implemented a petition box system as early as [[646]]. [[Emperor Kotoku|Emperor Kôtoku's]] system, put into place in that year, did not last long, but various authorities made use of similar systems from time to time down through the medieval period. Among samurai warlords known to have employed petition boxes are [[Imagawa Yoshimoto]] and [[Takeda Shingen]].

The ''[[Nihon shoki]]'' indicates that a Japanese emperor may have implemented a petition box system as early as [[646]]. [[Emperor Kotoku|Emperor Kôtoku's]] system, put into place in that year, did not last long, but various authorities made use of similar systems from time to time down through the medieval period. Among samurai warlords known to have employed petition boxes are [[Imagawa Yoshimoto]] and [[Takeda Shingen]].

==In Tosa==

==In Tosa==

A significant number of [[han|domains]], though still a minority, employed petition boxes in the Edo period. The case of Tosa han is the most well-known of these, at least in the English-language scholarship, as a result of the work of historian [[Luke Roberts]].

[[Ogaki han|Ôgaki]], [[Aizu han|Aizu]], and [[Hiroshima han]], along with Okayama, were some of the earliest domains to institute petition boxes. The case of Tosa han is the most well-known of these, at least in the English-language scholarship, as a result of the work of historian [[Luke Roberts]]. It was put into place in [[1759]], after many of the neighboring domains, including [[Takamatsu han|Takamatsu]], [[Matsuyama han|Matsuyama]], and [[Uwajima han|Uwajima]] had already had similar systems in place.

 

From 1759 until [[1873]], a wooden box was located just outside [[Kochi castle|Kôchi castle]], in a small structure called the ''ôkoshikake'', where people would sit while awaiting entrance to the castle on official business. The space was open and accessible to anyone, samurai, commoner, or peasant, though being right outside the castle, it was deep within the samurai district of the city, and Roberts points out it would have taken some courage for a commoner or peasant to make his way there to submit a petition. The box was a simple wooden box, with a slit in the top where petitions could be dropped in. Once a month, the chief inspector (''[[metsuke]]'') of the domain opened the box and delivered the petitions to the lord. In theory, the petitions were meant to fall into one of three categories: (1) offering suggestions on improving society or government, (2) offering complaints or information about current events or affairs, or (3) requesting a legal appeal for a judicial case the petitioner believes was decided unfairly or unjustly. Once the box was opened each month, the petitions were copied out and circulated amongst the officials, inviting comment and political discussion. Domain officials are known to have also looked at petitions to the shogunate as part of their efforts to remain informed about goings-on in the broader realm, but also as part of practice or training in politics.

From [[1759]] until [[1873]], a wooden box was located just outside [[Kochi castle|Kôchi castle]], in a small structure called the ''ôkoshikake'', where people would sit while awaiting entrance to the castle on official business. The space was open and accessible to anyone, samurai, commoner, or peasant, though being right outside the castle, it was deep within the samurai district of the city, and Roberts points out it would have taken some courage for a commoner or peasant to make his way there to submit a petition. The box was a simple wooden box, with a slit in the top where petitions could be dropped in. Once a month, the chief inspector (''[[metsuke]]'') of the domain opened the box and delivered the petitions to the lord. In theory, the petitions were meant to fall into one of three categories: (1) offering suggestions on improving society or government, (2) offering complaints or information about current events or affairs, or (3) requesting a legal appeal for a judicial case the petitioner believes was decided unfairly or unjustly.

The earliest petitions included suggestions on how to improve the petition system. Many complained that petitions were not allowed to be anonymous, as anonymity would have acted to protect the petitioner from government retribution. Official policy stated that petitioners had to write their name and address, but while shogunate inspectors burned anonymous petitions unopened, Tosa administrators did not, and it would seem that, contrary to official policy, anonymous petitions were in fact kept and perhaps read and considered. Other early petitions claimed that there should be more boxes located in more parts of the domains, or that the security of the message to the lord was compromised by the fact that petitions passed through the hands of inspectors or other officials - inspectors and officials who might be corrupt - rather than the lord opening the box directly himself.

Though petitions were not anonymous, policy associated with the petition box protected petitioners from governmental retribution, thus enabling petitioners to be much more open and honest than they would be able to be otherwise.

Though petitions were not anonymous, the ''han'' government only visited any kind of retribution or punishment upon the petitioners in the rarest of cases; while many petitioners nevertheless expressed their trepidation at signing their names, and insisted they had discussed their ideas with no one (thus both protecting their family from reprisals, and assuring the lord that they were not fomenting dissension), and others in fact used pseudonyms or refused to sign, in the actual content of their complaints, petitioners generally allowed themselves to be much more open and honest than they would have done otherwise. People of nearly every region of the domain, and from many sections of society entered petitions, with the notable exceptions of women, children, and [[outcastes]]. Villagers often submitted petitions in aggregate, on behalf of the entire village, though some also entered petitions as individuals. Some independent Confucian scholars whose advice made a particular impression upon the lord were granted government positions as a result of their petitions.

While a number of these petitions survive, mostly in transcription (only two survive in the original manuscript form), the vast majority have been lost. The system does seem to have been used fairly extensively, however, at least in the early years. Nearly 150 petitions survive in transcribed form from the first twelve years of the box's operation, and a pre-war scholar noted that at that time there were thousands of petitions surviving in the archives.

While a number of these petitions survive, mostly in transcription (only two survive in the original manuscript form), the vast majority have been lost. The system does seem to have been used fairly extensively, however, at least in the early years. Nearly 150 petitions survive in transcribed form from the first twelve years of the box's operation, and a pre-war scholar noted that at that time there were thousands of petitions surviving in the archives.

==References==

==References==

*Luke Roberts, ''Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa'', Cambridge University Press (1998), 104-.

*Luke Roberts, ''Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa'', Cambridge University Press (1998), 104-133.

[[Category:Edo Period]]

[[Category:Edo Period]]

[[Category:Political Institutions]]

[[Category:Political Institutions]]