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Matsudaira Sadanobu served as [[Tairo|Tairô]] from [[1787]] to [[1793]], following the downfall of [[Tanuma Okitsugu]], who was accused of fostering terrible political corruption. Sadanobu has been characterized as a Confucian conservative and moralist, whose administration saw a reversal of commercial and trade initiatives pioneered by his predecessor, as well as renewed enforcement of [[sumptuary regulations]] and the like.
Matsudaira Sadanobu served as [[Tairo|Tairô]] from [[1787]] to [[1793]], following the downfall of [[Tanuma Okitsugu]], who was accused of fostering terrible political corruption. Sadanobu has been characterized as a Confucian conservative and moralist, whose administration saw a reversal of commercial and trade initiatives pioneered by his predecessor, as well as renewed enforcement of [[sumptuary regulations]] and the like.
==Life and Career==
==Life and Career==
As part of his Kansei Reforms, Sadanobu brought the [[Hayashi clan]] school under shogunate control, rebuilt and expanded the compound, made it a site for the training of shogunate and [[han|domain]] officials, and eliminated from the curriculum any elements which his Confucian sensibilities deemed incorrect or inappropriate. It was at this time that the school was officially renamed "[[Shoheizaka gakumonjo|Shôheizaka gakumonjo]]." The Reforms also included a severe strengthening of censorship and its enforcement, leading much intellectual production to be circulated in manuscript form, so that it would not come into the hands of the [[printing and publishing]] censors.
As part of his Kansei Reforms, Sadanobu brought the [[Hayashi clan]] school under shogunate control, rebuilt and expanded the compound, made it a site for the training of shogunate and [[han|domain]] officials, and eliminated from the curriculum any elements which his Confucian sensibilities deemed incorrect or inappropriate. It was at this time that the school was officially renamed "[[Shoheizaka gakumonjo|Shôheizaka gakumonjo]]." The Reforms also included a severe strengthening of censorship and its enforcement, leading much intellectual production to be circulated in manuscript form, so that it would not come into the hands of the [[printing and publishing]] censors.
His Confucian ideals led Sadanobu to attempt to "wean" the people of [[Nagasaki]] off of a "dependency on foreign trade,"<ref>Hellyer, 108.</ref> turning them towards agriculture and artisanal production (e.g. [[pottery]]), activities which he saw as the fundamental engines of a prosperous economy. To that end, he aimed to end [[VOC|Dutch]] trading at Nagasaki entirely, arguing that the savings from no longer paying the salaries of numerous translators, port officials, and the like could be used to more directly benefit the people of Nagasaki. Fortunately for the VOC, he never quite succeeded in ending their activity in the port, though he definitely earned their ire through a variety of policies, including reducing the number of Dutch ships permitted to call at the port each year from two to one. Sadanobu conceded, however, that the [[Chinese in Nagasaki|Chinese]] trade could not be ended, due, in part at least, to its indispensability in providing [[kanpo|medicinal goods]] to the country.<ref>Hellyer, 108.</ref>
Sadanobu also attempted to curb the economic activity of [[Tsushima han|Tsushima]] and [[Satsuma han]]. He was unsuccessful in the former case, as Tsushima officials successfully argued for the necessity of the goods they imported both for the domain and for the realm, and furthermore that continued relations with Korea was a right of their domain, granted and reaffirmed by the Tokugawa since the early years of the shogunate. In the end, Tsushima was permitted to continue its trade activities as before, including the annual acquisition of up to 100,000 ''[[Japanese Measurements|kin]]'' of [[copper]] for export. Satsuma was not so fortunate, however, being burdened with a variety of restrictions permitting them to sell only raw [[silk]] and silk [[damask]] at the [[Kyoto]] markets, and requiring them to consume all other imported Chinese goods within the domain, prohibiting them from selling these other goods beyond their own domainal borders. As the expansion of domestic silk production had rendered silk, in particular, a less profitable commodity to try to sell, this had severe impacts on the profitability of Satsuma's entire [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryukyuan]] enterprise.<ref>Hellyer, 110.</ref>
Sadanobu resigned as head of the ''rôjû'' in 1793/7.
Sadanobu resigned as head of the ''rôjû'' in 1793/7.
==Legacy==
[[John Whitney Hall]] lays the blame for Japan's economic and military weakness in the 19th century at the feet of Sadanobu, arguing that if Tanuma had not been ousted from office, and had been allowed to continue his line of economic plans, Japan might have moved even earlier, and more independently, towards industrialization.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 103, citing Hall, ''Tanuma Okitsugu (1719-1788): Forerunner of Modern Japan'', Harvard University Press (1955), 57-60, 86.</ref> [[Robert Hellyer]] counters, however, that Sadanobu did not in fact reverse or dismantle the systems Tanuma put in place, and suggests that Sadanobu's own policies might be seen as streamlining Japan's foreign relations. In the 1780s-1790s, Sadanobu imposed the significant reduction of [[VOC|Dutch East India Company]] missions, and engaged in negotiations with [[Tsushima han]] & the [[Joseon]] Court which ultimately resulted in the near abolition of [[Korean embassies to Edo]] entirely, two steps which brought significant financial savings to the shogunate.<ref>Hellyer, 103-106.</ref>
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