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Created page with "*''Japanese'': 蔵米知行 ''(kuramai chigyou)'', 蔵米 ''(kuramai)'', 俸禄 ''(houroku)'' In the Edo period, retainers to the ''daimyô'' of a [[han|domain..."
*''Japanese'': 蔵米知行 ''(kuramai chigyou)'', 蔵米 ''(kuramai)'', 俸禄 ''(houroku)''
In the [[Edo period]], retainers to the ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' of a [[han|domain]], along with ''[[hatamoto]]'', earned their income either from [[subinfeudation]] (i.e. being granted their own lands in fief) or in the form of stipends. ''[[goyo shonin|Goyô shônin]]'' and other elite commoners & peasants were also sometimes invested with stipends by a ''daimyô'', the shogunate, or another authority.
Stipends were paid out from a central granary at the [[castle town]] (or, at [[Asakusa]] in [[Edo]], in the case of ''hatamoto'')<ref>These stipends for samurai resident in Edo were paid out in three installments over the course of a year. One-quarter of the annual stipend was paid in spring, one-quarter in summer, and the remaining one-half in the winter. Craig, Teruko (trans.). ''Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai''. University of Arizona Press, 1988. p.xv.</ref>. Due to the way in which it was paid out, and the fact that many if not most samurai enjoyed government posts, the stipend resembled a government salary in certain ways; however, it was consistently conceived of as an investiture, a fief in monetary rather than territorial form. Though the vast majority of domains invested their retainers only in stipends, the 20% which continued to subinfeudate some of their highest-ranking retainers through the end of the Tokugawa period included the largest domains, controlling between them roughly half the land area of the archipelago.<ref>Ravina, 64.</ref>
While measured in koku of rice, stipends were typically paid out in a combination of rice, other grains, and specie. Generally, stipends paid entirely in rice were of higher prestige, while those paid primarily in domainal [[currency|fiat money]] were the most subject to inflation and the most difficult to convert or exchange for more widely accepted forms of currency. Samurai are believed to have generally enjoyed only about 35% of the face-value of their stipends, with the rest being paid to retainers, servants, or otherwise not coming into the samurai's own personal wallet.<ref>Craig, xv.</ref>
The level of samurai stipends were dramatically unequal, with the lowest-ranking samurai earning less than the servants of some of the wealthiest samurai retainers. But, attempts at reform were extremely difficult, as the size of one's stipend was considered a key part of one's patrimony, which bore a certain degree of authority against the interference of any outside power (such as the ''daimyô'' or shogunate).
Samurai who traveled outside their lord's domain and who were able to be active in [[Osaka]] or [[Edo]] often deposited their stipends with [[rice brokers]], who would hold it for the samurai similar to a bank account, issuing scrips, paper forms akin to a personal check, to allow the samurai to pay out of his account. Alternatively, the rice brokers would convert the rice, grain, or other goods into coin.
==Meiji Period==
In the [[Meiji period]], the [[Meiji government|government]] gradually abolished the stipends, along with the samurai class itself. In [[1873]], samurai were given the option to convert their stipends into twenty-year bonds; 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.
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>
==References==
*[[Mark Ravina]], ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan'', Stanford University Press (1999), 62.
<references/>
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Economics]]
In the [[Edo period]], retainers to the ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' of a [[han|domain]], along with ''[[hatamoto]]'', earned their income either from [[subinfeudation]] (i.e. being granted their own lands in fief) or in the form of stipends. ''[[goyo shonin|Goyô shônin]]'' and other elite commoners & peasants were also sometimes invested with stipends by a ''daimyô'', the shogunate, or another authority.
Stipends were paid out from a central granary at the [[castle town]] (or, at [[Asakusa]] in [[Edo]], in the case of ''hatamoto'')<ref>These stipends for samurai resident in Edo were paid out in three installments over the course of a year. One-quarter of the annual stipend was paid in spring, one-quarter in summer, and the remaining one-half in the winter. Craig, Teruko (trans.). ''Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai''. University of Arizona Press, 1988. p.xv.</ref>. Due to the way in which it was paid out, and the fact that many if not most samurai enjoyed government posts, the stipend resembled a government salary in certain ways; however, it was consistently conceived of as an investiture, a fief in monetary rather than territorial form. Though the vast majority of domains invested their retainers only in stipends, the 20% which continued to subinfeudate some of their highest-ranking retainers through the end of the Tokugawa period included the largest domains, controlling between them roughly half the land area of the archipelago.<ref>Ravina, 64.</ref>
While measured in koku of rice, stipends were typically paid out in a combination of rice, other grains, and specie. Generally, stipends paid entirely in rice were of higher prestige, while those paid primarily in domainal [[currency|fiat money]] were the most subject to inflation and the most difficult to convert or exchange for more widely accepted forms of currency. Samurai are believed to have generally enjoyed only about 35% of the face-value of their stipends, with the rest being paid to retainers, servants, or otherwise not coming into the samurai's own personal wallet.<ref>Craig, xv.</ref>
The level of samurai stipends were dramatically unequal, with the lowest-ranking samurai earning less than the servants of some of the wealthiest samurai retainers. But, attempts at reform were extremely difficult, as the size of one's stipend was considered a key part of one's patrimony, which bore a certain degree of authority against the interference of any outside power (such as the ''daimyô'' or shogunate).
Samurai who traveled outside their lord's domain and who were able to be active in [[Osaka]] or [[Edo]] often deposited their stipends with [[rice brokers]], who would hold it for the samurai similar to a bank account, issuing scrips, paper forms akin to a personal check, to allow the samurai to pay out of his account. Alternatively, the rice brokers would convert the rice, grain, or other goods into coin.
==Meiji Period==
In the [[Meiji period]], the [[Meiji government|government]] gradually abolished the stipends, along with the samurai class itself. In [[1873]], samurai were given the option to convert their stipends into twenty-year bonds; 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.
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>
==References==
*[[Mark Ravina]], ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan'', Stanford University Press (1999), 62.
<references/>
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Economics]]