As cities developed early in Japan, the poor existed in the cities as for back as the feudal period. They were bound by many feudal bonds, therefore their mobility was small. As the original accumulation of capital began, the number and the mobility of the poor rapidly increased. In the cities, particularly the larger ones such as Osaka and Tokyo, the emergence of slums took place. This may be considered as occuring in the early twenties of the Meiji period (18681913). The emergence of the slum was primarily the results of class differentation, and with it, the local lower strata appeared.
Feudal ranks were abolished by the Meiji Restoration. Being thrown into in capitalistic society which was different from their former circumstances, warriors (Bushi) who previously had been assured of their living by hereditary pension, were unable to find employment, and the value of the public bonds they received as the compensation for the abolition of their hereditary pension decreased due to economic changes. Consequently, they were hard-off. The peasants constituted the majority of population. During this period of original accumulation especially during the period of the deflation between 18821886, the poor peasant stratum increased remarkably, and there occured rapid differentiation of strata. Also, many handicraftsmen and manufacturers who had been under the old bonds-e.g. the apprentice system, were hard hit during this period, as these bonds were weakened and their wages decreased.
Many people in these strata hard hit by this class differentiation flowed from rural area into the cities, and many of those living in cities were ruined. These Mal-adjustments led to the formation of slums in Tokyo and Osaka. But the character of these slums is different from that formed by an industrial proletariat after an industrial revolution. It is a form which is found in the transitional period of original accumulation of capital.
