Abstract
It is necessary to define the characteristics which were peculiar to the whole organization, especially to the process of dissolution, of the Tokugawa-Shogunate (Bakuhan-Sei), because the Meiji Restoration and subsequent Japan's history were much influenced by them. By examining the worsening financial circumstances of the Nagasawa Family, who were retainers (hatamoto) of the Bakufu, and the attempts made to solve the financial crisis, this article considers the weakening situation of the feudal order and several contradictions which were included in it on the eve of Restoration. The basic concept of the discussion is that the lord's finance represents the unification and contradiction of productive relations and, therefore, its deterioration indicates a critical condition within the productive system of a feudal society. For in a feudal society economic conflict arisis when the development of productive power results in a disharmony between productive power and productive relations.
