"Chitsuroku-shobun" (measure to abolish hereditary stipend) and "Haihan-chiken" (abolition of fiefs and establishment of prefectures)

Abstract

The political process from the first year of Meiji to the fourth is regarded as the development of centralization by means of the policy which makes fiefs the same local administrative district as prefectures ("Sanchi-itchi"). And the core of it is to dismember "Shizoku" (ex-Samurai) by "Chitsuroku-shobun". The subject of this paper is to make it clear that "Chihanji" (land administrators) abolished fiefs of their own accord or intended to do so when they found that policy unable to realize because of "Sizoku"s strong request of the maintenance of their privilege. The execution of "Chitsuroku-shobun" was an important authority of "Chihanji", which made him meet with accute opposition of "Shizoku" and "Chitsuroku-shobun" insufficient. This is the cause of the difficulty of the realization of "Sanchi-itchi". They found a way out of the financial deadlock in the dismemberment of "Shizoku" by returning them to the farm and changing their stipend into securities. But because of the strong request of the maintenance of their priviledge, both the ways were insufficient, so that the financial condition of fiefs were still in difficulty. Thus "Chihanji" was confronted with the difficulty of the realisation of "Sanchi-itchi", so that he lost his confidence of managing fiefs. And he decided to abolish fiefs at their own will or accepted "Haihan-chiken" as unavoidable. In the case of the former, most of them did it after the promulgation of "Hansei". (institution of a fief) in September the third year of Meiji. For "Hansei" compeled the reform to make old fiefs new which was the same as "Fu, Ken" mainly from the regulation of a finance whose core is "Chitsuroku-shobun" to raise funds to redeem the debts of fiefs.