The main regions of sericulture and thus silk production, in the T'ang 唐 dynasty were the Ho-nan 河南 and Ho-pei 河北 circuits. Ho-nan had developed as an advanced sericulture and silk production region ever since the Han 漢 Dynasty. Its central areas were Sung-chou 宋州 and po-chou 亳州. The southern and central parts of Ho-pei developed along generally similar lines as Ho-nan circuit. When they suffered from the revolt of the Wu-hu Shih-liu-kuo 五胡 十六国, they became the object of deep concern on the part of the rulers. From after the implementation of the Chun-tien 均田 system in the Pei-wei 北魏 up to the age of Lu-ling 律令 system they were highly regarded as a valuable source of national finances or object of accumulated wealth by bureaucrats and aristocrats. This practice spread to the northern part of Ho-pei also. Meanwhile, sericulture and silk production slowly spread to Huai-nan 淮南 and Shan-nan 山南 circuits in the south and to all of Ssuch'uan 四川 in the west. But compared to the silk produced in the main regions, their silk was inferior both in quality and quantity. It is said that sericulture and silk production in the Kuan-chung 関中 region had already declined by the Kai-yuan 開元 (713-41) period. But, as the government showed concern over their condition, they were nonetheless maintained to a considerable degree up until the Sung 宋 Dynasty. In the Chiang-nan 江南 region, especially the Yang-tzu delta, the sericulture industry had produced a special high quality silk cloth from before the T'ang Dynasty. Sericulture here had, as in Ch'eng-tu 成都 and its vicinity in Ssu-ch'uan, a tax payment function, and so was intimately related to court control. Sericulture was not commonly practiced in the villages. Even when it was practiced, it was simply for a family's own use. The quality thus can easily be imagined to have been extremely low. Here, also, linen was used for daily clothing, and so it was used for paying taxes, at an exchange rate set for it in place of silk, by the government. In the middle reaches of the Yang-tzu-River there were few parts of Chiang-hsi 江西 and Hu-nan 湖南 that practiced sericulture. In fact, but for the one area of Feng-chou 〓州, there was no sericulture in all of Hu-nan. To the south, in Fu-chien 福建 and Ling-nan 嶺南, there was hardly any sericulture right up to the Sung. And, in Fu-chien cotton growing replaced sericulture during the Nan-sung 南宋. In sum, the stretch of time from the Chin 秦 and Han Dynasties right up to the Lu-ling System was the age of linen in China. Sericulture and silk production, first centered in the Ho-nan and Ho-pei circuits gradually spread out to the surrounding areas. From the latter half of the T'ang up to the end of the Pei-sung 北宋 they spread rapidly in the direction of Chiang-nan, especially the Liang-che 両浙 and Chiang-hsi regions. The practice of sericulture and the amount of silk cloth produced increased so greatly, that China then entered its age of silk. Such an increase was mainly due to two developments. First, the Chiang-nan area became the economic base of the empire and the source of government wealth. Secondly, many new developments in sericulture methods appeared in the Chiang-nan area. Many concrete examples of both developments can be given.

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the local policy adopted by the Ishin Government and the process of its implementation. We shall approach this subject by studying the dispute between the Okuma and Okubo factions in the early Meiji Over the financial aspects of the local policy. Bad harvests brought financial difficulties to the government and destitution to the farmers in the early Meiji. The government was thereby coofronted with problems in executing its local policy. Okuma's local policy emphasized tax collection and the concentration of taxes in the national treasury, while Okubo's local policy stressed "benevolent government" (jin-sei), the reduction of and exemption from taxes, and the cutting of government expenses. The Okubo clique appointed most of the local governors and important local officials and established local government institutions according to the design of Hirosawa. But, Okuma's party established a base for the execution of its policy by combining the Home Ministry with the Finance Ministry. Naturally, it then attempted to collect and concentrate taxes, as set by its program. But, such a program faced serious obstacles. The local administration organization by designed Hirosawa had not yet won popular acceptance, though it had already the germ of a new method to rule the people. So Okuma's tax policy continued with the result that farmers riots occurred frequently. Consequently, Okubo severely lambasted Okuma for not breaking up the Home Ministry from the Finance Ministry. After his tax policy had been frustrated, Okuma compromised by separating the two ministries. But, he still imposed his tax policy and also created the Ministry of Industry (Kobu-sho). Thus, the dispute between Okuma and Okubo was due tb the former's stress on the formation of capital because of the western impact and the latters stress on the formation of a political base. Okuma implemented his policy to overcome the government's financial difficulties and form a secure financial basis to let the country handle the western impact through such policies as the encouragement of industry. After the arrival of the West Japan was obliged to have a policy to handle the western impact. This policy demanded a financial base that led to a resolute policy of tax collection by the local governments for the central government. This approach, however, brought about riots by the farmers and further financial difficulties for the government. That, in short, is the conclusion found and proved in this paper.

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