Taxes unjoukin and myougakin during the rule of Tanuma Okitsugu

Abstract

The article discusses the tax policy carried out during the rule of the statesman Tanuma Okitsugu (1719–1788). To increase the revenue of the Tokugawa bakufu (1603–1867) and to stop the impoverishment of Japanese feudal lords, Tanuma depended on the capital of wealthy merchants. Defending their business rights and giving them privileges, in return he imposed on them special taxes called unjoukin and myougakin. Those taxes were paid not only by individual guilds but also by such merchant сompanies as Sumitomo.

Keywords:

taxes, rice tax,, guilds, monopolies, capital of merchants, trade turnover, creditors, ginseng monopoly, copper monopoly, brass monopoly, iron monopoly, cinnabar monopoly, camphor monopoly, guild of time-workers, alum monopoly, coal monopoly, cotton monopoly, lamp oil monopoly, sulphur monopoly, guild of messengers, guild of money lenders, unjoukin, myougakin, Нigaki kaisen, Taru kaisen, Sumitomo