''Gōnō'' (豪農) were the upper-class

peasantry A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

in the late

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

and early

Meiji era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...

Japan. They held considerable wealth and power in local communities, and aside from being major landowners, some owned small rural industries or served as village officials (such as ''

nanushi ''Nanushi'' (Japanese: 名主) was a village official in the Edo period. They were village headmen, administering a village (''mura'') under a district magistrate (''gun-dai''), the ''daikan'' of a district governor (''gunji''). Their duties inclu ...

''). They played an important role in the

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

and development of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

in Japan.

History

In the early Edo period, most peasants managed small farms, and the birth of ''gōnō'' is closely linked to the introduction of

monetary economy Monetary economics is the branch of economics that studies the different competing theories of money: it provides a framework for analyzing money and considers its functions (such as medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account), and it ...

in the mid-Edo period. The growing monetary economy caused social stratification among the peasantry, leading to the increase of wealthy peasants, the ''gōnō''. On the other hand, this also led to the birth of many

tenant farmers A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

. The ''gōnō'' received land rent from the tenant farmers and bought the majority of their produce by lending in advance to corner the market. Towards the end of the Edo period and the beginning of Meiji era, the ''gōnō'' became more and more dependent on employed labor. At the time, most ''gōnō'' owned about 5-10 hectares of land. Many ''gōnō'' became industrial landowners taking on silk farming and

silk reeling Silk reeling () refers to a set of neigong (, ''internal'') movement principles expressed in traditional styles of t'ai chi ch'uan (), but especially emphasized by the Chen () and Wu () styles. The name derives from the twisting and spiralling ...

. In cooperation with the feudal lords, they were the pioneers of industrialization. They also played a central role in producing goods for the city merchants (''

chōnin was a social class that emerged in Japan during the early years of the Tokugawa period. In the social hierarchy, it was considered subordinate to the samurai warrior class. Social Class The ''chōnin'' emerged in ''joka-machi'' or castle ...

'').{{Cite book , title=Maipedia shōhyakka jiten , publisher=Heibonsha , year=1995 , at=豪農 , language=Japanese , oclc=38516410 They played an important role in political economy around the time of

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, and they are generally recognized to have been involved in the intrinsic development of

. During the period of collapsing feudalism, there was a brief trend of ''gōnō'' rising to the lordly class. However, after the Meiji Restoration, when the conditions for modernization were met, they once again developed capitalistic qualities. In the early Meiji era, many ''gōnō'' became involved in the

Freedom and People's Rights Movement The (abbreviated as ) or Popular Rights Movement was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in the 1880s. It pursued the formation of an elected legislature, revision of the Unequal Treaties with the United States and European c ...

, and especially the "''gōnō'' rights". Such ''gōnō'' activists included Sugita Teiichi and Dogura Shōsaburō. Many ''gōnō'' began to demand a place for their opinions to be heard, such as a citizen assembly or a national diet, and criticized the

Meiji oligarchy The Meiji oligarchy was the new ruling class of Meiji period Japan. In Japanese, the Meiji oligarchy is called the . The members of this class were adherents of ''kokugaku'' and believed they were the creators of a new order as grand as that est ...

. However, in the late Meiji era, a new land ownership system was installed, which led to the recession of land productivity. This, along with the collapse of the civil rights movement and the negative effects of Matsukata Deflation caused by the

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and beca ...

, drove the ''gōnō'' class into recession. The new land ownership system, along with the financial complications, meant that land was given to many small tenant farmers who were freed from the productivity-focused ''gōnō''. The ''gōnō'' thus became landlords earning their income from land rent instead of the production.

References

Edo period Agriculture in Japan

History

See also

References