''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 peasan ...

in the late

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

and early

Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, 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 feu ...

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) were officials in Japan who administered villages (''mura'') under a district magistrate (''gun-dai'') in the Edo period. The most powerful ''nanushi'', the ''ōjōya'' (大庄屋), administered up to several dozen v ...

''). They played an important role in the

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

and development of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

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 theories of money: it provides a framework for analyzing money and considers its functions (as medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account), and it considers h ...

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 farmer or farmworker who resides and works on land owned by a landlord, while tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and mana ...

. 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 tai chi (), but especially emphasized by the Chen and Wu styles. The name derives from the twisting and spiralling movements of t ...

. 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 t ...

'').{{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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, 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 Freedom and People's Rights Movement (自由民権運動, ''Jiyū Minken Undō'') was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy during the Meiji era, Meiji period. It pursued the formation of an elected legislature, revision of the ...

, 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 e ...

. 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 of the Empire of Japan, nine years into the Meiji era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in ...

, 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 Social history of Japan

History

See also

References