After the Ashikaga family, a scion of the Minamoto Clan, succeeded in the military gov ernment of the country, A.D. 1336, and estab lished Bakufu at Kioto, the dual system of local administration was done away, and only the military governors appointed by the Shoguns were left in the provinces. The office of these local governors became hereditary functions, the ownership of land and political jurisdiction were now identified, and thus the feudal system was made complete. The local chiefs who were the administrators of nobles' lands in the previous era became independent local magnates. At first the retainers of military chiefs tilled the soil in the time of peace, and were soldiers only in the time of war. But during the Ashi kaga period (A.D. 1338-1573) wars were so con stant and general that fighting was the only occupation of the retainers. Thus the military class and the industrial class became entirely distinct, although there was of course constant recruiting from, and mixing with, each other.
Under Tokugawa Iyeyasu, also a scion of the Minamoto Clan and the victor of the famous battle of Sekigahara (A.D. 1600), the most per fect form of feudalism was established and con tinued down to the present era. Bakufu was established at Yedo, now Tokio, which very soon became the largest city in Japan. During this Tokugawa period, the emperor was power less, more so than during the Kamakura and Ashikaga periods, but was none the less held divine as before. Iyeyasu and his descendants were able to hold the whole country in peace, almost without intermission during the two cen turies and a half. The function of the Shogun was hereditary, but it needed the imperial in vestiture every time. The whole country was distributed to the military chiefs or nobles, most of whom arose during the civil wars at the end of the Ashikaga dynasty. These terri torial nobles had complete power of govern ment within their provinces, and no appeal to the central government was allowed against their decisions in civil and criminal cases. But they were responsible to Bakufu for misgov ernment. Their succession and marriage re quired the sanction of Yedo government. So long as they governed their provinces well they were allowed to hold their fiefs and to transmit them to their descendants. Bakufu only regu lated the military, monetary and postal and foreign affairs.
During the Kamakura and Ashikaga periods one knight and several foot soldiers were per haps furnished from every unit of feudal tenure. In the latter period the land tax was paid in money in some localities, but Hideyoshi enforced the ancient custom of payment in rice, which was followed by Iyeyasu and continued till 1873. According to the regulation of the Kwanyei period (1624-43), the Tokugawa gov ernment demanded from all land producing 1,000 koku of rice (a koku is equal to 4.9629
bushels), 23 soldiers, 2 spears, 1 bow, 1 musket; from all land producing 10,000 koku of rice, 235 foot soldiers, 10 knights, 10 bows, 20 muskets, 30 spears; from all land producing 100,000 koku of rice, 2,055 foot soldiers, 170 knights, 60 bows, 350 muskets, 150 spears, and so on in the same proportion. During the Genroku period (1688-1703), it is said that the whole country, with the exception of the island Tsushima, produced 25,786,895 koku of rice. Now the Tokugawa government owned, as its immediate feudal tenure, the land which pro duced 8,000,000 koku of rice. It was more than one-third of the produce of the whole country. The greatest territorial noble had only 1,000,000 koku of rice for his income. So the Yedo gov ernment, under the Shoguns and their immedi ate soldiers, was the most powerful feudatory in the country, and by the aid of the other branches of the Tokugawa family and former retainers now settled as territorial nobles in various provinces, was able to keep the most insubordinate feudal nobles in peace. The terri torial nobles who had the income of 10,000 koku of rice and upward were entitled to be called Daimyo. These Daimyo or territorial nobles were obliged to leave as hostages their wives and children at Yedo. They had to attend the court at Yedo every year at first and later every other year. They had to aid Bakufu in cases of great occasions and expensive public works and had of course to furnish contingents when the general or special levy was ordered. Military levy was also made on the military class who had the income of less than 10,000 koku of rice.
The land of Daimyos who had no sons to succeed them was escheated at first, but later the Daimyos were allowed to name their suc cessors. The military class, including the Daimyos and their retainers, all came under the jurisdiction of Bakufu. Bushi or Samurai were nearly all of them retainers of some Daimyos. They were obliged to bear two swords, one long and one short. They all had family names besides their personal names. They were carefully educated in the art of fighting, and also in the Chinese classics. They were thus taught Bushido and Confucian ethics. They were the fighting class, but from them all the civil officers were supplied. They were free from taxation, and were exempted from criminal law. The code of honor was their supreme law. In case they committed great wrong, they were permitted to punish themselves by means of Harakiri, or honorable suicide. But if they committed heinous crimes unworthy of Samurai, they were first deprived of their Samurai rank or gentility, and then they were punished as any other criminal belonging to Heimin class (common people).