江戶時代 중기의 幕藩關係

Domain and Bakufu in Tokugawa Japan : The Confiscation of Ani Copper Mine

This study has intended to suggest a new perspective on the relationship between the Tokugawa bakufu and the domains by looking into the Akita domain and its copper mining industry. While previous studies have seen this relationship mostly in the light of the absolute bakufu superiority over the domains, this study has tried to see it from the domain’s point of view. Rather than simply describing the bakufu measures, more emphasis has been placed on the domain reactions. Akita domain’s complicated dealings with the bakufu reflected significant changes in the relationship between the bakufu and the domains. That the domains remained defensive in their dealings with the bakufu in the seventeenth century cannot be denied. In the eighteenth century, however, the domain enjoyed more secure rule internally, and this was reflected in its relations with the bakufu. With the continuing peace the warrior society began to pay more attention to the economic matters than to the military matters. As the bakufu faced financial problems, its earlier generosity gave way to its keen interest in creating revenues. It came to compete with the domains in many areas, and the bakufu had difficulty justifying its case. This study focus on a crisis caused by the 1764 bakufu attempt to confiscate the Ani copper mine of the Akita domain, which served as the main source of domain cash income. Those who advocated bakufu superiority over the domains have found its perfect example in the bakufu attempt. It is undeniable that this event reflected to some extent the precarious position in which the domain was put in dealing with the bakufu. The domain, however, was well equipped with logic and the resources to prove it. It insisted in its petition to the bakufu that the bakufu action could not be justified. It made a stunning statement claiming that even the bakufu could not treat the domain lightly whose rule had been recognized by Tokugawa Ieyasu and his successors. This implies the growing difficulty the bakufu had in dealing with the domains in the matters in which economic interest was involved. The domain made a strenuous effort to foil the bakufu attempt by aggressively lobbying powerful bakufu officials such as Tanurna Okitsugu, with whom it developed strong ties. It knew where the power resided and how to act on those officials. The domain had successfully blocked the bakufu’s attempt to exercise its foremost authority. The incident illustrates the domain’s resourcefulness which had been demonstrated in engaging in copper mining and trade.