Conclusion: Historical Reflections on Japan’s Industrialization

Abstract

The discussions in the previous chapters make it clear that during the Edo Period it is possible to find preparatory signs of modern society and hence a historical continuity. However, the Edo Period was not a modern society. What triggered the transformations was the collection by the samurai of nengu from the peasantry, and this was one type of revenue economy (Hicks 1969, pp. 22–24). In other words, it was an economy where the movement of goods and currency arose because of differences in status: people with political authority imposed nengu obligations on the ruled. As long as this existed, the Edo Period was not a modern society. Peasants’ nengu obligation was substantially different from our modern tax payment.