070. The Budding of Meritocracy... Appointment of Lower-Ranking Samurai and the Ashidaka System

Under a Commissioner of Finance (Kanjō-bugyō) who has no interest in fiscal matters, the actual financial processing is handled by lower-ranking samurai of much lower family status who are skilled at calculation. However, no matter how much these lower-ranking samurai appeal for a sense of crisis or the need for fiscal austerity, if the high-ranking samurai, including the Commissioner of Finance, are poor at numbers and calculations and cannot put the brakes on the wastefulness of their lord or the domain's administration, the finances will only continue to deteriorate.
To give their arguments persuasive power, if one were to promote and appoint a capable lower-ranking samurai who is skilled at calculation and strong in fiscal policy to the position of Commissioner of Finance, one would have to grant that samurai an increase in stipend up to the standard level to qualify them for the post.
However, one cannot simply reduce the stipend of the family that originally held that stipend to cover the increase. To reduce a family stipend determined within the family system requires a justifiable reason, but denying the achievements of the ancestors that led to that stipend would be to deny the family system itself, which is not easily done. In other words, the more they are appointed, the more the total stipend amount paid by the domain increases, further worsening the finances.
Following the bloated bubble economy of the Genroku era, with the situation becoming so desperate that the financial collapse of the Shogunate and various domains seemed only a matter of time, the 8th Shogun, Yoshimune, was selected and brought in from the Kishu-Owari domain in the 6th year of Shotoku (1716).
Immediately upon taking office as Shogun, Yoshimune encouraged the development of new rice fields and issued austerity edicts, aiming to rebuild the finances, but at the same time, he adopted a single policy. This was a system called the "Ashidaka System," which broke down the walls of the family system that had been bound and fixed by the order of the class system.
If a lower-ranking samurai is appointed as Commissioner of Finance, his family stipend must be increased to the standard level. Once increased, it is inherited from generation to generation as a family stipend, so this becomes a financial burden, and they cannot be appointed easily.
Therefore, he came up with the idea of granting the standard stipend for that position only while the person is in that office—a one-point boost, so to speak.
For example, the standard stipend for a Commissioner of Finance or an Edo Town Magistrate is 3,000 koku. If the person one wishes to promote is from a family with a stipend of 500 koku, the shortfall of 2,500 koku is added as an "Ashidaka" (supplementary stipend) only while they are in office, providing them with 3,000 koku to maintain the family status required for the position. In a society that values formality, it is a matter of "a lie is a convenience," or rather, an expedient measure. This flexible thinking can be said to be the true worth of Yoshimune, who was called a wise ruler.
It may be that when one is in dire straits, a solution naturally emerges, but this meant the collapse of the family system that had protected the status of samurai until then. There must have been strong opposition, but the fact that he carried it out shows that Yoshimune indeed had strong leadership.
This mechanism became an effective way to appoint capable lower-ranking samurai and produced greater results than expected. Above all, it created a great opportunity for capable lower-ranking samurai who had been thought to have no hope of advancement due to their family status, and suddenly they became highly motivated.
Since samurai of a family status suitable for the Commissioner of Finance could not do calculations and no one wanted to do the financial processing, for lower-ranking samurai, there was a high possibility of being appointed if they only acquired the ability. For lower-ranking samurai, the position of Commissioner of Finance became an unparalleled target for advancement.
Looking at how the Ashidaka System was actually used for the Commissioner of Finance, after its implementation, appointments from the 500 koku or less class accounted for nearly half,

"Among the Commissioners of Finance who were active from the mid-Tokugawa period onwards, there were several who had a career of starting from the lowest status of Hatamoto with a stipend of 150-200 koku, but were promoted sequentially until they reached the position of Commissioner of Finance equivalent to 3,000 koku."

as introduced by Kazuhiko Kasaya in (the aforementioned ③ "Bushido and Japanese-style Meritocracy," Shincho Sensho) (Figure 7-2).

Figure 7-2 Changes in the number of lower-ranking samurai appointments under the Ashidaka System

Here, for the first time, a place was created for capable talent to play an active role, but on the other hand, samurai who rested on the laurels of the traditional family system would not have their family stipends taken away unless there was a major political failure, and they continued to spend their time in a leisurely, idle manner as always.
The way of fulfilling responsibilities by emphasizing strict adherence to working hours while ignoring efficiency is generally a characteristic of labor under a communist planned economy. The position of the Edo-period samurai, where there was meaning in each person in charge completing their assigned tasks and efficiency was not sought, is planned-economic in this respect.
There is an image that the Edo period equals a feudal system equals an autocratic government. However, when looking at it again in terms of how people worked, it might be a more correct understanding that the operation of the domain was carried out in an extremely planned-economic manner by the guild of samurai (gatherings by profession), partly because the domain itself, while taking the form of the lord's autocracy, was often decided by a council system of high-ranking retainers such as the Karo.
And as the Edo period entered its latter half, not only in the position of Commissioner of Finance but in various parts of the domain's administration, capable young people from among the lower-ranking samurai began to be appointed as a force with new ideas to break down the old-fashioned, planned-economic management system, and new groups were born. The latter half of the Edo period was also an era in which these lower-ranking samurai in both the Shogunate and various domains demonstrated high ability and pushed forward with fiscal reforms.
It feels understandable that many of the shishi of the end of the Edo period who became the driving force of the Meiji Restoration, and the talent who moved the Meiji era such as Hirobumi Ito, were from lower-ranking samurai backgrounds such as foot soldiers (ashigaru). It might be said to be an expression of the dissatisfaction and critical spirit that had been accumulated until then.
Amidst this situation, the world flowed toward a new era of opening the country, with diligent farmers, carefree artisans, idle samurai, and capable lower-ranking samurai each fulfilling their work from their respective positions.

・Chapter 6 The Industrious Revolution and the Budding of Meritocracy
066 The Industrious Revolution
067 Craft artisans born from the Genroku bubble
068 Samurai changing from soldiers to bureaucrats and becoming idle
069 Bushido does not take profit and loss into account
070 The Budding of Meritocracy... Appointment of Lower-Ranking Samurai and the Ashidaka System
071 Toward an era where ability is questioned as a bureaucrat
072 Compensation for work and Japanese motivation
073 The reward for shipwreck rescue demanded by Kiemon
074 Avoiding the evils of a civilization that takes only economic wealth as compensation
075 The Iwakura Mission falls victim to a scam
076 An environment that produces high-level manufacturing