The Story of the Japanese 01681 [Interlude] What is a Sengoku Daimyo
I have devoted some space to a topic that is unusually academic.
The "Sengoku Daimyo" are finally making their appearance, so let me explain who they actually were and how they differed from the "Shugo Daimyo" who have appeared thus far.
Regarding the difference between Shugo Daimyo and Sengoku Daimyo, Professor Hiroshi Sugiyama, a historian, provides an interesting explanation:
"Shugo Daimyo saw the peasants from beyond the veil of the manor system. In contrast, Sengoku Daimyo sought to grasp the peasants themselves."
This is an interesting explanation.
Looking back at the land system, in the past, provincial governors known as "Kokushi," such as the "Governor of XX," dispatched by the central government, would collect the annual tax of that province and deliver it to Kyoto. However, a large number of private lands called "Shoen" (manors) appeared, where the tax collection rights of the Kokushi did not reach, and the authority of the Kokushi weakened. The harvest from the farmland began to be taken by the manor lords rather than the Kokushi.
However, from the Kamakura period onwards, "Shugo" (constables) dispatched by the shogunate appeared, and with their military power, they gradually seized power from the manor lords. Especially after the Muromachi period, a law called the "Hanzei-rei" (Half-Tax Order) was enacted, which retroactively justified the Shugo seizing half of the harvest from the manor lords.
However, the Shugo did not deny the manor system itself. The Shugo controlled the middle managers who directed the peasants called "Zaichi Ryoshu" (local lords) within their territories and collected the annual tax through them. Since the local lords were paying half of the harvest to the manor lords (nobles, temples, etc.) living in Kyoto and elsewhere, they were, so to speak, serving both the Shugo and the manor lords.
Furthermore, some manors had a privilege called "Shugo Funyu," meaning that even the Shugo could not enter the manors held by influential temples or powerful nobles.
On the other hand, when the Sengoku period began, the connection between Kyoto and the provinces was severed, and almost all the local manors that should have been held by nobles and temples residing in Kyoto came to belong to the Shugo of that province. In the first place, with all of Japan in a state of battle royale, the means to safely transport the annual tax from the provinces to Kyoto must have been lost.
In this way, the Sengoku Daimyo came to control all the farmland and peasants in their own countries. The means for this include (1) land surveys and (2) provincial laws.
A land survey is when a Sengoku Daimyo surveys all the farmland in their country and estimates how much harvest will be produced on which farmland. Provincial laws are laws that the Sengoku Daimyo enacted themselves to be enforced within their own country.
In other words, the Sengoku period can be evaluated as an era in which local autonomy was pushed to the extreme because the central government had collapsed. The Sengoku Daimyo possessed that much authority.
I learned about this kind of thing in high school Japanese history, but I feel like I was only half-listening back then because I was only interested in the heroes of history.