In the 13th episode, "The Zatōkin that Shakes Edo" (broadcast on March 30th) of the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sunday 8pm and others), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama , the senior councilor Tanuma Okitsugu(Ken Watanabe) meets with the 10th shogun, Tokugawa Ieshige (Mashima Hidekazu), and his successor, Tokugawa Iemoto (Tomoya Oku), and presents evidence that many of the hatamoto working in the Nishinomaru of Edo Castle were deeply in debt and appeals to them about their plight.
The example he used was of the real-life elite samurai Mori Chuemon (played by Hino Haruhito), who fled with his family after falling into debt. In real life, he shaved his head and became a monk due to his financial difficulties.
◇ Wages are paid in the form of rice. People pile up debts by using their wages as collateral.
The Shogun's retainers, including the Hatamoto vassals and Gokenin, received their salary in the form of rice. In Chuemon's case, he was given a fief by the Shogun, which produced 600 koku of rice. Of this, 60% was distributed to the people of the fief and 40% to Chuemon, so his effective income was 240 koku. At the Shogunate's official exchange rate, 1 koku of rice was equivalent to 1 ryo (roughly 100,000 yen in today's value), meaning Chuemon's annual income was about 24 million yen.
It may seem like a high income, but it wasn't easy. Except in times of famine, the price of rice tended to remain stable or fall throughout the Edo period. Hatamoto's income dwindled as rice could not be converted into cash at the official rate. Meanwhile, prices of other commodities besides rice continued to rise. Moreover, hatamoto were obligated to serve in the military, serving on the side of the shogun in times of emergency. Hatamoto of Chuemon's class were required to keep around 10 retainers on hand at all times, and the personnel costs alone put a strain on the household budget.
The household account book of Oshio Heihachiro, a yoriki (police officer) at the Higashimachi Magistrate's Office in Osaka, who led a rebellion against the shogunate in 1837, has been preserved. His annual income was 80 koku (8 million yen), but after converting it into cash and deducting living expenses and personnel costs, he was in the red by 12 ryo (1.2 million yen) a year. Furthermore, according to the salary and expenditure details of a 300 koku hatamoto (a samurai with a salary of 300 koku), he was in the red by 33 ryo (3.3 million yen) a year and was unable to eliminate this deficit.
The shogunate's retainers turned to the Satazashi. They were agents who transported rice taken from the shogunate's rice storehouse as wages and converted it into cash, and eventually they also ran a financial business, lending money to the shogunate's retainers using rice as collateral. 109 Satazashi were officially recognized by the stock association and operated as a monopoly. They charged a high interest rate of 18% per year.
They piled up debts, using their future salaries as collateral, and the situation became such that "six or seven out of ten men did not have a single grain of rice to pay this year's salary because of previous debts" (Mitamura Engyo, "Satsusakou"). The hatamoto began to turn to zatōkin (bankruptcy money). Of course, they had no way of paying it back. There were so many defaults that it was said they "borrowed money and chewed up the high-interest bankruptcy money." Toriyama Kengyo was the one who made these bullish hatamoto tremble in fear, and his unscrupulous methods are depicted in "UNBOUND."
◇Samurai work from home as craftsmen, and are also involved in real estate business
"UNBOUND" uses the expression "taking over the family headship," but there were cases where kengyo used the power of money to adopt their own children into hatamoto families. A famous example is Katsu Kaishu's great-grandfather, Yoneyama Kengyo. About 10 years before Toriyama Kengyo was arrested, Yoneyama Kengyo adopted his own son into the hatamoto Otodani family and had him succeed the family. Yoneyama Kengyo's grandson, Koyoshi, was adopted from the Otodani family into the Katsu family, and Koyoshi's son became Katsu Kaishu.
Wealthy townspeople also adopted their children as hatamoto and often paid off their debts with high dowries. According to the social commentary "Seji Kenbunroku" from the late Edo period, it became common for samurai families to prioritize the amount of dowry for both adopted children and brides. Furthermore, there were cases where townspeople who would cover the living expenses of their parents for the rest of their lives were given priority as adopted children or their daughters were given as wives.
The samurai, who had lower incomes than the hatamoto, worked hard at side jobs. In addition to making umbrellas and paper lanterns, their work included a wide range of activities, including growing flowers, planting trees, bamboo crafts, breeding bell crickets, and woodblock carving. The samurai of the Teppo Gumi Hyakunin-tai, from which the Shinjuku Ward Hyakunin-cho name was derived, grew azaleas in the gardens of their houses and held exhibitions and sales events, which became famous spots that were introduced in the Edo Meisho Zue (Illustrated Guide to Famous Places of Edo). Morning glory cultivation was popular among the samurai who lived around what is now JR Okachimachi Station, and they created and sold unusually shaped mutant morning glories. This is the origin of the Iriya Morning Glory Festival.
They also got involved in the real estate business. The mansions of the hatamoto and gokenin were loaned free of charge by the shogunate. There was also a rapid increase in cases where they rented out part of the land to townspeople to earn rent. Gambling dens and brothels were secretly set up on the land, and discipline became so lax that some magistrates (gokenin) earned part of their sales in addition to the rent.
Townspeople consultants also appeared, who received the hatamoto's salaries and managed their household finances on their behalf. Naturally, hatamoto were not given any money to use as they wished. For samurai who could not afford to hire full-time servants, temporary staffing businesses were established to provide servants as needed. Recycling businesses called kenzanya, which bought gifts exchanged between samurai and sold them cheaply, also became popular. It was a "savings business" targeting samurai.
Later, when Okitsugu was overthrown, the shogunate implemented a relief measure to write off past debts owed by the shogunate's retainers. The sadaji lost 1,187,800 ryo (118,780 million yen) in debt at this time. The sadaji fought back, saying, "We cannot lend to you in the future because it is difficult to process bad debts." They were refusing to lend. The shogunate's retainers' lives came to a standstill immediately. The shogunate had no choice but to provide subsidies to the sadaji and ask them to continue lending to the shogunate's retainers.
There are two memorable scenes in episode 13 of "UNBOUND." In this scene, Matsudaira Takemoto (played by Koji Ishizaka) argues for raising the price of rice to increase the take-home pay of the shogunate's retainers, and Okenori argues, "Manipulating the movement of money is like controlling the universe. It cannot be done by human power."
Another scene is when Ienari tells Ieharu and Iemoto, "I'm afraid the Shogunate cannot even support its own hatamoto." Ienari has realized that the world of the samurai will collapse as long as rice remains the mainstay of the economy. (Text by Komatsu Kenichi)
