The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-12-27
THE REBELLION IN JAPAN.
Retainers OF the Feudal Lords Against the
MikadO's GOyernment.

MlkuuOb UOVeEnmenCs
The Information received by telegraph
OF disturbances in Japan is serious, but
will hardly surprise those who have
closely followed the course of events in
that country. There changes, politi-
cal and social, have been made in ten
years which In other countries have oc-
cupied centuries; the wonder is that SO
much has been done so peaceably.
Among other things, the feudal system,
which had existed many centuries in
Japan, has been abolished, and a central
Government of European fashion has
been substituted for it; and we have
only to consider the effect which this
sudden breaking up OF feuuality has pre-
duced to find explanation enough for the
present agtatiOns.
Japanese society consisted, and to a
certain extent still consists, of three
principal classes, in many respects ell
tirely distinct from each otner. These
are the kWazoku, the shizOku, and the
heimien. The first comprised the nobill-
ty, The second the middle class, and the
third the agriculturists, the traders, and
all those engaged in any occupation in
which money was made. The shiZoku
class consisted of the retainers of
the feudal lords, and were sup.
ported out of the large revenues
nominally belong ng to their chiefs, to
wuom they rendered in return their
services in war. The names shizoku
and samourai are almost Identical in
meaning, and it is by the latter appel
latlon That this class is best known to
| EurOpeans. The heimien class COM
prised the rest of the Japanese. They
were the bread-earners for the whole
country. They cultivated the soil, they
engaged in trade, they furnished the al
lists and mechanics for whom Japan is
! so celebrated, and they were till lately
satisfied with but small share OF what
their industry produced.
The so-called revolution of Japan,
| which O few years ago resuscitated the
dormant authority of the Mikado and
abolished that of the Tycoon, led to a
change in the relations between these
three classes OF society. AS for the
samourai, they found that there would
lbe no place 1or them under govern
ment based on European experience; /;
and though at first the payments made
! to them we're not reduced to any very
great extent, and though many OF them
were provided tor by being drafted into
| the army and otherwise employed, it
soon became evident that the entire sys-
| tenn which had given to SO large a pro-
portion of the population an idle and
wastelul life, would have to be abol-
| ished.
1t has been lately decided by the Gen.
trail Government not only to reduce the
emoIuments of the daimios, as the feudal
chiefs are called, but to substitute diff
ferent and far less onerous payments to
the shizokus-to the eviden advantage
of the producing class OF the communi-
tv, IL may be safely assumed that to
these measures the revolt among por-
tion of the shlzokus is attributable.
At present it appears that the insur.
rection has been almost entirely confined
to the Kumamotto clan, which inhabits
mart of Klousin, the most southern OF the
principal islands of Japan. The tele-
gram. however, mentions rising at
Yamagutsi, which is near the extremity
of Nippon, where the powerful clan OF
Choshu is located; and If the movement
should spread in that direction, or in
that of the Satsuma district (Which is
also in the island Of Klousin) it might
occasion great trouble in the lately or.
ganized Government.
The standing army is under fifty thou
sand men, and, il the estimates are at
all correct, the snizoku class must, in.
cluding women and children, number
over ten millions. 1t is evident, there.
fore, that strong repressive measures
will be required if The movement attains
any development, and these may sorely
strain the energies and resources of the
country Pail Mall Gazette.