Taika reform

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Taika reforms ( Japanese 大化 改 新 , taika no kaishin , dt. "Reforms of the great turnaround") were a series of laws that came under the rule of Tennō Kōtoku in Japan in 645, a few years after Shōtoku Taishi's death and a year after the Soga family was disempowered in the Isshi incident . Kōtoku took the reforms as an opportunity to proclaim the Taika era .

The aim of the Taika reforms was the centralization of the empire and the strengthening of imperial power, which had become necessary in order to bring the numerous regionally ruling princes ( kuni no miyatsuko , agatanushi , etc.) and the newly acquired lands under the control of the imperial court bring. The reforms established a state, feudal system based on the Chinese model of the Tang Dynasty , which allowed the princes to continue to exercise rule within their domains. A new administrative structure based on provinces ( kuni ) and districts ( kōri ) with provincial governors ( kuni no tsukasa ) at the top and subordinate district heads ( kōri no tsukasa ).

At the same time, however, it was stipulated that all land belonged to the Tennō and was given to the princes only as a fief, just as all princes owed unconditional allegiance to the Tennō, as well as the peasants in the principalities became direct subjects of the emperor and were only entitled to taxes had to pay.

In order to secure the approval of the aristocratic families of Japan, it was determined that only members of the old high nobility would have access to high posts in the new administrative elite of the empire.

The new administrative nobility no longer drew their income from their own lands, but as remuneration from the emperor, who in turn financed this through the now centrally organized tax revenue of the empire.

The Four Articles of Taika Reforms (Summary)

  1. All property and its inhabitants were directly subordinated to the imperial administration.
  2. The establishment of a new administrative system with a capital region ( Kinai ) as the center, provinces and districts, and a transport system.
  3. Carrying out a census, a land survey and the establishment of a tax register.
  4. Old tax laws have been repealed and replaced by a new, centrally organized tax system.