The Dog Shogun

8. The Rise and Fall of Hotta Masatoshi

90 8 The Rise and Fall of Hotta Masatoshi As the preparations for the of¤cial installation of the new shogun were under way in the summer of 1680, typhoons were battering northeastern Japan, causing high seas and ¶ooding. Fields were devastated, and the lack of sun prevented the crop from ripening. In anticipation of the festivities and a shortfall in the harvest, rice was being hoarded, and the price skyrocketed. People were starving , and Edo and its surrounds were on the brink of a major famine.1 To contemporaries the havoc caused by the natural elements signi¤ed the discontent of the gods with the government. Action was needed to placate the gods and help the people. Tsunayoshi responded to the challenge by taking the unprecedented step of appointing one of his senior councilors, Hotta Masatoshi , to be solely responsible for the administration of the farmers. The bakufu domain was traditionally administered by intendants (daikan ) under the supervision of the directors of ¤nance (kanjô gashira). These in turn were administered by the senior councilors in monthly rotation, a procedure that encouraged neither the acquisition of specialized technical expertise nor close supervision. On 5.8.Enpô 8 (1680), the shogun broke with tradition and charged Hotta Masatoshi solely and permanently to oversee this important sector of government. Yet Tsunayoshi was not content simply to delegate these important duties. Only two days later Masatoshi was again called into the presence of the shogun to receive instructions on the subject, but this time Masatoshi’s new subordinates , the four directors of ¤nance, were also summoned directly to receive the shogun’s orders. The shogun had heard that in recent years the farmers of the bakufu domains had been worked to exhaustion, and he ordered that they be administered with benevolence (jinsei) so that they would not be debilitated.2 For all intents and purposes, Masatoshi’s role of instructing the directors of¤nance had been taken over by the shogun. Nine days later the shogun went one step further. Even though he had charged Masatoshi to supervise the farmers, he personally and publicly issued a stern warning to the intendants that their work was unsatisfactory and that in The Rise and Fall of Hotta Masatoshi 91 the future any misadministration would be strictly punished. Since the bakufu’s income was largely generated by its farmers, their supervision was synonymous with the supervision of “national ¤nance” (kokuyô). But these duties of supervision by just one senior councilor were now being rede¤ned by placing an additional six high-ranking of¤cials at Masatoshi’s side. Two of these were Kyoto magistrates, three were directors of ¤nance, while one occupied the position of inspector (metsuke).3 For the ¤rst time in Tokugawa bakufu history, one senior councilor had been made solely responsible for the collection of tax rice and for the farmers who produced it and, moreover, had been personally given by the shogun a team of of¤cials to assist him in these duties.4 All this had been accomplished in less than a month, even before the of¤cial grand ceremonies (tairei) of shogunal succession had taken place on 20.8.5 But the question remains whether Tsunayoshi saw in Hotta Masatoshi someone with the capability and willingness to execute his wishes or simply the best of a bad lot, whose unusual appointment was necessary to wrest the country’s administration of ¤nancial affairs from the remaining senior councilors. Had the transfer of duties to Masatoshi and his team of of¤cials been in fact no more than a clever maneuver to strip the senior councilors of part of their authority and place it in the shogun’s hands? Hotta Masatoshi’s Role Related to the question of Hotta Masatoshi’s role is the timing of a comprehensive order detailing the responsibilities and duties of the intendants of the bakufu domain and regulating their work as tax collectors and administrators of the farming population. The order stated: The intendants are given the following orders. The people are the foundation of the state. All intendants must always bear in mind the hardships of the people and must govern them so that they do not suffer from hunger, cold, and so forth. When the administration is slack, people take to luxuries, and where there is luxury, work is neglected. There must be no luxury in the clothing, food, and housing of the people. Where there is a great distance between the people and their...