[Original Candle in the Wind] The System of the Samurai Society of Japan's Warring States Period
Off-topic: This article is a summary of the discussion among book friends in today's book group. The analysis by book friend Candle in the Wind is incisive and unique, so Wu Mei specially asked him to write a short article to share with book friends.
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In the Warring States Period when Xia Ke Shang was under control, is mentioning the "pillars of the Wu family" a sign of the past?
After reading the book for so long, I found that many brothers don't understand Wu Mei's stubborn insistence on tradition and emphasis on family names, origins, blood inheritance and other things. They even think that in such an era of "Xia Ke Shang" where a farmer can become Guan Bai.
I feel that it is inappropriate to focus on these contents. I am a cheap brother, and I think I have a little understanding of some of Wu Mei's ideas, so I will say these few words.
To be clear, I think Wu Mei made a very right choice for the following reasons:
The social structure of a country determines the changes in its social organization and political structure, which must be carried out on a certain basis. Japan in the Middle Ages was a typical feudal country. The "samurai feudal system" established in the Kamakura period actually
It is a large system that binds "public service" obligations to land. It is not only an economic system, but also a political system and a form of social organization.
The impression of the Warring States Period that we are familiar with actually comes from the comet-like rise of Nobunaga and the monkey's leap from a farmer's son to a man of the world. Coupled with the frequent occurrence of "lower defeats", there are quite a lot of activities that disintegrated the old system and ushered in a new era.
momentum.
However, this impression may not be comprehensive.
Because the success of Nobunaga and Monkey ultimately relied on the "founding of the country" and the huge wealth brought by "trade", which impacted the old feudal farming and war system, and established a semi-centralized bureaucratic system similar to China's
The huge direct leadership overwhelms other feudal lords.
The emergence of this phenomenon is inseparable from the fact that the Japanese economy was in a special period at that time. For any medieval country, there is a threshold for the number of grassroots managers that the agricultural economy can bear. The system of land feudalism,
In the hundreds of years of fission, the "gaps" in economically developed areas have been almost filled (in the Spring and Autumn Period of China, it was "wild"), and a large number of people have even overflowed from the original system (this problem,
The early Edo shogunate also had headaches).
The emergence of a large number of economic and social forces that are divorced from the system has stimulated the "hypocritical vitality" of society and the economy. Organizational methods that are divorced from the old system, such as "separation of soldiers and peasants", "following the system", etc., are constantly being invented in various martial arts schools.
, is a manifestation of actively grasping this "vitality".
However, Japan's agriculture and rural areas have not undergone real changes. They are still similar to the "village community system" popular in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. The control and production organization are still medieval rural autonomy. It is impossible to burst out something that transcends the times.
Economic vitality and support for more unemployed people.
Therefore, Nobunaga and Monkey can only be transitional roles after all, similar to Chen Sheng and Wu Guang who "drove fish" for the Han Empire because they went too far. This is a bit similar to what Engels said: revolution will always go further than it actually needs.
Take two steps forward, and then take one step back (can't remember the original words)...The power of their center is completely outside the old traditional rules, and the daimyo under the old system need to constantly deal with their unlimited power.
requirements, and this kind of power seriously lacks legitimacy and is completely suppressed by the balance of power. Then, it is not surprising that it is ready to change power.
The system is not something that you can just play around with chess pieces in your hand. Laws and regulations need a basis of legitimacy. What Wu Mei is doing now is to find a basis of legitimacy in history and blood. Just imagine, if this thing does not
Important, why should the old turtle try every possible means to find the origin of Genji and raise the white flag of Genji?
Finally, let me give you an example: During the Warring States Period, many traditional blood nobles were knocked to the ground. However, after Qin unified the world, it fell apart. Why did the rebels who emerged, after final integration, almost all of them were descendants of the Six Kingdoms?
?
Don't forget, Qin Shihuang had already moved all the royal families of the six kings to Xianyang, and they remained in Guandong as side branches. How many anti-Qin rebels were created by these people? This is the social identity and foundation.
Japan at the time of this book was an aristocratic feudal society that lasted for thousands of years. Will this kind of social and psychological impact be big? Or small?
