著者

平井 雄一郎

出版者

社会経済史学会

雑誌

社会経済史学 (ISSN:00380113)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.61, no.6, pp.792-819,856, 1996

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By a notification in 1871, the Meiji Government contrived to establish a unified national system for the relief of abandoned children. The Tokyo area, however, had its own special system, "kunai-azukari", that had its origins in the Tokugawa Era. This relief system, financed by ku and gun as autonomous government units, is reputed to have played an important role in times of social upheaval, particularly during the period of the Matsukata Deflation. On the other hand, the fact that the system far exceeded the national one in the scale of expenditure and was subject to the arbitrary control of local officials, caused conflicts with the policy of the municipal government. Study of the shomu-ka (general affairs section) documents of the old government enable us to clarify both the structure of these conflicts and the concern of the authorities over the increases in expenditure which were due mainly to the participation of particular agents, "shusennin", in the kunai-azukari system. Eventually, the local autonomous system was dissolved. In 1885-1886, the municipal government ordered that all children under the care of kunai-azukari be accommodated in the Tokyo Yoikuin (the poorhouse). Once the order had been put into action, all the related expenditures were completely incorported into the accounts of the Yoikuin. Since it is obvious that the wishes of ku and gun offices were precluded, and since all remaining resources were appropriated as a new source of funds for the Yoikuin, I conclude that the order implied a solution favourable to the municipal government. Meanwhile, it should be pointed out in reference to further study that there might be the hopes for the rationalization of "society" and "culture" held by the chairman of the Yoikuin, Shibusawa Eiichi, and other "distinguished persons" in the city.