TempōRef

orms
Ref ormsunder takendur i
ngt heTempōer a( 1831- 45) .Thet ermr efer st or eforms
i
ni t
iatedbyt heTokugawashogunat e( 1603- 1867)undert hel eader shipofMi zuno
Tadakunidur ing1841- 43aswel last hoser eformsunder takenby  daimy ō  ofv ari
ous
domai ns.Dur ingt he1830' sJapanexper iencedv ariouscr opf ail
ures;f oreignshi ps
appear edof f
shor ei nunpr ecedent ednumber s;andWest er nimper iali
st icact i
vit
yi n
Chinasuggest edt hei mmi nenceofamaj orf oreigncr i
sis.Mi zunoTadakuni ,chief
amongseni orcounci l
lors,andot her swer eal ar med, andt hedeat hofr et i
redshogun
TokugawaI enar iin1841enabl edt hem t oinitiatev igor ousr eforms.Toi ncr easef ood
product ion,Tadakunif orbadepeasant st odi v er
tt hei rener giesf r
om agr iculture.To
i
mpr ov et hemor al sandmor aleofsamur ai,heoust edmenf rom of fice,puni shed
other sf orcor rupt ion,andor der ed dai my ō andl esser  samur ai
 topr act icef rugal
ity
and sel f-discipline.He out l
awed gambl i
ng and unr egulated pr ost i
t ut
ion.He
prohibit edpr oduct ionofl uxur yitemsandor deredmer chantst or educepr ices.He
alsoi nst itutedv ariousr eformst ost rengt henJapan' smi li
tarycapabi li
ties, lessent he
threatposedbyf oreignshi ps,paci fydomest iccr i
tics,andcont rolunaut hori
zed
foreignt rade.Somehi storiansseet heTempoRef or msasmar kingtheemer genceof
new" absol utist"for cest hatev ent uall
yl edt ot he Mei j
iRest orati
on of1868.( adapted
from  Japan:AnI llustratedEncy cl
opedi a.Toky o:Kodansha, 1993)
TheTenpoRef
ormsof1841/
1842
ShogunI enarireti
r edi n1837andhi sson,TokugawaI eyoshi(1793-1853),became
thenew shogun.Thi swasdur i
ngt heTenpoper iod,whichlastedf rom 1830until
1844.UnderI eyoshi t
hest r
ictandmuchdespi sedTenpoRef or
msof1841- 1943were
i
ntroducedi nsev er alsteps.Theseaf f
ect edmanypeopl eandpr of
essions,wit
hthe
maj ori
tyrelati
ng t ol uxuryi tems,soci alcustoms and per forming arts,mainl
y
the kabukitheaters andt hepopul aractors.Theentert
ainmenti ndustryinthelar
ge
cit
iesEdo, OsakaandKy otowashi thard.
Ther ef
ormswer eextremel
yr eacti
onary,stri
ctanddr i
venbyakindofpseudo-
rel
i
giousfer
vortorest
orepubl
icmor alandfightext
ravaganceandl
uxur
y.Thedr
ivi
ng
for
cebehindtherefor
mswasMi zunoTadakuni ,ahi
gh-ranki
nggov
ernmentmember
oftheshogunat
e.
I
n1845Mi zunoTadakuniwasr emov
edf
rom of
fi
ce,andt
heenf
orcementoft
he
Tenpo"
ref
orms"sl
owlydieddown.
TheI
mpactoft
heTenpoRef
ormsonUki
yo-
e
Themostsev ereli
mitat
ionsonuki yo-
ewer eintr
oducedi n1842.Thesecensorshi
p
l
awsbr oughttheproducti
onoft radit
ionalactorand bi
j
in(court
esans)print
s f
ora
numberofy earspracti
call
ytoast andsti
l
l.The uki
yo-emakersi nOsaka werehit
especiall
yhard.Theyhadspeciali
zedt hei
rbusinessnearlycomplet
elyi
n yakusha-
e,
actorprint
s.Hereisashortli
stofthebanst hataff
ectedukiy
o-e.
 Thedi
spl
ayofact
orsandcour
tesanswasdi
sal
l
owed.
 Mul
ti
-col
orehon(
book)cov
erswer
ebanned.
  Mul
ti
-panel
pri
ntswer
eli
mit
edt
othr
eesheet
s.
 Mul
ti
-col
orpr
int
swer
eli
mit
edt
o8bl
ocks.
 Thepr
icef
oruki
yo-
ewasl
i
mit
edt
o16mon,
thel
owestcat
egor
ybef
ore.
Whathi tthe 
ukiyo-
e maker s 
real
ly hard was the ban on 
ukiyo-e ofactors and
courtesans.
 Ukiy
o-e arti
sts and publi
sherst r
ied to compensatet hi
s by histor
y
and warri
orprints(musha-e)  
whichwer eencouragedbythegov ernment .Especi
all
y
fort he 
Osaka pr i
ntmakers the ban ofact orpr i
nts was disastrous.They had
speciali
zednear l
yexclusivelyinprintscenter
edar oundkabukiact orsandkabuki
perf
or mances.
Youmayhav ewonder edwhysomanyoft heOsakapri
ntsareinthesmal l
er 
chuban
for
mat?Itwasal ateeffectoftheTenpor ef
orms.Publi
sher
st houghtthatsmall
er
for
matslookedl essluxuri
ous.Andevenwhent heTenpobansonuki yo-ewer eno
l
ongerenforcedaf t
ercirca1850,therepercussi
onsconti
nuedandt heol dglamor
wasneverfull
yrestored.
TheEndoft
heTenpoRef
orms
Cour
tesanpr
int
spr et
tymuchdi sappearedunti
ltheendoftheEdoPeriod.Theban
onactor
swasrelaxedin1846andact orsst
art
edtoreappeari
npri
nts,thought
hey
woul
dbeshowni nalandscape,
andnotonakabuki st
age.
HowUki
yo-
eMaker
sTr
iedt
oCi
rcumv
entt
heTenpoCensor
shi
pLaws
Afterthefirstheftystor
msoft heTenpor eformshadsomewhatcal meddown, ukiy
o-
e ar t
istslike Kuniy
oshi and Kunisada and theirpubl ishers cauti
ouslyt ested the
groundhow andt owhichdegr eet heycoul dci
r cumv entthecensor shiplaws.They
wer everyinventiveandnowpubl i
shedact orpri
nt sagainstalandscapescener y.The
actorswer e,incontrasttot hepr acti
cebef orether ef
or ms,notment ionedbyname.
Butnow t heuki yo-edesigner sandar tisans(car ver
sandpr i
nters)didt hei
rbestt o
maket heactorsrecognizablef orthei
rfansbyt heirindivi
dualfacialexpressi
ons.
Theuki yo-eser
iescall
ed YakushaTokai do i
ssuchal ovel
yexampl e.Theseri
eswas
createdby  
KunisadaUtagawa  andpubl ishedin1852i n 
obantate-ef or
mat.Bythen
the Tokugawashogunat e hadl ostit
saut hori
ty.Sixt
eenyear
sl aterin1868t hel
ast
shogun,TokugawaYoshi nobu( 1837-1913),ret
iredandtheEdoper iodhadended.
The f or
malhead ofst ate became t he sixt
een yearold emper orwho call
ed
himself 
Mei j
i,"the enli
ght ened one" . Wi t
h hi m the 
Meij
i er a and a drasti
c
moder nizati
onandWest ernizati
onofJapanbegan.