Revolt - Ikki

The bond and behavioral pattern between warriors and farmers that was unique to Japanese society in the early modern period. From the meaning of "uniting the rebellion," the word came to mean unity and came to be used to describe united group actions.

During the Kamakura period, the term was used to describe samurai families who revolted and formed parties, but after the civil wars of the Northern and Southern Courts period, from the 14th to 16th centuries, various types of ikki occurred frequently enough that the era was called the "age of ikkis," and they came to have a major impact on politics. First, during the Nanboku-cho period, parties or groups of samurai families came to be called ikki, and kokujin ikki, which were regional unions of indigenous samurai "kokujin," were born. However, around this time in the farming villages of the Kinai region and nearby provinces, "Shoke Uprisings" were organized, centered around the myoshu (village headman) who demanded the dismissal of illegal magistrates and tax reductions, and as conflicts, intensified exploitation, and insecurity in daily life due to the control of usurers increased, these developed into lands uprisings, in which people banded together to demand tax reductions and opposition to the imposition of new taxes from their feudal lords, or to seek virtuous government and win by force, and became mainstream after the great uprising of 1428 (Shocho 1). Although the lands uprisings were uprisings of "local people," they were organized and led by kokujin (local lords), and were often composed mainly of peasants such as myoshu and local samurai, with horse-lenders and urban poor people also joining in. However, at the end of the 15th century, local lords who had led the peasant uprisings strengthened their control over the peasants and began to organize national uprisings, as seen in Yamashiro (Kyoto Prefecture), and the number of peasant uprisings gradually decreased, and in the Warring States period, they began to take on religious overtones, such as the Ikko Ikki. However, these uprisings were more characterized as local lords who involved the peasants in resistance to the feudal lords, rather than as a religious union.

The Shokuho government's unification of the country was only achieved by wiping out these rebel forces, so they launched a full-scale crackdown, but the local small feudal lords resisted to the end, organizing anti-land survey rebellions and other such actions. However, by the Edo period, when the separation of soldiers and farmers was thoroughly implemented and samurai rebellions were denied, peasant uprisings were organized in place of the samurai, in which peasants rebelled against the oppression of the feudal lords. There were approximately 3,200 peasant uprisings throughout the Edo period, of which in the early Edo period there were petitions (representative petitions) by village officials, in the middle period there were sobyakusho uprisings in which all the people of the domain participated, and when the feudal lord system began to waver and merchants and landlords gained power, these developed into social reform uprisings (also known as riots) that were mainly aimed at them and the feudal lords, and there were many of these at the end of the Edo period, which had a significant impact on the political situation. These peasant uprisings were not sustainable and disbanded soon after their demands were met, but even after the Meiji Restoration, they were organized in various places in opposition to the policies of the new government, such as uprisings against the land tax reform. However, with the rise of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement and other movements, new methods of activism were discovered and these uprisings disappeared.

[Michio Aoki]

"Ikki" edited by Michio Aoki et al., 5 volumes (1980-82, University of Tokyo Press)" ▽ "Ikki" by Shizuo Katsumata (Iwanami Shinsho)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本中・近世社会に固有な武士・農民の結合および行動様式。「揆(き)を一(いつ)にする」意から、一致団結することを意味するようになり、一致した集団行動に対して用いられるようになる。

　鎌倉時代には、武家が一揆して党をつくるなどに用いられているが、南北朝の内乱期以降、14世紀から16世紀には、「一揆の世」といわれているほど多様な形態の一揆が頻発し、政治に大きな影響を与えるようになる。まず、南北朝期に武家らの党や集団を一揆というようになり、土着の武士である「国人(こくじん)」の地域的結合である国人一揆が生まれた。しかしこのころ畿内(きない)近国の農村では、不法な代官の罷免や年貢減免を求める名主(みょうしゅ)を中心とする「庄家(しょうけ)の一揆」が組織されるようになり、これがその後、争乱、そして収奪強化、高利貸支配による生活不安などが増大すると、年貢減免や新税賦課反対を領主に求めたり、徳政を求めて結集し実力でかちとる土(つち)一揆へ発展し、1428年（正長1）の大一揆以降、主流となる。土一揆は「土民」の一揆ということであるが、一揆を組織し指導したのは国人で、名主・地侍らの農民が主体となり、それに馬借(ばしゃく)・都市貧民などが加わる場合が多い。しかし、15世紀末土一揆を主導してきた国人が農民支配を強化し、山城(やましろ)（京都府）でみられたように国一揆を組織するようになると、土一揆はしだいに減少し、戦国時代には一向(いっこう)一揆など宗教的色彩を帯びるようになる。ただこれも信仰的結合というより、大名に抵抗するために農民を巻き込んだ国人らの一揆の性格が強い。

　織豊(しょくほう)政権による全国統一は、こうした一揆勢力の一掃によって初めて確立したので、彼らは徹底的な弾圧に出たが、検地反対一揆が組織されるなど在地の小領主から最後まで抵抗された。ただし兵農分離が貫徹し、武士の反乱が否定された江戸時代には、武士にかわって農民が幕藩領主の圧政に抵抗する百姓一揆が組織されるようになった。百姓一揆は江戸時代を通して約3200件起こっているが、江戸初期には村役人による越訴(おっそ)（代表越訴型）、中期には全領民参加の惣百姓(そうびゃくしょう)一揆、そして幕藩制が動揺し商人や地主が勢力を台頭させるころには、おもに彼らと領主とを相手とする世直し一揆（騒動ともいう）へと発展し、幕末期には数多く起こり、政局に少なからず影響を与えた。こうした百姓一揆は、いずれも持続性がなく要求実現後すぐ解散するものであったが、明治維新後も新政府の政策に対して各地で組織され、地租改正反対一揆などを起こしている。しかし自由民権運動などの高揚のなかで、新たな運動方法がみいだされ消滅する。

［青木美智男］

『青木美智男他編『一揆』全5巻（1980～82・東京大学出版会）』▽『勝俣鎮夫著『一揆』（岩波新書）』

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