Yamashita Kounai petition

This is a letter criticizing the shogunate government that was posted in the suggestion box set up outside the Hyojosho (council) in 1721 (6th year of the Kyoho era) by Yamashita Konai. Konai's background is unclear, but one theory is that he was a ronin from Kishu, living in the Aoyama area of ​​Edo, and a military scholar of the Kenshin school. The letter harshly criticizes the 8th shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune's Kyoho reforms, saying that people had high hopes for them, but that the reality of the reform politics often fell short of those expectations. In particular, the letter points out that the ban on luxury goods, which forced people to live frugally, and the mutual settlement order, which made it impossible to accept lawsuits over the lending of gold and silver, stagnated the circulation of currency and instead put a strain on the lives of ordinary people, and harshly states that the petty policies implemented by Yoshimune during his time as the Kishu domain would not work in the shogunate government of the whole country. This petition not only attracted the attention of those in charge of government affairs at the time, but also had a major influence during the later Kansei Reforms, when Matsudaira Sadanobu, the leader of the reforms, circulated Yamashita Konai's petition to his fellow senior councilors to ask for their opinions. It is included in the "Japanese Economics Series"5 and the "Japanese Economic Encyclopedia"11.

[Makoto Takeuchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1721年（享保6）評定所(ひょうじょうしょ)の外に設けられた目安箱(めやすばこ)に山下幸内が投書した幕政批判書。幸内の経歴は不明であるが、一説に紀州の浪人で江戸青山辺に居住し、謙信流の軍学者であったという。上書の内容は、8代将軍徳川吉宗(よしむね)の享保(きょうほう)の改革に世人は多大の期待を寄せているが、しかし現実の改革政治は、その期待に反することが多いと、厳しく批判している。とくに質素倹約を強制する奢侈(しゃし)禁令や、金銀貸借の訴訟を不受理とする相対済(あいたいすまし)令は、貨幣の流通を停滞させ、かえって庶民の生活を圧迫していると指摘し、吉宗が紀州藩時代に行ったような小政策は、天下の幕府政治には通用しないと痛言している。この上書は、当時の政局担当者の関心を集めたほか、後の寛政(かんせい)の改革の際も、改革の主導者松平定信(さだのぶ)は山下幸内上書を同僚老中に回覧して意見を求めるなど、大きな影響を与えた。『日本経済叢書(そうしょ)』5、および『日本経済大典』11に所収されている。

［竹内　誠］

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