Blood tax riots

Uprisings began in March 1873, and rapidly spread to a total of at least 10 prefectures.^[11] Affected prefectures included Kyoto, Okayama, Fukui, Mie, Tottori, Hiroshima, Shimane, Kagawa, Ehime, and Kōchi.^[11][12][13] The rioters targeted the symbols and agents of the Meiji reforms that were disrupting their previous way of life: local government offices and officials, newly established public schools and police stations, Buddhist temples that were serving as government agents, and newly emancipated outcasts.

For example, in late May 1873, over 30,000 people rioted in Okayama prefecture, destroying 46 public elementary schools.^[14] In addition, they destroyed 2 temples, the residences of 52 local government officials, and over 300 houses owned by newly emancipated Burakumin.^[15] Arming themselves with bamboo spears, guns, and swords,^[16][17] they attacked government officials and former outcasts, wounding dozens and killing 24. Of the 24 people murdered in the violence in Okayama, 18 were recently emancipated former outcasts.^[18]

Similarly in Kagawa prefecture, an army of 20,000^[14] angry peasants bearing bamboo sticks and beating drums went on a rampage, burning down 34 government offices, 5 Buddhist temples, and the homes of 300 local government officials.^[15] In addition, they destroyed 7 police stations^[19] and a total of 48 public schools.^[14]

In addition to overt violence, the rioters also presented petitions to local authorities stating their demands. Common demands included repealing the Conscription Ordinance, abolishing public schools, rescinding the ban on traditional topknot hairstyles, and ditching the newly instated solar calendar in favor of the traditional lunar calendar.^[20]

The Meiji government brutally suppressed the blood tax riots without yielding to any of the rioters' demands.^[19][21] Showing no mercy, the government took a "shoot-to-kill" approach to the rioters.^[22] When local police forces proved unable to contain the violence, the government hired bands of samurai mercenaries to restore order.^[15] In total, more than 60,000 people were arrested, including more than 29,000 people in Okayama prefecture alone. However, a mere 15 rioters identified as ringleaders were sentenced to death and executed,^[1] with thousands of other rioters receiving lesser sentences or being released without charge.

Books

• Duke, Benjamin (2009). The History of Modern Japanese Education: Constructing the National School System, 1872-1890. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0813544038.
• Figal, Gerald (1999). Civilization and Monsters: Spirits of Modernity in Meiji Japan. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0822323846.
• Howell, David L. (2005). Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-Century Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520240858.
• Haag, Andre (2011). "Maruyama Masao and Katō Shūichi on Translation and Japanese Modernity". In Levy, Indra (ed.). Translation in Modern Japan. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415573917.
• Jaundrill, D. Colin (2016). Samurai to Soldier: Remaking Military Service in Nineteenth-Century Japan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1501703096.
• Mutafchieva, Rositsa (2009). From Subnational to Micronational: Buraku Communities and Transformations in Identity in Modern and Contemporary Japan (Ph.D. dissertation). McGill University.
• Norman, E. Herbert (2000). Japan's Emergence as a Modern State: Political and Economic Problems of the Meiji Period. Vancouver: UBC Press. ISBN 0-7748-0822-5.
• Platt, Brian (2004). Burning and Building: Schooling and State Formation in Japan, 1750–1890. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 978-0674013964.
• Storm, Jason Ananda Josephson (2012). The Invention of Religion in Japan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226412344.
• Vlastos, Stephen (1995). "Opposition Movements in Early Meiji, 1868-1885". In Jansen, Marius B. (ed.). The Emergence of Meiji Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0415573917.

Journal articles

• Ikegami, Eiko (1995). "Citizenship and National Identity in Early Meiji Japan, 1868-1889: A Comparative Assessment". International Review of Social History. 40 (S3): 185–221. doi:10.1017/S0020859000113641. S2CID 146423428.
• Kublin, Hyman (November 1949). "The "Modern" Army of Early Meiji Japan". The Far Eastern Quarterly. 9 (1): 20–41. doi:10.2307/2049123. JSTOR 2049123. S2CID 162485953.