Page 59 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

later commuted into cash. Those daimyo that had enjoyed the largest
incomes in the Tokugawa structure, therefore, tended to fare best under
the new Meiji dispensation. Mori of Choshü and Maeda of Kaga re-
ceived bonds worth over a million yen, which at five percent interest
annually would have given them annual incomes of more than 50,000
yen, a very large income in Meiji Japan. Most daimyo fared much less
well, perhaps enjoying incomes from their bond of between 2,000 and
5,000 yen a year. These were still substantial incomes in the i88os and
18905, especially now that they were freed from the responsibility of
providing for their retainers as well as their families. As peers the former
daimyo had capital and were free to invest in land, railroads, or other
enterprises. Some did so very astutely and became among the wealthiest
members of late Meiji society; others were less successful. On the whole,
however, the former daimyo were very much more favorably treated
than the mass of former samurai who were classed as commoners and
granted meager financial settlements, most of which were quickly de-
pleted. Politically, the former daimyo made less of an impact. A few
entered provincial or national politics. For the most part, however, politi-
cal leadership was taken by lower-ranking figures, many of whom had
connections with Satsuma and Choshü. By the close of the nineteenth
century the early Meiji elite, of which the daimyo were part, was being
bypassed by a new leadership that emerged from former samurai or
commoner backgrounds.
What of daimyo culture in the post-Restoration era? In the full
flush of enthusiasm for things Western in the i86os and 18705, the cul-
tural interests of the Tokugawa elite were largely disregarded or discred-
ited. Like all samurai, daimyo gave up their swords, formal robes, and
palanquins and took to walking sticks, Western dress, and the railway.
Obligatory sankin kôtai and attendance upon the shogun had been re-
placed by freedom of travel and freer social intercourse. In the abolition
of the domains they lost their castles and many of their Tokyo residences.
In many cases they sold off family treasures. Lesser mortals no longer
bowed at their passage and they lost the power to command service from
farmers and craftsmen. Where once the classical learning of Japan and
China had provided their intellectual framework, they now had to come
to terms with new ideas and notions from the West. Prized tea utensils,
Buddhist statues, and other works of art were temporarily devalued as
attention turned to the assimilation of artistic models from the West.
But not everything had been destroyed and with time came a
reassessment of cultural values. Many works of art were acquired cheaply
by Western collectors and museums but others were bought by Japanese
who were finding new value in their own cultural tradition. Some dai-
myo retained substantial collections and added to them during the late
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. After the fever for things Western
subsided somewhat in the mid-Meiji period, Japanese and Westerners
alike began to rediscover the qualities of artistic and cultural attainment
that had been enjoyed and prized by the former daimyo. No and chanoyu
began to regain attention, ceramics found export outlets, and painters
began to revive traditional styles. Many of the elements associated with
that elite feudal society that seemed at risk of being completely lost or
discredited in early Meiji have since been recognized as among the finest
examples of Japanese cultural attainment.

46