State Formation, Property Relations, & the Development of the Tokugawa Economy (1600-1868)

Early Modern Japanese Economy

Before the late 1960s, Japan historians characterized the Early Modern Japanese economy in what are typical feudal terms. Considered backward and stagnant, it was argued that the economy eventually collapsed under the weight of its own internal limitations.

Recent Interpretations

This narrative has given way in the past two decades to a new interpretation in which Japan's pre-industrial economy is portrayed as one of substantive growth and qualitative change, setting the stage for modern development during the Meiji era.