Tenpō

The Great Tenpō famine of the 1830s was a devastating period in which the whole of Japan suffered rapidly decreasing temperatures and loss of crops, and in turn, merchant prices began to spike. Many starved to death during this grim time: "The death rate for a village in the northeast rose to thirty-seven per thousand and that for the city of Takayama was nearly forty-five".[5] As crops continued to decline in the countryside, prices increased, and a shortage of supplies left people competing to survive on meager funds.[6] The rising expense of rice in particular, a staple food of the Japanese, was a firm blow to both the economy and the people, who starved because of it. Some even resorted to "eating leaves and weeds, or even straw raincoats".[7]

The samurai also suffered the effects of the famine, dealing with lower wages from the Japanese domain governments in anticipation of fiscal shortfalls to come. To further the already dire conditions of the famine, illness eventually began to spread, and many who were starving could not resist pestilences such as smallpox, measles and influenza.[6] Thousands died from hunger alone at the peak of the crisis in 1836–1837.[7]

One of the rebellions sparked by the Great Tenpō famine was the Ōshio Heihachirō Rebellion. The man for whom it was named led an attempted revolt in the 1830s, and was granted the label of yonaoshi daimyojin, or "world saviour", for his attempts at moral restoration.[8] Formally a police officer and scholar, Ōshio Heihachirō (1792-1837) had requested help from Osaka city commissioners and otherwise wealthy merchants in 1837, only to be met with indifference. Shocked by his lack of success in the endeavour, Ōshio instigated an uprising to oppose those who had refused their aid. With approximately 300 followers, including poor townsfolk and peasants from various villages, Ōshio set fire to one-fifth of Osaka city. But the rebellion was suppressed in short order, forcing Ōshio to a quick end in which he committed suicide.[9]

The scholar Ikuta Yorozo (1801–1837) also instigated a rebellion from similar roots as that of Ōshio Heihachirō. Ikuta had opened a school for the education of adolescents, consisting mostly of peasants. Having also suffered from the Great Tenpō Famine, Ikuta despaired the lack of aid local bureaucrats were willing to provide, and in 1837, he assembled a band of peasants in retaliation. Together they launched an attack on the bureaucrats, which met with devastating results and ended with Ikuta taking his own life.[10]

In 1838, a year following Ōshio Heihachirō's rebellion, and after the fire that had scorched nearly a quarter of Osaka city, the physician Ogata Kōan founded an academy to teach medicine, healing and Rangaku, or Dutch Studies. The school was called Tekijuku, where distinction of status was unknown and competition abounded. Ogata encouraged this competitive learning, especially of the Dutch language to which he had dedicated much of his own study. However, the competition escalated and eventually students bent to the rigorous pressure of the academy, acting recklessly to vent frustrations. For example: "slashing their swords against the central pillar of the main boarding hall, leaving gashes and nicks".[11] Ogata did not deem it necessary to take disciplinary measures, thinking it harmless and recreational.[12]

Much of Ogata's life was devoted to Rangaku, which was clearly displayed in the vision he had for Tekijuku. Ogata is known in history for his attentions to the medical, or internal therapeutic aspects of Rangaku, including emphasis on diseases and his aid in translation of foreign medical terms.[13]

As the Tokugawa era drew to a close, a major reform was exerted called the Tenpō Reforms (1841–1843), primarily instituted by Mizuno Tadakuni, a dominant leader in the shogunate. The reforms were economic policies introduced prominently to resolve fiscal issues mainly caused by the Great Tenpō famine, and to revisit more traditional aspects of the Japanese economy. For the samurai, these reforms were meant to spur them to return to their roots of education and military arts. The samurai aimed for change within the status quo itself. There was a stringency amongst all classes of people, and at this time, travel was regulated (especially for farmers, who were meant to remain at home and work their fields) and trade relations crumbled. This, in turn, caused various goods to lower in price.[15] Under Mizuno's leadership, the reforms brought about the following: "Moral reform, the encouragement of frugality and retrenchment, recoinage, forced loans from wealthy merchant houses, and the cancellation of samurai debts".[16] In addition, the bakufu met with fierce objection when land transfers were impressed upon the daimyōs in an attempt to reinforce the reach of influence and authority that remained of the Tokugawa government.[17]

Though the reforms largely ended in failure, the introduction of economical change during this period is seen as the initial approach leading ultimately to the modernization of Japan's economy.[16]

Edo Castle was devastated by two fires during the Tenpō era, in 1839 and 1843 respectively, and despite rampant rebellion during this period, neither fire was due to unrest.[18]

• 1834 (Tenpō 5): Kondō Isami born in Tama.
• July 20, 1835 (Tenpō 6, 7th day of the 6th month): Earthquake in Sanriku (Latitude: 37.900/Longitude: 141.900), 7.6 magnitude on the Richter Scale.[19]
  • Hijikata Toshizō born, May 5.
• 1836 (Tenpō 7): Matsudaira Katamori born in Edo.
• 1837 (Tenpō 7): Tokugawa Ieyoshi becomes the 12th shōgun of the bakufu government.[20]
• 1837 (Tenpō 8): Tokugawa Yoshinobu born.
• April 25, 1843 (Tenpō 14, 25th day of the 3rd month): Earthquake in Yezo, Kushiro, Nemuro (Latitude: 41.800/Longitude: 144.800), 8.4 magnitude on the Richter Scale.[19]
• 1844 (Tenpō 15): Insurrection in Chōshū; also, Saitō Hajime born in Edo.

• 
  Branched ("Edasen" 枝銭) Mon coins of the Tenpō period.
• 
  Japanese drawing of the Morrison, anchored in front of Uraga in 1837.

• Tenpō calendar
• Tenpō Reforms

• Hall, John Whitney and Marius Jansen. (1991). Early Modern Japan: The Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22355-3; OCLC 62064695
• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301
• Smith, David E. and Yoshio Mikami. (1914). A History of Japanese Mathematics. Chicago: Open Court Publishing. OCLC 1515528 – note alternate online, full-text copy at archive.org
• Wiskundig Genootschap (Mathematical Society). (1907). Nieuw archief voor wiskunde (New Archive of Mathematics). Amsterdam, Swets & Zeitlinger. OCLC 5814818
• Jansen, Marius B. (2000). The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
• Hall, John Whitney. (1991). The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 4. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Jansen, Marius B. (1995). The Emergence of Meiji Japan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Jansen, Marius B. (1989). The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 5. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Totman, Conrad D. (1993). Early Modern Japan. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
• Hane, Mikiso and Perez, Louis G. (2009). Modern Japan: A Historical Survey. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
• Frédéric, Louis. (2002). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
• Lu, David J. (1997). Japan: A Documentary History. Armonk, NY: East Gate Book.
• Hauser, William B. (1974). Economic Institutional Change in Tokugawa Japan: Osaka and the Kinai Cotton Trade. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Shavit, David. (1990). The United States in Asia: A Historical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.
• Cullen, L. M. (2003). A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Cunningham, Mark E. and Zwier, Lawrence J. (2009). The End of the Shoguns and the Birth of Modern Japan. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books.
• McClain, James L. and Osamu, Wakita. (1999). Osaka: The Merchants' Capital of Early Modern Japan. New York: Cornell University Press.
• Jannetta, Ann Bowman. (2007). The Vaccinators: Smallpox, Medical Knowledge, and the "Opening" of Japan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

• "The Japanese Calendar", National Diet Library—historical overview plus illustrative images from library's collection