ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with a brief reconstruction of the tensions and dynamics of change in the premodern land regime, covering the period from 1582 to the situation directly preceding the Land Reform of 1873. The Meiji Land Reform, based on the 1873 legislation, was a comprehensive overhaul of the system of land taxation and land rights. The chapter discusses some aspects of the Land Reform, which, it is often said, brought about the end of this land regime: its technical dimensions, its legal structure, and the political controversies that surrounded it at the time. It assesses its immediate social consequences, paying special attention to how the social tensions inherent in the old system played out in the drastically changing environment. The chapter focuses on the long-term effects, how the Land Reform of 1873 had an impact on the development of Japanese society of the following seventy years.
