Emperor Mutsuhito. Samurai. 
For José Luis Muñoz Azpiri (h)
In memory of Maurice Moses Prelooker
"Better to light a candle than curse the darkness"
Confucius
For many years is commonplace among the analysts of coffee, "the famous maxim of a Nobel Prize in economics declared: "There are four classes of countries in the world: Development, Underdevelopment, Japan and Argentina
The phrase has passed to join the long list of judgments autodenigratorias with which the "intelligentsia" and their spokesmen that pontificate about the "harmful" historical experience of popular actors and stigmatize us as representatives of the archaic thinking or remnants of outmoded ideologies and destroyed by the winds of globalization debatable. They fail to note that Japan could become a modern country because it was atypical, because they clung to their traditional institutions remained unswervingly for its own national identity.
Development Japan was characterized by an extremely high rate of accumulation, especially of productive capital. The reinvestment reached the third part of the product in the long period of prosperity that followed
military spending, which previously accounted for 7% of GDP, were reduced to negligible levels from the government of General Mc Arthur. Moreover, the same Japanese government imposed land reform more advanced than some reformers had hoped. The dismantling of the forces armed freed many technicians, who started modest companies later reached gigantic proportions. The government and private enterprise joined massively Western technology, especially systematic sending people to train abroad. But he reneged on their own values \u200b\u200band renounced his history and tradition. MNCs were admitted only if Japan could take them and compete with them.
But Why should the austerity of Japanese capitalism?, "Some people are fated to build foresight and others to waste by their national or genetic determinism?, Is there any historical fatalism leading some nations to prosperity and others to poverty and dependence?
few years later, the Portuguese returned to Japan bringing many guns trying to sell well, but the price achieved was less than expected level. After several days of frustration, the Portuguese discovered in the Japanese market and were selling lots of guns manufactured by the Japanese. It turned out that the Lord of Tanegashima (Tokitaka, 1528-1579) to buy the two guns, ordered his subordinate, Kinbei Yaita, finding an effective way to play. Kinbei dismantled the guns and the professional help of sword smiths have mastered the methodology to make them.
The manufacturing technique of rifles was sent to Sakai (at that time was the commercial center "industrial" in Japan. It is located next to Osaka). Blacksmiths specialized in producing the famous Japanese sword master the secrets of how to forge steel and thermal treatment most appropriate to increase the resistance of the metal. They had their workshops around Sakai and began to manufacture the rifles better than the originals in terms of accuracy and quality of heat resistance.
At first, the traditional feudal lords did not recognize the true value of the guns. The weapons considered cowardly and unworthy of a samurai and refused to give them a rightful place in military strategy. But the history of Japan was changed drastically after the battle of Nagashino in 1575, whose protagonists were not famous knights in armor, spears and swords, but unknown rifle.
This episode, and later, in the charming and essential book of Kanji Kikuchi: "The source of power. History of a nation called Japan "(Sudamericana. 1993) mandatory reading for anyone who wants to approach the spirit of Japan. With this incident, begins a four-century struggle against the attempts of the "eastern barbarians", ie the West.
to 1867 was in Japan a dual power structure. The emperor, based in Kyoto, summed up the religious authority and the sanctification of the social hierarchy, titles and powers as granted nobility but lacked real political functions. The real power was in the hands of big feudal lords, the daimyo , including excelled Tokugawa, who gave his name to this period. The emperor was a character with no real power, relegated to a symbolic role, essentially religious. The real head of government was the shogun , equivalent to the chamberlain of the palace of the Franks, who held a position also hereditary.
Serving daimyo was s military caste samurai and, at the base, farmers ( no), artisans (ko ) merchants (sho ) and the underclass ( hinin " nonhuman), all despised and by failing to exercise the warlike activities, and subject to stringent rules on clothing, riding ban, etc.
The daimyo and professional warriors, the samurai , combined a diffuse loyalty to the emperor and the old institutions with a ruthless exploitation of peasants, whose situation was so desperate that led them frequently to mabiki (infanticide) in order for the surviving children could continue feeding.
Westerners repeatedly tried to set foot in Japan, although Hogun s - in a desperate attempt to cut all ties with the West - came to prohibit the construction of oceangoing vessels and punished with penalty death the arrival of foreigners. But everything changed with the imperialist penetration: in 1853, four black-painted boats led by the American Commodore M. C. Perry (1794-1858) appeared on the Bay of Tokyo (then Edo) and demanded the opening of Japan. The reason?, Believe it: whales.
Back then, Japanese ports were needed as refueling bases for American whaling ships. Americans, conquering the western frontier, came to California. The U.S. population was booming and demand for whale blubber, a lot of oil from the era, such as lamp oil and raw material to produce food and soap, grew more and more. At first, Americans hunted whales in the Atlantic Ocean, but to exterminate them (the whales of the Atlantic), moved to the Pacific and soon became the owners of the North Pacific Ocean. Whalers left their base in California and took to the Hawaiian Islands as a base for refueling. According to statistics of 1846, American whalers in the Pacific totaled 736 and the annual production of whale oil reached 27,000 tons.
These whales chasing whaling ships sailed from the Bering Sea to the north coast of Japan. Entering the nineteenth century, American whalers appeared several times on the Japanese coast, asking for food and water supplies, in addition to fuel. Because the autonomy of these whaling steamer sailed was not enough for a trip that will demand more than five months. Get refueling base in Japan or not, was of vital importance to improve the productivity of these factory vessels. However, local authorities of small fishing villages automatically rejected Japan's whaling ships and even allowed them to disembark. For them there was no reason for discussion to follow the order of the Magna Carta
Commodore Perry returned to Edo Bay the following year (1854), this After seven black ships of war, and reached the proper distance to the scope of its modern guns pointing to the castle and the city of Edo, and again demanded the opening. The Tokugawa Shogunate, completely scared, signed the agreement of friendship with America, giving two ports as a refueling base for its ships: Shimeda and Hakodate.
Thus, the isolation of Japan lived from the early seventeenth century was raised to the power of Perry's squadron. That year, arrived at Japan's first American Consul General, Mr. Harris (1804-1878). The mission of Mr. Harris was the final signing of the bilateral Free Trade Agreement with the Government of Japan. Immediately achieved similar concessions England, Holland, France and Russia.
This helped to discredit the Shogun and the Emperor, supported by a part of the nobility, of samurai controlling the army and fleet, and some powerful banking families, deposed the Shogun, destroyed the territorial power of the feudal nobility and imposed a centralized system: a ministry of fifteen members, unified armed forces , taxes, national administration and justice.
The cry that arose in Japan, however, was Isshin : return to the past, we recover the losses. It was the opposite of a revolutionary attitude. It was not even progressive. Attached to the cry of "restoring the Emperor," came the "thrown to the barbarians", also popular. The nation supported the program back to the golden age of isolation, and the few leaders who recognized how impossible it was to follow such a path were killed for their renovation efforts.
With the same dogged determination with which for four centuries had refused all contact with foreigners (except the curious exception of the Dutch, who were tolerated, but confined to an artificial island), the Japanese took to the adventure beat the western with its own weapons. It accused the shogun - one of whose titles was "Generalissimo ruler of the barbarians" - of being unable to prevent the national humiliation, was forced to resign and sparked a tsunami named "Meiji Restoration ."
since 1867 occupied the imperial throne, a boy of fifteen, Mutsuhito, who adopted in 1868 to designate his reign the name of the year course, Meiji ("enlightened rule"). Scholars of the national cult ( Shinto ) had won much support for his view that Japan was a country top, by having a
When the state is configured as such, from the accumulation trade, things like religion (cultural transformation of animism, according to some anthropologists), is incorporated into the state order as regulatory consensus.
got up and the banner of "return to the old" ( fukk ) and the young samurai, violent anti-foreigner - who had been linked extensively to one another through years of training in the academies of the sword and who were often poor - joined in the side of the daimyo south, and overthrew the shogun last , handing power to the emperor teenager, whose name had made the whole movement .
In 1868 the principal lords feudal were summoned to Kyoto Imperial Palace, where he proclaimed the restoration of imperial power. The following year the capital was moved to Tokyo, and began the construction of modern Japan.
By 1889 he had created a constitutional monarchy highly oligarchic, with two chambers: the peer, Life, appointed by the emperor and elected by the large landowners, and the deputies, elected by the people who pay census ( 500,000 over 50 million making up the total population. The direct support of the regime it was the military caste.
Such changes did not affect the status of agricultural laborer, fiercely exploited, and were accompanied by the brutal impoverishment of small peasant proprietors, who had to sell and mortgage their land. Neither is completely avoided the tensions between the military caste and the new bourgeoisie. But the samurai structure, acting on the existing capital and highly centralized power, gave rise to a development advancing rapidly, which benefited from the exodus of ruined peasants and agricultural workers, pushed by poverty into cities, where they formed a vast army of cheap labor.
allowed the centralization of power that instead of the traditional laissez-faire of Western capitalism, the institution of a strong state capitalism, which by association with the new oligarchy, led to a rapid trustificación, both in banking and industry. The state created and modernized the iron industry, steel and textile companies, then cediéndolas individuals. Banking institutions were created in imitation of U.S. and Japanese traders, supported by the state, displaced foreigners.
called Meiji period meant well in a few years the structure of a capitalist society centralized, monopoly, militarism, which produced at very low costs due to economics of labor. They were given all the conditions for Japan to be launched to imperialist expansion and territorial conflict with other powers, and primarily with Russia, which should settle their hegemony over the Pacific Rim. [ [2] ]
revolutionary traditionalist leaders were convinced that the strength came from Western countries three factors:
1) the constitutionalism which gave rise to national unity.
2) The industrialization, which provided material force
3) A well-trained army. The new slogan was "rich country, strong arms" ( fukoku-kyohei).
Based on these premiseslaunched dramatic reforms in a short time meant the liquidation of the entire structure of feudal society. First were forced major daimyo to reverse their properties to the throne, which was treated as the owner of any Japanese land. The feudal lords, in a first stage, were appointed governors of their former fiefdoms.
But that was short lived. In 1871 the governor- daimyo were summoned to Tokyo, were given a title of nobility, Western style, and took their positions, while declaring officially abolished feudalism. The 300 estates were converted into 72 prefectures and three metropolitan districts.
No less determined was the campaign against social stratification that had prevailed during feudal times. It was easy to award degrees and generous pensions to the great feudal lords, but much more difficult to relocate more than two million samurai and other dependents, no money and no land. To whom it was granted a pension equal to some of his former allowance, and when the delivery was too heavy a burden on the finances, they were replaced with treasury bonds, and low interest inconvertible. Were also banned carrying swords and continue to show your property queue.
pensions and bonds soon faded, as inflation ate much of their value. Moreover, the samurai lacked the capacity to adapt to new conditions. In 1873, the final blow: it instituted mandatory conscription, which the samurai lost their traditional monopoly of military service. There were riots, of course, but were suffocated. The most famous being that of Saigo .
runaway horse
Saigo Takamori, who was Supreme Commander of the Royal United Forces that defeated the Shogunate, emerged as its own gravity leader of the discontented.
By this time like the present, Russia insisted upon in making warm in southern ports, which would not freeze in winter (This was one of the main causes, but the main one, of the invasion of Afghanistan), in somewhere in the Bay
was the last major armed protests against the reforms of the new Meiji government, and especially against those who posed a threat to the samurai class to end their social privileges, reducing its revenues and hinder its traditional lifestyle. Many Satsuma samurai who in 1873 left the government with Saigo, resented the rejection of this proposal to invade Korea and the reform process, which seemed to ignore their interests. The rebellion finally emerge in January 1877, ending with the suicide of Saigo. Tradition has it that killed himself by committing seppuku traditional (harakiri) along with three hundred of his later followers. With
Saigo, samurai died force as a political force. But the image left, idealized and embellished, was revived immediately after death as a symbol of ethics of the people. The honorable spirit of the samurai and noble souls began looking for a place in the hearts of ordinary citizens in Japan. Today we venerate his memory along with the legends of the Marine Tsushima, General Kuribayashi in Iwo Jima or the 300 Kamikaze pilots
With slight variations, this episode was recounted in the novels of Yukio Mishima, the films of Kurosawa or the Hollywood version of "The Last Samurai."
How to generate capital without borrowing
The abolition of the feudal lords and the expropriation of their feuds made it possible to discard the old system of land tenure and institute a regular and reliable tax system . Leaders of modern Japan were convinced that only they could and should rely on their own resources . To obtain not hesitate to declare a cash tax of 3% on real estate values, for which was made previously, in 1873 agricultural census, determining their valuations on the basis of average yields in previous years. This census also allowed to grant land titles to peasants, who were free from all feudal jacks, giving them full freedom to choose their own crops.
All these measures required a certain time, and as involving fundamental changes, there were moments of great confusion and frequent mismatches, which provoked peasant uprisings and demonstrations. However, delivery owned by farmers, along with the vigorous measures taken by the new regime to promote technological progress and adopt new fertilizers and selected seeds, finally produced a huge increase in agricultural production. On these bases were built modern Japan, which spent three decades of his harmless wooden warships a powerful fleet, which Admiral Togo sank in the Straits of Tsushima (1905) to the entire Russian Baltic fleet, who came to the Far East to try to lift the blockade Japanese.
The land tax and the issuance of paper money backed by real estate values \u200b\u200bdeveloped during several decades the main source of Japanese government.
Throughout its history, Japan has only made use of English loan and a half million pounds.
Thus, within a generation, and armed only with their own forces, Japan became a great power. Note to assess what has been done, the extreme poverty of Japanese territory, which requires both the sea and depend on land for food. The alternative was to become a European or American colony, to which Japan seemed destined for their lack of material resources and lack of technological tradition. Elected another way.
Japan proved that an Asian people was able to develop technical and industrial advances held by Westerners, and then militarily confront them, even defeating, as with Russia. Japan, as an example showing the lie west of superiority based on race or hidden spiritual qualities, had the sympathy of the nascent nationalist movement, both Chinese and Indian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Malay or Filipino.
"Fake or endogenous creativity?
Self-management and Is imitation really polar opposites? A country wishing to accelerate their industrialization must be able to reconcile both aspects, as evidenced by the Japanese experience.
Meiji government in 1875 launched the first modern factory manufacturing iron, Kamaishi, under the supervision of a British engineer. For twenty years there had operated small ovens, built under a design also abroad, but foreign engineers. The ovens had financial difficulties, but technically they had succeeded. However, the government ignored this traditional technology, preferring the British methods. The results were disastrous. After one hundred days ended in coal. After a while they resumed production using coke. But this resulted in the freezing of iron and coke in the furnace and, thus, was the closure of the entire plant.
technological and historical research indicates the following three causes of failure: there was a wide gap between the modernity of the technology underlying the new furnace and charcoal old-fashioned way: the location of the furnaces and the system total transport were not adequate to provide fast raw materials and the design of the furnace itself was fundamentally flawed. Moreover, the operation was run by foreigners who did not take into consideration the characteristics of iron ore and coal Japanese. Must be added a fourth cause, namely the Western veneration he felt the government. This initial failure to establish modern iron industry in Japan clearly demonstrates the dangers of importing technology without paying attention to local conditions, and also shows the advantage dela domestic technology, ie its preference to be given to local conditions.
If we examine attempts above to create a modern manufacturing sector of iron, can turn to the history of the cannon foundry. Here we find what can be designated as the "model of self / imitation," which might prove a valuable example for developing countries today. Hearth furnaces in Saga, Kagoshima, Nirayama, Tottori and Hagi were based on a book all in Dutch. There was a long process of trial and error: only half the iron is melted, the guns burst at the first shot, etc ... But you should not overlook the fact that, in the midst of countless failures had steady progress. In fact, in just a few years all the initial problems had been overcome and the end of the Edo period (1600 -1868) had been built about two hundred guns, including three with Spiral Scratch, which was the latest development in contemporary
The first stage was the casting of brass cannon. In Japan, this period lasted from 1842 to
In this development, they relied not only on his own experience in cast bronze cannons, but also in many other achievements of local science and technology, such as the production of refractory brick, the use of energy Wheels, local Japanese arithmetic and, above all, the whole of domestic technology of manufacture of iron. The artisans had long made weapons such as swords and guns, and agricultural implements such as rakes, sickles of pig iron and steel. The temperature of the oven were comparable to the blast furnace. Thus, craftspeople had a remarkably high level in the art of forging and casting, and were well informed about the behavior of cast iron and various other materials at high temperatures .
Without solid support local technology and their own experiences in the preceding technologies, can not expect the success of any attempt imitation. This is beyond you doubt. But could have reached the same result without any imitation?. No doubt, but possibly very slowly. Attempt to imitate the Western model certainly encouraged.
Exactly because their attempts to cast cannons were an imitation of exogenous technology, these attempts were accompanied by new problems previously unknown. The resolution of these required a technological skill level higher than they had actually accomplished engineers. Fortunately, the gaps that were there were ever small enough to overcome them. But due to the presence of these gaps, increasing their skills can best be described as a series of "jumps" instead of how a simple progress.
Japanese technological development and has known many jumps, one of which usually is considered as date of birth of the modern iron industry of Japan: the first of December 1857 the first fire was lit blast furnace in Kamaishi, a coal oven once again relied on one book above. It is clear that outside of these jumps, there were failures, but they were important as they prepared the Japanese engineers for the next jump. This feature (ie, a series of small jumps) of Japanese technological development is extremely important for developing countries today. To the extent that emerging countries seek to achieve the same level of technology developed in a shorter period of time, development plans must necessarily be designed as a series of jumps.
social problems related to the technological leaps should also be interesting for countries that start their own development. The technical jumps must be viewed in its social and historical contexts. Well, although it is a technological achievement, each hop has always been an inseparable part of any social movement in history. The first break came from the turmoil that began with the social impact caused by
Generally speaking, in Japan where it always had success in using nationalist passion created by periods of agitation, and use it as a driving force for technological leap. This remains true. For example, Japanese leader made full use of the oil crisis in 1973 to
regard to nationalist sentiments to help build a technological leap, an especially interesting Japanese science and technology is the period between the two world wars.
respect to their own culture, the key to Japanese success
How can a society react to the influences of exogenous and endogenous development potentials? The fact that the two go hand in hand has been shown repeatedly throughout history. As we have seen, the same Japanese experience proves it: Japan failed when he tried to simply import the knowledge, without taking into account the specific conditions. And even Europe had borrowed and had built since the early age of this millennium Europe learned a lot of highly advanced science and technology to the cultural Arabic, Indian and China. This process included many examples of imitation and borrowing. But, once rooted in European culture, these exogenous factors allowed the emergence of latent energy in the European domestic conditions. And Europe began to develop rapidly.
On the industrialization of Japan, there are the excellent studies by Professor Kazuko Tsurumi, which rejects the view that sees science and technology as independent entities in the culture of any society in particular. Each culture has its own traditional ways of knowing and doing . This means that there is a conflict between any given technology and local culture of the country that borrows, conflict can not be solved but at the time the technology has been integrated into the culture. Professor Tsurumi investigated the conflicts in the local technology manufacture of iron in the Meiji period in Japan. This approach recommends itself as a method tecnosociológico. If we compare the various conflicts caused by technology imports in some countries, we find many clues to understanding the relationship between technology and social culture. However, when comparing China and Japan, Professor Tsurumi always seems to regard the self in a favorable and positive, referring to imitation in negative terms. But it would be impossible for developing countries to achieve industrialization without imitating or borrow technology. Such is the case in our industry metalmetalúrgica agricultural application.
A capitalist country
atypical
Like Russia, Japan was late capitalist development. But unlike that, after the Meiji Revolution
The modernization of Japan, which occurred in this manner, virtually skipped the period of capitalist competition, passing almost directly from feudalism to monopoly capitalism.
That independent spirit was evident in all areas. With regard to Japanese industrial development, it was completely self-financed and the Nipponese did not request the slightest credence to the West. The state-controlled banks and widely provided by funds from the collection of land tax , provided all the capital needed to create heavy and light industry. Once consolidated the great families (zaibatzu ), equipped with enormous economic and political power, and integrated in some cases by relatives and friends of the Meiji leaders, they were delivering industrial plants. The development has had an impressive pace, but thanks to the very low standard of living of the population.
At the same time, there was a profound political revolution - religious. An imperial decree of 1890, which amalgamated Confucian and Shinto elements, set the educational policy of the new regime. Feudal loyalties were replaced by loyalty to the nation
could not understand anything of what happened in Japan in the last hundred years without bear this inextricable mixture of old and modern . And let us say it clearly: that a country must fully perform its destiny and national tradition, that is, must have as a reference point their future and their past.
In these terms we can understand what happened in Japan. In that country remained fully alive, barely covered by a layer weak feudal, archaic culture, which binds man to his country and himself, that society denies that the Western world because it touches too closely, or that relegates the people he calls "primitive" (see the works of Pierre Clastres). Meiji Restoration
1) loyalty to the imperial institution , which had been synthesized and symbolized all the spiritual archaic village and
2) hatred of the barbarians ie toward Western civilization, which is not wrong at all, because that civilization represented a clear threat of destruction of all its core values. [ [4] ]
Civilization and Barbarism
Why the Japanese could reinforce their existence as a nation under pressure from all colonial potential?
disagree completely with reductionist explanations of some "analysts" who attribute Japan's development of imitative and pragmatic spirit. This, explanation, elemental way, it attaches to a supposed ancient civilization glare technology and Western culture, there is, as we have seen, face to face with reality, with the history of Japan. There is nothing that one of the many manifestations of Western ethnocentrism.
avoided being crushed Japan and imposed its presence as a nation because they withdrew into their own traditions, which rest on the unshakable foundation of the archaic culture, growth indispensable for a well organized community .
Thus was established, as stated above, the herald of the national claims of other Asian nations. He did it because from their own values, in full force, he put everything else to national reconstruction after being the only people on earth to suffer an atomic attack, he accepted a total austerity, dismissed all the superfluous and armed only with their own forces are placed in two decades at the forefront of the industrial powers.
understood that the question of "civilization and barbarism" so dear to the thinking of our liberal, who came to importing American teachers did not even know Castilian and brandished the slogan for a savage campaign of ethnic cleansing with montoneras the interior, which is civilization and barbarism own it strange. And warn countries that have effective defenses against the imposition of thought attempted only by the massive bombardment of the media course which offers a rational and efficient world. "An air-conditioned hell we want to sell and happiness" said Julio Cortázar. Rationalism has made a vicious assault irrational against man and nature and effectiveness resulting in crisis and endless wars.
As Japan. We must assert our own values \u200b\u200band our own essences are more transcendent, because we own the accurate axiom of Le Corbusier: "What remains, in human endeavors, is not that useful, but what moves"
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