Reforms were undertaken by leaders of different background. They were Tokugawa Yoshimune, Tanuma Okitsugu, Matsudaira Sadanobu and Mizuno Tadakuni. The first reform, the Kyoho Reform （享保改革）, was initiated by the 8th Shogun, Yoshimune, who was a reformer in his own han, Kii（紀伊）. Being the Shogun at the age of 33, he was eager to apply his experience in Kii to the Bakufu. His grandson was Matsudaira Sadanobu, the hosa to help the 11th Shogun, Ienari to be the leader of the third reform when he was at the age of 30. In contrast, another reform leader, Mizuno Tadakuni relativel
y came from much humbler origin. By transfer of his han, he became a fudai and climbed to be a roju entitled to lead the reform only when Ienari died in 1841. The above three reformers had different degree of intimacy with the Tokugawa Hou. They were shimpan by origin. In comparison, the cond reformer, Tanuma Okitsugu, was a Grand Chamberlain. Without support from the 10th Shogun, Ieharu, the ooku and Hitotsubashi（一橋）, he might not have a chance to lead the reform. On the whole, the Tanuma Reform was more anti-conventional and differed in kind from the others. In the cond place, with the exception of Yoshimune, the rest of the reformers could not firmly hold their power, which indicated that whatever that had been done the reform would not last long.
To all reformers, restoration of the Bakufu's finance to a sound position was the primary aim.The objectives of the Kyoho Reform covered the aims of the remaining reforms, namely, restoration of samurai's economic position, prevention of inflationary trends and regulation of commerce. This showed that the first reform was the most comprehensive one. The reform objectives were deemed necessary in view of the economic conditions of the Tokugawa history. The recurrence of the objectives showed that despite all the reform attempts, the basic problems were still unttled and unsolved.
In addition, certain points derved mentioning. Firstly, the aims of some reform were interrelated to each other. The apparent success of the Kyoho Reform, for example, was admired by Matsudaira who planned to reform the Bakufu not beyond the limit thus laid down by his grandfather. Matsudaira's reform also aimed at removing the evils left by Tanuma, thus repudiating nearly everything the latter had achieved. Secondly, the first and the fourth reforms were carried out following a period of golden age. The Genroku era元祿時代(1688-1704) was an unprecedented period of prosperity with the result that much problems were left behind for Yoshimune to tackle. Likewi, the Bunka-Beni jidai 文化文政時代(1804-1830) was another period of economic and cultural prosperity. But the extravagant rule of Ienari soon brought the government on the road of decline from the optimal point of growth. Thirdly, there was an addition of new objective becau of new situation. Say, the Tempo Reform（天保改革）was carried out against critical background arising from within and without. As a result, Mizuno tried to reasrt Bakufu's leading position to face both internal and external pressure.
As aforementioned, becau of Yoshimune's status and authority, the first reform was most comprehensive, covering military, social, legal, fiscal, ideological and economic areas. It is therefore
no wonder to find that similar attempts were carried out in later reforms. To cite the military reform as an illustration, since Yoshimune witnesd the erosion of military spirit in his age, he tried to rebuild the military strength of the Bakufu by replacing obsolete weapons, holding more drills and practice, increasing the frequency of regular inspection and encouraging his warriors to practi hunting, swimming and archery. Similar but less extensive measures were also found in Kani Reform（寬政改革）. Military reform was a matter of urgency in the Tempo Reform. Specialists were employed to practi art of artillery and teppo （鐵炮）in preparation of the foreign invasion.擅长英语
generation是什么意思
repairwearThe recurrence of the same reform did not mean that they were exactly borrowed with no modification. In the ca of social reform, for example, whilst some social evils such as gambling, suicide sacrifice, private prostitute, cobathing and so forth were the targets the government wanted to eliminate, some innovations were found in Kani Reform. Matsudaira laid down the rehabilitation programme, or ninosku yoba（人足寄場）, at Ishikawajima （石川島）of Edo to accommodate the homeless wanderers and tho who committed minor offence so that the people would be remedied after six years of imprisonment.
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易听On the other hand, same reform were implemented in opposite ways. In Yoshimune's time,the control of ideology was not so strict as the preceding period. Even the ban on rangaku（蘭學）was li
fted. But his grandson, Matsudaira announced the Kani igaku no kin （寬政異學禁止令）in 1790 whereby neo-Confucianism was considered the only orthodox official learning in Japan, whereas unorthodox teachers would not be appointed by the government. The inconsistency was most common in economic reforms to be mentioned later.
车胎爆胎
Conrvatism is believed to be the main caus of failure. Failing to admit that Japan was undergoing economic changes to such an extent that the panacea to all problems was to transform the whole economic structure from top to bottom and adapt to such changes, the Bakufu only carried out some moderate and superficial reforms. They ud political and social methods to deal with economic problems and restore its finance at the cost of the daimyo and merchants. Radical reform was indeed launched by Tanuma, but it met with vehement opposition partly becau it was too unacceptable and partly becau the reformer who was the Grand Chamberlain was despid by others.
If a reform movement was always restorative, looking backward to the past instead of making changes for future, its chance of success was slim. However, this was a mistake committed by the T
ongzhi Restoration leaders of China and Yoshimune and Matsudaira of Japan. Yoshimune was an admirer of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the fou nder of the Bakufu, and tried his best to restore Japan to the Ieyasu‘s age; whilst Matsudaira was preoccupied with elimination of Tanuma's reform and took Ieyasu and Yoshimune's reform as his ideal models. Both of them failed to understand the futility of using outmoded methods to cope with new, critical problems.
double kill
Perhaps as a conquence of extreme difficulties, reforms were not consistently carried to their end. The third reason which explained their failure is inconsistency. Examples can best be found in economic policies. Sometimes the government was in need of merchants' help and advice, privileges in the form of nakama（株仲間）were granted generously. On another occasion, the government ruthlessly cancelled the merchants debts owed by the government, daimyo and even the samurai, as in the ca of kien-rei （棄捐令）of 1789. The Yoshimune and Tanuma's government encouraged state control of commerce so that there was an increasing number of nakama; but it fell rapidly in the latter two reforms. Yoshimune once modified the sankin kotai system for the sake of exploring more revenue for the Bakufu's coffer but the policy was cancelled in 1733 becau of political risk this would provoke. Ironically, the most consistent policy was the retrenchment policy. Yet it was most ineffectual and impractical.
微利
Some of the reforms might also be lf-defeating, ending in a fact that implementing one reform would hinder another. The kien-rei of 1789, for instance, led to the bankruptcy of many merchants, the result of which however creating difficulties to the debtors -- daimyo and samurai. Similar anti-mercantile policy in the time of Mizuno's reform started a e-saw battle between merchants and the Bakufu with the result that either state control or non-intervention policy did not work. Wor still, daimyo and samurai would be tempted to spend more under government protection, thus ruining the retrenchment policy which requested them to save up more.
The last reason, lack of support to reformers, might be the most crucial one. Tanuma and Mizuno were men of modest origin. Seeing that their power ba was shallow and unreliable, they had to ek support elwhere. Ooku's support and factionalism were the obvious result. Matsudaira's position was no better. His ri to power was credited to the support from the Three Hou （三家）and ooku, as well as anti-Tanuma clique. With the fall of Tanuma, it was the same and other parties that forced him to resign. At any rate, both people and the Bakufu officials were tired of reforms which were repeated fiascoes. They saw them old wine in the new bottle.
cheaterAn overview over the economic measures revealed a very important fact that the same policies recurred again and again. As pointed out by G. Sansom, the governments applied moral methods to deal with economic problems. What Confucianism had taught was applied to the new mounting problems arising from the political and economic problems mentioned before. Keeping the economy and structure intact is clearly en to be outmoded and irrelevant. What Japan needed at that time should have been a thorough transformation in face of new economic growth so that the feudal economy could have smoothly undergone into a proto-capitalist one. But it never happened and most, if not all, of the economic attempts turned out to be futile and impractical.
Retrenchment policy was one of the commonly ud policies adopted for all reforms, although they differed from each other in intensity. Yoshimune t an example before others. He lived in simple life, wore common clothes and dispatched many ladies in the ooku. Matsudaira and Mizuno followed suit. Matsudaira, for example, reduced the expenditure of the Bakufu by a half and that of the ooku by two-thirds. However, whilst the Shogun's behaviour was ostensibly appreciated, the latter two refo
rmers met with fierce opposition which finally cost their political career. Tanuma's retrenchment policy was most detesting, for it was remarked that even the supplies of daily necessities was restricted and limited.
techniqueAs expected, the retrenchment policy ordered not only daimyo and samurai to be frugal, but also the commoners. Social gathering of daimyo reprentatives, gift exchange were not allowed, sale of luxury prohibited and popular entertainment like somo （相樸）banned. Violation of sumptuary legislation would be subject to punishment in Mizuno's time.
Emphasis on agrarian ctor makes one believe that the best method to increa productivity in Tokugawa history was to explore new land and build new canals. The exploration of Hokkaido was encouraged in Tanuma reform whereby 7,000 eta and hinin were nt there to pioneer the northern land. Yoshimune's reform in this field was most successful for the acreage of arable land incread by 30 times when compared with that of the Hideyoshi period. Tanuma was credited for his plan to build Imbanuma （印幡沼）of Shimosa （下總）through the financing of merchants of Edo and Osaka and labouring of peasants. The canal resumed building in Mizuno Reform..
Another policy which was regarded a fiasco was the recoinage policy. To tackle the inflation problem,
the government only issued plenty of coins in the market. Inferior and impure coins of different substance were ud but it only stimulated consumption, and hence inflation. Tanuma was more innovative in that he established a conversion rate between gold and silver coins, as a result of which the conversion would be conducted in terms of number not in terms of weight.
The Bakufu from its start to very end was caught in a dilemma. It needed merchants' support and experti to solve its economic and financial problems, but it never trusted them; instead discrimination against merchants usually ended in a e-saw battle between government and merchants. Control over merchants can be found in the following aspects: the government might ruthlessly cancel all the debts owed by the daimyo and samurai to the merchants.The kien-rei of 1789 was the most typical example. It was resumed by Mizuno in 1843. The governments could stop arbitrating any money disputes between merchants and daimyo and samurai; it also fixed the merchants' interest rate at a certain level in the interest of the debtors.
