Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/148

 When the Ashikaga family obtained the administrative power, its representative, Takauji (1338–1356), reverted to the methods of Yoritomo, his ancestor. But his sway did not extend effectively to more than seven-tenths of the Empire. A few years later, the Shōgun Yoshimitsu, most celebrated of the Ashikaga rulers, following the advice of a wise Minister, reduced the tax definitely to the ratio of four parts to the ruler and six to the ruled. But Yoshimasa (1449–1472), the most luxurious of Japanese rulers, unable to defray the extravagant expenditures of his court with the proceeds of such an impost, greatly raised the rate. His methods, however, were so capricious and irregular that it seems impossible to determine exactly what his levy was.

In addition to these regular taxes the Government of medival Japan had recourse to the ex- pedient of forced loans, issuing duly signed bonds to the lenders. Sometimes these bonds constituted merely nominal security, but in general they were redeemed wholly or in part. The great territorial magnates resorted constantly to this device, so that the strong-rooms of most of the leading merchants contained documentary evidence of large sums lent by them to their feudal rulers at merely nominal rates of interest. Ordinary borrowers, on the other hand, had to pay a very high price for accommodation, and since the interest was compounded and added to the principal at short intervals, the foreclosure of