Ninomiya Kinjiro
Traslated From The Japanese
By Taeko Kondo
Original Title: Ninomiya Sontoku
Rewrite Title: Ninomiya Kinjiro
Writer: Hisaharu Tukuba (Rewrite: Taeko Kondo)
Picture: Jiro Mizuno (Published by Popura-Sha)
Published by Kokudo-Sha
Tokyo, Japan
Forward
Not far from my house there sits an old primary school that was established in 1908. By the gate of the school there stands the statue of Ninomiya Kinjiro. The statue may not be noticed because a big cherry tree obstructs its view.
Ninomiya Kinjiro was the most influential person in prewar Japan. The Japanese government
erected statues of him at schools all over Japan and adopted him as a symbol of loyalty and
patriotism for the Imperial state.
After the defeat in the war, GHQ eliminated the statues of Ninomiya Kinjiro from the Japanese
schools as they were symbols of militarism. At the same time, the story of Ninomiya Kinjiro was
washed away from Japanese textbooks. But for some reason, the statue at the primary school near my house remained.
In prewar school textbooks, Kinjiro was described as a model person with absolute obedient to
authority. This was the Japanese militaristic government’s way of manipulating the nation.
Kinjiro was diligent and faithful but he was never a puppet the government described.
Kinjiro was born in 1787 in Kayama village, Asigara district (Kayama, Odawara city) as the son of a wealthy landowner. When he was a child, his house was ruined. He worked hard day and night and gave every spare moment to reading. He was a person of wisdom and full of ideas. He restored his ruined house in the wisest way. He cultivated the waste-lands that were free from taxes until the next government inspection.
His greatness lies in his contribution to saving a large number of peasants who were suffering
from hunger under heavy taxes. He devoted his life to improving ruined villages such as
Sakuramachi, Simodate, Karasuyama, Soma, and Nikko. It is a fact that a great number of
peasants became well-off under his help. An uprising by tens of thousands peasants against heavy
taxation would never have attained their aim. Instead, Kinjiro realized the same result in
the most creative way without using political forces.
Early spring, 2006
Ninomiya Kinjiro
A diligent boy
Ninomiya Kinjiro was born in 1787 in Kayama village, Asigara district (Kayama, Odawara city).
Once a wealthy landowner, his family had become poor by the time he was born.
In 1791, when Knjiro was a four-year-old-boy, a large typhoon attacked the Kanto area, including
the Asigara plain. Beautiful Sakawa river near his home was devastated by the typhoon.
The following morning, after the typhoon had passed, people in the village were astonished at the
miserable sight of their fields, once beautiful and green until just the day before. Kinjiro’s
ownfields were transformed into wastelands, with large stones and pebbles lying on most of the
land.
Kinjiro’s father, Rizaemon was a kind man, but a coward. He was helpless when he confronted
with such difficulties. As a result, his family suffered from starvation.
Rizaemon recalled that he used to be kind enough to lend money to people in the village. He
visited those people and asked for repayment of the money he lent them. But, asking was useless because they had no original intention to pay him back, and never did.
Rizaemonn worried about his family’s terrible situation from morning to night, and at last he became sick. Despite his family's devoted care, he passed away.
Kinjiro’s mother was kind and gentle but weak-willed. Kinjiro tried every possible means to
support his family. Early in the morning, he went to the mountain to gather fire-woods to sell to support his family. During the afternoons, he cultivated his wastelands and until late at night he made straw sandals to sale.
However hard he worked, a mere fifteen-year-old boy could not support his family. The miserable
situation facing Kinjiro’s family was widely known in the village. When they saw Kinjiro with big
stacks of fire-woods on his back, the villagers spoke ill of him: “Look at the landowner’s son rolling with lags.”
During this time, Kinjiro began to read books in his spare time. He decided that he would
someday surely restore his house to what it once was, when they were rich. He believed that he
should study to attain his aim and while walking, he would read a book out loud. People in the
village spoke ill of him behind his back. “What a man! Kinjiro must be mad!”
Day after day, he worked harder and harder. When he was 16 years
old, his mother became ill and bedridden. Despite his devoted nursing, she passed away, leaving
her three young boys.
After consulting with relatives, it was decided that Kinjiro would be taken in
by his uncle, Manbei, and his two younger brothers would be looked after by their mother’s family.
Kinjiro’s idea – his own oil
Manbei was a wealthy farmer, but old-fashioned. From early in the morning until dark, Kinjiro
was forced to work like a slave. At night he spent every spare moment reading. Manbei
complained to Kinjiro about his reading at night. He shouted “You fool! What a useless thing you do! It is a waste of oil!” Kinjiro frightened at Manbei’s threatening attitude, and apologized.
Tears welled up in his eyes.
Kinjiro thought to himself, “My uncle is stingy. He gets so angry because I use his oil for reading at night. I’ll produce oil by myself from now on, then he will have no excuse to complain.” Kinjiro was a person full of ideas. He sowed space near the Sakawa river with rape blossom. Thus, he
continued reading using his own oil at night.
One night, Manbei found Kinjiro reading at night. He madly scolded Kinjiro despite knowing his nephew used his own oil. From that time on Manbei ordered Kinjiro to make straw mats at night, leaving Kinjiro with no spare moment to read even at night.
Tax free land
One day, Kinjiro happened to find a bunch of rice plants deserted by the roadside. He searched for space to plant them and luckily, found a pool under the hill, once an irrigation canal but broken when the Sakawa river had flooded. Kinjiro carefully planted the rice plants, one by one.
He looked forward to fertilizing and weeding the rice plants. In autumn, he reaped a straw bag of
rice (about 40kg) as a reward for his heartfelt care. Kinjiro pondered, “Not that many rice plants
produced a lot of rice. If I get more space for rice plants, I could get more rice.” He hit on the idea
that people had no obligation to pay taxes for newly cultivated land.
In those days, peasants suffered from paying 60％ taxes from their products. Poor peasants were
obliged to pay such heavy taxes even they ate weeds in the fields. However, newly cultivated
lands were exempted from taxation until the government’s next land evaluation. This was the
cleverest way to save money for poor peasants.
Three and a half years had passed since Kinjiro worked in his uncle’s house. He decided to leave his uncle and be independent. For a time, he stayed with his acquaintances and worked. When he was 19 years old, he reaped 20 straw bags of rice (about 800kg) from his newly cultivated land.
Restoring his family
Twenty straw bags of rice convinced him of his independence. The next year, Kinjiro returned
to his hometown. He worked and worked, and gradually his circumstances improved. His hard
work and new ideas brought him success. When he was 24 years old, he became a landowner of
“1cho-4tan-5se”（14,50㎡）. A few years later, Kinjiro brought his young brothers back home.
At 33 years of age, Kinjiro became the richest landowner in Asigara district. His 15 years of har
working finally paid off. At the same time, he had brushed up on his learning. The villagers
respected him because he was a great and successful landowner and a learned man.
Restoring the Hattori family
Kinjiro used to be an apprentice of the Hattori family before he became a landowner in the Asigara feudal lord family, and Hattori Jyubei was a man of high position, “Karo”. Despite the noble status of the family, Hattori was faced with bankruptcy. Kinjiro promised to restore the family in five years in response to a strong request by Hattori Jyubei.
To begin with, Kinjiro checked the income and expenses in the Hattori family books. To his
amazement, expenses were far higher beyond their annual income. Kinjiro realized, "It is natural that they will be bankrupt". He advized them that they should not beyond their income and must keep the following promise: 1. Eliminate the extravagant meals. 2. Wear inexpensive and strong cotton goods instead of expensive silk. 3. Eliminate the useless amusements.
Kinjiro was considerate of the servants and improved their working circumstances because he
thought the key to the success of his work lay in the cooperation of the majority of the servants.
Kinjiro racked his brains and the servants helped him, with the result that the Hattori family
finances gradually improved.
Five years passed since Kinjiro worked at the Hattori family. His work succeeded. He repaid all
debts and saved “300 ryo” ( about 30 million today). Jubei was so delighted that he offered Kinjiro a “100 ryo” reward for his hard work. Kinjiro cordially declined the offer. However, as not only Jyubei but his wife also insisted, Kinjiro finally accepted their offer.
Kinjiro called the servants and said, “Thank you for your help and cooperation for such a long
period of time. It must have been a bitter experience for you. Today I go back to my hometown,
Kayama village. I am a landowner of more than “3 chobu” (30,000㎡) and my tenant farmers
are working, so I am well off without the “100 ryo” reward. I would like to distribute it to each of
you.”
Kinjiro returned to Kayama village in the same appearance as he went to the Hattori family five
years ago. Kinjiro did not receive even a penny from the Hattori family, but instead received
many more rewards. He obtained the confidence of the people. Among the money-lenders and
the “Samurai”, the name Kinjiro was widely known. And at last, the lord of the Odawara Clan,
Okubo Tadazane heard of Kinjiro.
The Odawara Clan was the lord of “110,000 goku”( 440,000 straw bags of rice), and Tadazane held the most important position of “Rochu” (higher than a man of Cabinet rank today) in the
Tokugawa Shogunate. The Odawara Clan’s finances worsened and Tadazane wanted them improved by all means. After asking Jyurobei about Kinjiro in detail, he decided to entrust the
task to him.
Tadazane confessed his decision to his men, “I believe Kinjiro, a farmer in Kayama village, has
great talent. I want to entrust the task of improving our finances to him.” Aside from Jurobei,
nobody agreed to his proposal. They retorted, “It is out of question. Even if Kinjiro has talent, he
comes from a low family and could never meet all of your expectations.”
Tadazane was perplexed with their objection but he soon hit on a solution to the problem. He said “If Kinjiro could solve the most difficult problem that no one else ever has, and proves his
outstanding talent, you would not protest me, wouldn’t you?” The men answered unanimously “Of course, we wouldn’t. We only wish the benefit of our Odawara Clan.”
Therefore, Kinjiro was ordered to restore the Sakuramachi territory. He thoroughly examined the three villages of Sakuramachi. His conclusion was as follows: To restore these villages, the people should be well off. The people of the villages were not as bat as they were made out to be. The primary reason that burdened these people was poverty. Scanty crops kept the people poor.
They worked hard, but could only get “3,000 goku” (12,000 straw bags of rice) in total from their
crops. But, they had to pay “4,000goku” (16,000 straw bags of rice) to the government. They were
always suffering from hunger and gave up working. Many were temped into drinking or gambling by keeping the wrong company.
Thus, these people had never learned what work was and depended upon financial aid from the
government, which they spent on pleasures. They had to become independent of the government
and their taxes should be diminished. It would be impossible to restore Sakuramachi, unless their situation changed.
Restoring Sakuramachi
Tadazane allotted Kinjiro the task of “Chigyosho-kin-ban”. Kinjiro was charged educating the villagers under the control of “Samurai”. He was appointed as a governmental official, a rare
occurrence under the strictly ranked society of the Edo era.
Jurobei congratulated him on his promotion and encouraged him. Kinjiro expressed his deep
gratitude to Jurobei for his help. On the other hand, he was keenly aware of his responsibility.
Once he accepted the task, he had to succeed, even if he had to sacrifice everything. He decided to sell his house and the land that he acquired with his great efforts, leave his homeland, and live in Sakuramachi.
Kinjiro looked over the fresh-green rice fields of the Asigara plain and was overwhelmed with a
thousand thoughts. The “Samurai” in Odawara never understood his emotion. They saw him off
feeling jealous and much enmity towards him, given his prominent position.
Sakuramachi restoration work was difficult for Kinjiro to confront, given the conspiracy from the
opposition. However, the majority of peasants followed him and worked hard.
Seven years passed since Kinjiro came to Sakuramachi. The situation of the villagers had
obviously improved. A pupil, Tomita Kokei described the details of Kinjiro’s leadership in his
document “Hotoku-ki”.
Kinjiro showed great leadership of the following principle: ① Encourage the cultivation of
waste-lands. ② Practice labor and lead a frugal life. ③ Be self-conscious and responsible.
According to many individuals, he led them in various ways.
Thanks to Kinjiro, Sakuramachi gradually became well off. Nine years later the people in the three villages reaped 426 straw bags in a surplus harvest. They paid those crops to the Okubo
Clan as taxes.
Foreseeing a famine
In 1833, the weather was unusual and a long rainy season continued; even the summer was cooler than normal. Early in June, Kinjiro was presented with the first eggplants. He tasted them and questioned, “Why do they have the autumn flavor despite being the first products of early summer.” He then realized, “It is because autumn has come and we have skipped summer. That is a serious problem. This year we will have the worst harvest. There is no time to lose.”
Immediately, Kinjiro took countermeasures against the worst harvest. He ordered the villagers to plant and save as much crops as possible. Moka, near Sakuramachi, was a famous
cotton-producing district. Most of the villagers in Sakuramachi planted cotton following to Moka and made up for their lost income. Instead, Kinjiro ordered them to pull out the cotton and
instead to plant crops like radishes, turnips, carrots, soybeans and barnyard grasses.
Soon thereafter, autumn had come. As Kinjiro predicted, they experienced the poorest crop that year. Rice plants bore no fruits. People in other villages suffered unexpected tragedy because
they took no countermeasures against a terrible tragedy. Luckily, three villages under Kinjiro's control were able to send barnyard grasses to other villages.
In 1836, a large scale famine again swept over the area. Thanks to Kinjiro, the three villages in
Sakuramachi were safe.
In 1834, when Kinjiro was 48 years old, he wrote his first philosophical document
Sansai-Hotoku-kin-Moroku”. The villagers named him “Sontoku sensei” after “Hotoku” (Return
good for good) . Kinjro favored this name and from that time on he was called “Ninomiya
Sontoku”.
Restoring 84 villages in Nikko
Eleven years had passed since Sontoku was called by Mizuno Tadakuni, “Rochu” of the Tokugawa
Shogunate. At the age of 67years, he was ordered to restore 87 villages in Nikko. This was an
impossible task to complete by himself given his age. He made a deliberate survey of those
villages and handed his plan to his followers.
Both Sontoku’s thoughts and restoration work were succeeded by his pupils, including Tomita
Kokei, who wrote “Hotoku-ki”.