Industrial Development and Sōson

Although politics was chaotic, the Muromachi period was a time when agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce developed greatly. In villages, sōson were established, and peasants strengthened their ability to govern themselves.

Basic Knowledge

In agriculture, double cropping (rice and wheat) spread mainly in western Japan and later reached eastern Japan. Fertilizers such as night soil (human waste), karishiki (cut grass spread over fields), and wood ash were used, increasing productivity. A new variety called Da tōmai (an early-ripening, high-yield rice) was also introduced.
In handicrafts, za (guilds of people in the same trade) developed. In exchange for paying protection fees to shrines, aristocrats, and temples, they obtained exclusive commercial rights. Famous examples include the oil guild of Ōyamazaki (protected by Iwashimizu Hachimangu) and Kyoto's silk guild.
In commerce, periodic markets increased in frequency and became rokusai-ichi (markets held six times a month). Ming coins (Eiraku Tsuho) circulated widely, and kawase (sending money to distant places) developed. Transport workers such as bashaku and shashaku, toimaru (warehouse and transport operators at ports), and dosō and sake brewers (high-interest lenders) were active.
Sōson were self-governing villages, also called sō or sōchū. Villagers held meetings, established village rules, and carried out jige kendan (village courts) and jige uke (accepting responsibility for paying the annual tax as a village). Leaders were called otona and satanin. The miyaza of the village guardian shrine became the core of their unity.

Further Study (Background and Influence)

Sōson functioned not merely as villages but almost as self-governing governments. Each village established village rules, such as the “Imabori Village Rule” preserved in the documents of Imabori Hiyoshi Shrine in Nara Prefecture, and villagers themselves punished violators. This was jige kendan.
When sōson united, they developed into tsuchi ikki. Large-scale uprisings occurred throughout Japan, including the Shōchō Tsuchi Ikki of 1428, the Kakitsu Tokusei Ikki of 1441, the Yamashiro Kuni Ikki of 1485 (in which local warriors and peasants united, expelled the Hatakeyama clan, and governed themselves for eight years), and the Kaga Ikkō Ikki of 1488 (in which the Honganji branch of Jōdo Shinshū defeated the provincial constable Togashi clan and achieved “a country owned by the peasants” for about 100 years).
These were not merely riots but expressions of the people's awareness of self-government, and they became an origin of Japan's later traditions of local autonomy.

Points of Caution (Easily Confused)

① Distinguish the three types: tsuchi ikki (peasants demanding debt cancellation), kuni ikki (centered on local warriors, such as the Yamashiro Kuni Ikki), and Ikkō ikki (the Honganji branch of Jōdo Shinshū, such as the Kaga Ikkō Ikki).
② Remember za (Muromachi-period guilds) together with rakuichi-rakuza, later introduced by Oda Nobunaga to abolish the privileges of za.
③ Do not confuse bashaku (transport by horse), shashaku (transport by ox-drawn cart), and toimaru (port warehouse operators). Bashaku also helped trigger the Shōchō Tsuchi Ikki.
④ Dosō (pawnbrokers) and sake brewers (sake producers who also engaged in finance) were both high-interest lenders and targets of tsuchi ikki attacks.

Practice

1. Give the name for self-governing villages organized by peasants.
2. Give the name of the uprising that defeated the Togashi clan in 1488 and achieved self-government for about 100 years.
3. Give the name of the Chinese Ming copper coin that circulated widely during the Muromachi period.