Why Was Japan’s Modern Bureaucracy Established So Seamlessly?

Samurai Transformation in a Warless Era and the Influence of Key Ideologues

Recently, many countries have increasingly begun to shift toward post-bureaucratic states. In this article, I present a unique perspective regarding Japan’s bureaucratic system, anticipating potential changes influenced by this global trend. The bureaucratic system in Japan emerged from a historical context distinct from Western nations, uniquely taking shape during the Meiji era (1868-1912), following the country’s long period of national isolation. Conventional views typically hold that Japan’s modern bureaucracy was established through complicated imitation of Western bureaucratic models during the Meiji era. However, I am skeptical of this viewpoint. This is because the foundations of modern bureaucracy in Japan were, in fact, already solidly formed during the Edo period (1603-1868), preceding the formal establishment of a modern administrative state. One might wonder who precisely exhibited these bureaucratic characteristics during the Edo period. The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is the samurai.

When we think of samurai, the dominant image is usually of warriors associated with warfare, leading many to view them primarily as a military class. However, the Edo period emerged after a long era of constant warfare among competing samurai factions, resulting in a long-lasting stable system. Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康, 1543-1616) and his Tokugawa clan established a centralized shogunate government (幕府, bakufu) in Edo, while allowing the imperial court to remain in Kyoto. Authority was dispersed among various regional domains (藩, han) to maintain a balanced system of governance. Throughout the Edo period, this arrangement resulted in relatively stable conditions without major wars. But this stability raised a significant problem: the position and role of the samurai. Historically, samurai served as mercenaries for the imperial court, aristocrats, or feudal lords, but with warfare obsolete, opportunities for their traditional role disappeared. Furthermore, the Edo period saw increasing rigidity in social stratification, particularly among the upper classes, leaving samurai who had little direct connection to Tokugawa Ieyasu marginalized.

Yet, the shogunate could not simply ignore the existence of these idle samurai, as leaving them unattended would destabilize its long-term governance. Consequently, various policies were implemented throughout the Edo period to systematically render the samurai politically powerless. In other words, with few exceptions, most samurai during this period became little more than people armed ceremonially with swords. Indeed, historical records indicate that many samurai never actually used their swords throughout their entire lives. As samurai sought new ways to sustain their status and livelihood, they increasingly took on roles such as bodyguards to influential feudal lords, gradually adopting bureaucratic characteristics within the highly sophisticated “Bakufu-Han” governance system. However, instilling bureaucratic discipline in the traditionally aggressive and proud samurai class was not easy. Therefore, Tokugawa Ieyasu turned to a cultural and philosophical solution, adopting a policy of “civil governance” (文治主義) inspired by Chinese Confucian traditions, firmly embedding this ideology throughout the system.

Within each domain, administrative positions such as chief retainers (家老, karō) and magistrates (奉行, bugyō) were systematically established. The samurai class monopolized these political and administrative roles, effectively creating a hereditary bureaucratic system in which samurai performed administrative duties as a ruling class. Philosophically underpinning this bureaucratic rule by samurai was Confucianism (儒学), particularly Zhu Xi’s school of Neo-Confucianism (朱子学), originally imported from China. During the Edo period, Buddhism, which had previously occupied the central philosophical position, was gradually marginalized, and Shinto had similarly declined, prompting the shogunate to seek a new governing ideology. The Tokugawa shogunate found Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism highly suitable for governance due to its strict hierarchical principle, encapsulated in the saying: “Heaven is high and earth low; similarly, people naturally have distinctions such as rulers and subjects (天は尊く地は卑し。人にも君臣の別あり)”—thus clearly legitimizing hierarchical master-subordinate relationships. Recognizing its suitability, the shogunate appointed Hayashi Razan (林羅山, 1583-1657), who was only 23 at the time, as its chief ideological advisor. Subsequently, the Hayashi family (林家) became heads of the official shogunate academy, the Shōheizaka Gakumonjo (昌平坂学問所), thereby establishing Neo-Confucianism as the official ideology of the Tokugawa regime.