Download or read book Peasant Protests and Uprisings in Tokugawa Japan written by Stephen Vlastos and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Japanese peasant has been thought of as an obedient and passive subject of the feudal ruling class. Yet Tokugawa villagers frequently engaged in unlawful and disruptive protests. Moreover, the frequency and intensity of the peasants' collective action increased markedly at the end of the Tokugawa period. Stephen Vlastos's examination of the changing patterns of peasant protest in the Fukushima area shows that peasant mobilization was restricted both ideologically and organizationally and that peasants did not become a prime moving force in the Meiji Restoration.