In the eighteenth
century, Japan’s feudal overlords, from the shogun to the humblest samurai, found
themselves under financial stress. In part, this stress can be attributed to
the overlords’ failure to adjust to a rapidly expanding economy, but the stress
was also due to factors beyond the overlords’ control. Concentration of the
samurai in castle-towns had acted as a stimulus to trade. Commercial efficiency,
in turn, had put temptations in the way of buyers. Since most
samurai had been reduced to idleness by years of peace, encouraged to engage in
scholarship and martial exercises or to perform administrative tasks that took
little time, it is not surprising that their tastes and habits grew expensive.
Overlords’ income, despite the increase in rice production among their tenant
farmers, failed to keep pace with their expenses. Although shortfalls in
overlords’ income resulted almost as much from laxity among their tax
collectors (the nearly inevitable outcome of hereditary office-holding) as from
their higher standards of living, a misfortune like a fire or flood, bringing
an increase in expenses or a drop in revenue, could put a domain in debt to the
city rice-brokers who handled its finances. Once in debt, neither the
individual samurai nor the shogun himself found it easy to recover.
It was difficult
for individual samurai overlords to increase their income because the amount of
rice that farmers could be made to pay in taxes was not unlimited, and since
the income of Japan’s central government consisted in part of taxes collected
by the shogun from his huge domain, the government too was constrained.
Therefore, the Tokugawa shoguns began to look to other sources for revenue.
Cash profits from government-owned mines were already on the decline because
the most easily worked deposits of silver and gold had been exhausted, although
debasement of the coinage had compensated for the loss. Opening up new farmland
was a possibility, but most of what was suitable had already been exploited and
further reclamation was technically unfeasible. Direct taxation of the samurai
themselves would be politically dangerous. This left the
shoguns only commerce as a potential source of government income.
Most of the
country’s wealth, or so it seemed, was finding its way into the hands of city
merchants. It appeared reasonable that they should contribute part of that
revenue to ease the shogun’s burden of financing the state. A means of
obtaining such revenue was soon found by levying forced loans, known as goyo-kin; although these were not taxes
in the strict sense, since they were irregular in timing and arbitrary in
amount, they were high in yield. Unfortunately, they pushed up prices. Thus,
regrettably, the Tokugawa shoguns’ search for solvency for the government made
it increasingly difficult for individual Japanese who lived on fixed stipends
to make ends meet.
Questions:
1. The
passage is most probably an excerpt from
(A) an economic
history of Japan
(B) the memoirs
of a samurai warrior
(C) a modern
novel about eighteenth-century Japan
(D) an essay
contrasting Japanese feudalism with its Western counterpart
(E) an
introduction to a collection of Japanese folktales
2. Which
of the following financial situations is most analogous to the financial
situation in which Japan’s Tokugawa shoguns found themselves in the eighteenth
century?
(A) A small
business borrows heavily to invest in new equipment, but is able to pay off its
debt early when it is awarded a lucrative government contract.
(B) Fire
destroys a small business, but insurance covers the cost of rebuilding.
(C) A small
business is turned down for a loan at a local bank because the owners have no
credit history.
(D) A small
business has to struggle to meet operating expenses when its profits decrease.
(E) A small
business is able to cut back sharply on spending through greater commercial
efficiency and thereby compensate for a loss of revenue.
3. Which
of the following best describes the attitude of the author toward the samurai
discussed in lines 11-16?
(A) Warmly
approving
(B) Mildly
sympathetic
(C) Bitterly
disappointed
(D) Harshly
disdainful
(E) Profoundly
shocked
4. According
to the passage, the major reason for the financial problems experienced by
Japan’s feudal overlords in the eighteenth century was that
(A) spending
had outdistanced income
(B) trade had
fallen off
(C) profits
from mining had declined
(D) the coinage
had been sharply debased
(E) the samurai
had concentrated in castle-towns
5. The
passage implies that individual samurai did not find it easy to recover from
debt for which of the following reasons?
(A)
Agricultural production had increased.
(B) Taxes were
irregular in timing and arbitrary in amount.
(C) The
Japanese government had failed to adjust to the needs of a changing economy.
(D) The domains
of samurai overlords were becoming smaller and poorer as government revenues
increased.
(E) There was a
limit to the amount in taxes that farmers could be made to pay.
6. The
passage suggests that, in eighteenth-century Japan, the office of tax collector
(A) was a
source of personal profit to the officeholder
(B) was
regarded with derision by many Japanese
(C) remained
within families
(D) existed
only in castle-towns
(E) took up
most of the officeholder’s time
7. Which
of the following could best be substituted for the word “This” in line 47 without changing the meaning of the passage?
(A) The search
of Japan’s Tokugawa shoguns for solvency
(B) The
importance of commerce in feudal Japan
(C) The
unfairness of the tax structure in eighteenth century Japan
(D) The
difficulty of increasing government income by other means
(E) The
difficulty experienced by both individual samurai and the shogun himself in
extricating themselves from debt
8. The
passage implies that which of the following was the primary reason why the
Tokugawa shoguns turned to city merchants for help in financing the state?
(A) A series of
costly wars had depleted the national treasury.
(B) Most of the
country’s wealth appeared to be in city merchants’ hands.
(C) Japan had
suffered a series of economic reversals due to natural disasters such as
floods.
(D) The
merchants were already heavily indebted to the shoguns.
(E) Further
reclamation of land would not have been economically advantageous.
9. According
to the passage, the actions of the Tokugawa shoguns in their search for
solvency for the government were regrettable because those actions
(A) raised the
cost of living by pushing up prices
(B) resulted in
the exhaustion of the most easily worked deposits of silver and gold
(C) were far
lower in yield than had originally been anticipated
(D) did not
succeed in reducing government spending
(E) acted as a
deterrent to trade
Answers:
1.
A
|
2.
D
|
3.
B
|
4.
A
|
5.
E
|
6.
C
|
7.
D
|
8.
B
|
9.
A
|
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