Ikki

ikki

Peasant uprisings in Japan beginning in the Kamakura period (1192–1333) and continuing through the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). Though the welfare of the city dweller improved during Tokugawa (Edo) times, the welfare of poor peasants worsened: excessive taxation and rising numbers of famines drove them first to peaceful and then to violent demonstrations. They sometimes received redress for particular hardships, but their spokesmen would forfeit their lives for their audacity.

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Ikki 

peasant uprisings in feudal Japan.

The peasant uprisings of the 15th and 16th centuries are divided into the pre-Ikki, Ikko-Ikki, Tokusei-Ikki, and Kuni-Ikki revolts. The pre-Ikki revolts were “land revolts,” that is, peasant uprisings for such demands as the reduction of rents; the most important of these was the 1428 uprising, which encompassed almost all the central provinces. The Ikko-Ikki uprisings were carried out under the banner of the Ikko Buddhist sect. The largest of these uprisings were in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Tokusei-Ikki were urban and peasant uprisings against usurers, and the Kuni-Ikki were “provincial uprisings,” that is, peasant and Samurai uprisings; the most important of these was in the province of Yamashiro in 1485–93. A total of 164 outbreaks are known.

Uprisings that occurred from the 17th century through the 19th were called Hyakusho-Ikki (this concept included not only uprisings but also other antifeudal outbreaks by the peasantry). Throughout the entire Tokugawa period (1603–1867), about 1,640 uprisings and other peasant outbreaks are known. The antifeudal struggle of the peasants weakened the Tokugawa government and facilitated its downfall at the time of the Bourgeois Revolution of 1867–68 (the Meiji Restoration).