For future reference

Feudalism!

幕藩体制の眼目である農民支配と収奪については、家康の信任をうけて天領の農民収奪体系の基礎をつくった本多正信が、「百姓は天下の根本なり。これを治るに法あり、まず一人一人の田地の境目をよくたて、さて一年の入用・作食をつもらせ、その余を年貢に収むべし。百姓は財の余らぬように、不足なきように収むること、道なり」 (p. 265 in Inoue Kiyoshi. 1963. History of Japan, Volume I. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.)

"Hotta Masanobu, who was entrusted by Ieyasu to build the foundation of the extractive apparatus for the shogunate's domains, wrote of the rule and exploitation of the peasantry, which was the core of the bakuhan political system, 'The peasants are the roots of the realm. There is a law for the rule of them: first, establish well the boundaries of each individual's holdings; then, each year, while allowing them to retain enough for their needs, tax off the rest. The proper way is that the peasants should have left neither any surfeit nor dearth.'"