Yoshimune Establishes the Suggestion Box

In 1721, Tokugawa Yoshimune established the meyasubako outside the shogunate’s council office. It received written opinions and complaints from below the governing hierarchy. The box was opened in the shogun’s presence, and he read the submitted papers himself.

The physician Ogawa Shōsen proposed care for poor people unable to obtain treatment. His proposal led to the Koishikawa Yōjōsho’s establishment the following year. Another submission, by the rōnin Yamashita Kōnai in the autumn of 1721, sharply criticized Yoshimune’s reforms. It shows that the channel could carry objections as well as proposals the government accepted.

Yamashita’s petition survived in copies. A later compilation places it alongside comments by Matsudaira Sadanobu and other senior councilors, showing the document’s life among officials well after its submission. The box gave particular petitioners access to the ruler, while decisions about action remained with his government. Receiving, preserving and implementing an opinion were different stages.