During the Edo period, the growth of merchant capital and the penetration of the commodity economy to agricultural villages contributed to the transformation of the hierarchy of village communities, which, however, caused such turmoils in the community as uprising peasants and destructive riots, and compelled both Bakufu (shogunate) government and Han (local domain) governments to try to reform their political systems.
江戸時代には商人資本の成長や農村への商品経済の浸透、それらによる身分制の変質など、村落共同体の動揺は一揆や打ちこわしを招き、幕府や諸藩は幕政改革や藩政改革を行い再編を試みる。