ABSTRACT
Aspiring leaders are, in a manner of speaking, political entrepreneurs. As Bailey has written, they engage in the enterprise of amassing resources and using them, skilfully, to attract followers. 1 In Mushin, a first step in this enterprise as we have seen was acquiring real estate, for it gave people who owned housing an advantage over those who did not. A second step was to capitalise on this inequity, by adding political content to the interactions that grew out of landlord-tenant relationships. The owners who wished to wield power in Mushin typically began a political career by attracting a neighbourhood clientele to whom they acted as patrons, middlemen, and dispute settlers. They dispensed, among other resources, information, contacts, and services that were particularly helpful in meeting the needs of urban life. In return they received support for their political goals.
