Surnames didn't exist for the average Japanese person until 1875

It blows my mind to think that surnames didn't exist 152 years ago for many ordinary people in Japan. Until 1875 surnames were generally limited to samurai and aristocrats. But on this day, February 13th, 1875, the Japanese Government issued the “Heimin Myōji Hisshō Gimu-rei”, a proclamation requiring all commoners to adopt and use a family name. Thus, today is the Commemoration of the Establishment of Surnames, 苗字制定記念日. 

Reportedly, there had been a decree five years prior to the "heimin myoji hissho gimurei", which allowed ordinary people, commoners as they were called, to take a surname. But most people didn't; partly due to low literacy, and partly because they distrusted the new Meiji government and feared that taking a surname might lead to new taxes. Because adoption was slow, the 1875 order made surname use mandatory.

Meanwhile, my own country, Ireland, is widely recognized as the first country in Europe to adopt hereditary surnames, and this happened very early, around the 10th century. Do you know the history of surnames in your own country?