Tokugawa Village

Control over Village

• controls introduced by Hideyoshi
  • general cadastral survey
  • restrictions on class mobility: see Lu, 1: 194
• controls introduced by Tokugawa shoguns
  • continuation of surveys
  • shūmon aratamechō are implemented in all domains in 1614, compiled each spring
    • record temple affiliation
    • name of household head
    • name of memebers
    • ages
    • livestock

Village Autonomy

• removal of samurai from the countryside
  • in many domains, especially in more developed areas, there are few samurai in the countryside
  • samurai are transformed from a landed class to an urban class dependent on their daimyo for income
  • effect of peasantry
• domains and the shogunate treat the village as a legal entity
  • collectively responsible for taxes
  • collectively responsible for law-abiding behavior
• practices of village autonomy
  • who enforces the law
    • most civil law is handled within the village -- this is an extension of sō tradition
    • who enforces sumptuary law (Keian proclamation)
  • legal sanctions
    • mura hachibu
    • banishment
    • fines
  • limits of village jurisdiction
    • murder
    • disputes with other villages
• institutions of village autonomy
  • village headman
    • known as shōya, kimoiri, etc.
    • selection
      • hereditary within one family
      • rotated among families
      • elected by full peasants (honbyakushō)
    • responsibilities
      • tax collection
      • maintenance of tax records
        • individuals did not receive a tax bill from the domain
        • didvision of the tax burden was village responsbility
      • represents village in conflict with higher authority
        • petitions for tax relief
        • legal problems
  • honbyakushō
    • land-holding farmers
    • they have direct tax obligations
    • they vote in village decision
      • they are above mizunomi byakushō, genin, etc.
  • gonin-gumi (see Lu)
    • samurai administrative mechanism
    • groups families into units of five for collective punishment
  • wakamonogumi
  • musume-yado