Culture and Institutions in the Economic Growth of Japan by Juro Teranishi

Author:Juro Teranishi
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9784431556275
Publisher: Springer Japan

5.1.1.3 The Birth of Feudalism and Land

In the shōen-kōryō system established at the end of the Heian era, the aristocracy, the top of which comprised imperial families, or the large temples and shrines, were the ultimate owners of manors. Their income was mainly composed of two sources: income granted by official positions, the source of which was tax revenue at the imperial court and provincial governors’ offices, and rent incomes from manors held as family property. The rent incomes, obtained by the aristocracy, other influential families, and the like, were a sort of residual income and, at the end of the Heian era, comprised the major part of the income of the class. After the establishment of the Kamakura bakufu (samurai government), the first bakufu of the samurai class, however, the property right of the class as ryōke and honjyo of manors was significantly encroached.

The basic governance mechanism of the shōen-kōryō system was the appointment of civil servants to positions called shiki of administrative and judicial roles of manors and state-owned lands. The shiki were appointed by the provincial governors’ offices (kokuga) and were hereditary posts allowed by the imperial court. They were endowed with the right to obtain some percentage of income (tokubun) out of the total products of land. Since the shiki were authorized by the provincial governors’ offices, these roles and income rights were considered in effect to be guaranteed by imperial authority. During the Heian era, manors were governed by shōkan (manor official)-shiki or gesu-shiki, state-owned lands by gunji-shiki and kokushi-shiki and, after Minamoto Yoritomo established the Kamakura bakufu, two additional shiki related to the military role were introduced: shugo-shiki as the military governor of provinces, and jitō (estate steward)-shiki under the shugo as the actual agency to implement military and police activities and, at the same time, in charge of tax collection.

From the beginning of the Kamakura era, the jitō and manor-owning aristocracy class confronted each other fiercely. It is important to note that not only the Kamakura bakufu (1192–1333) but also the Muromachi bakufu (1336–1573) with the related shugo-jitō system was not considered to be a system replacing imperial local administration but rather as supplementary to it (Hall 1968). Just like various shiki in Heian era, jitō-shiki and shugo-shiki were appointed ultimately by the imperial court. Shogun Yoritomo himself was appointed by the imperial court and delegated the role to designate shugo-shiki and jitō-shiki. Both shugo and jitō were endowed with the right to obtain rent income (tokubun), however, so that this inevitably led to disputes and conflicts with the final owners (ryōke and honjyo) of manors who had retained the rights to residual income and control. The shugo and jitō were eager to obtain the control right of their land, and the honjyo and ryōke wanted to recover the income right allotted to the shiki of the shugo and jitō.

In the disputes, the bakufu took the stance to favor the shugo and jitō, most of whom were shogun’s housemen (gokenin), and quite often

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