Onden Village - Onden Village

A type of Japanese village. Also called a hidden rice field peasant village. These are settlements where the losers of the Genpei War at the end of the Heian period and the Sengoku period fled to remote areas such as the mountains, where they made a living by cultivating rice fields, slash-and-burn farming, lumbering, and fishing. There are many cases where the origins and circumstances of seclusion can be clarified, with the former being based on legends and the latter being based on documents from related areas. The cultivated farmland and slash-and-burn farming were not surveyed and no taxes were paid, so they were "hidden rice fields," that is, fields not recorded in the land survey book and fields for which taxes had not been paid. Generally, these are clan villages centered around a clan of hermits, and the villagers have a strong sense of community, are closed off, and have retained their old customs relatively well. Representative examples include Gokanosho (Kumamoto Prefecture), Merasho, Shiiba (Miyazaki Prefecture), Iya (Tokushima Prefecture), Totsukawago (Nara Prefecture), Shirakawago (Gifu Prefecture), and Gokayama (Toyama Prefecture). During the land tax reform immediately after the Meiji Restoration, hidden fields were registered in the land register and legally no longer existed, but what were once hidden fields in terms of geography and folklore are now remote villages with their folklore, old folk songs, and traditional houses, and many of them have become tourist destinations.

[Yukio Asaka]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本の村落の一つの型。隠田百姓村ともいう。平安末期の源平の合戦や、戦国時代後期の戦敗者が、人里離れた山奥などに逃避し、田畑の開墾や焼畑耕作、杣(そま)稼ぎ、漁労などをして生活を営んでいた集落。起源年代や隠遁(いんとん)事情については、前者は伝承的、後者は関連地域の文書などをもあわせて明確を期しうるものが少なくない。開墾耕地や焼畑は、検地を受けず年貢(ねんぐ)も納めないので「隠し田畑」、すなわち検地帳未登載田畑、年貢未納田畑であった。一般に隠遁者の一族を中心とする同族村で、村民の共同体意識は強く、閉鎖的で、古い習俗を比較的よく残している。五家荘(ごかのしょう)（熊本県）、米良(めら)荘、椎葉(しいば)（宮崎県）、祖谷(いや)（徳島県）、十津川郷(とつかわごう)（奈良県）、白川郷（岐阜県）、五箇山(ごかやま)（富山県）などはその代表である。明治維新直後の地租改正の際に、隠田は土地台帳に登録されて法規上の隠田はなくなったが、地理学上、民俗学上の隠田集落は、いまは僻地(へきち)村として民俗、古民謡、民家集落が残り、観光対象になっているものが多い。

［浅香幸雄］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例