Duty - Return

The basic poll tax in the Ritsuryo system. It was established during the Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties in China, and was established in the Sui dynasty. Originally it meant the imposition of labor, but it came to mean the poll tax on farmers as a burden corresponding to the equal-field system. However, there is also a theory that it only refers to labor (annual labor, miscellaneous labor). Generally, in the Tang system, "ka" refers to "so" (two koku of millet) and "cho" (two jang of silk or two jang and five shaku of cloth), and "yaku" refers to the annual labor (20 days a year) or the substitute labor (three shaku of silk or three shaku seven and five bu of cloth per day), which were paid by men between the ages of 21 and 59. At the end of the 8th century, it was changed to a dual tax system.

In Japan, the "tax" was only "cho" and the "yaku" was "yo" (sometimes including miscellaneous duties), and since the poll tax and the land allotment did not correspond, the rice field tax was excluded. During the Heian period, it became a land tax.

[Akashi Kazunori]

"Sogabe Shizuo, 'The Equal Field Law and its Taxation System' (1953, Kodansha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

律令(りつりょう)制における基本的な人頭税。中国の晋(しん)・南北朝期に整備され、隋(ずい)に至って確立した。本来は力役を賦課するという意味であったが、均田制に対応する農民の負担義務として丁男(ていなん)の人頭税を表示する語となった。しかし、力役（歳役(さいえき)、雑徭(ぞうよう)）のみをさすとする説もある。一般には、唐制の税目としては、「課」が租(そ)（粟(もみごめ)2石）、調(ちょう)（絹絁(きぬあしぎぬ)2丈、または布2丈5尺）で、「役」が歳役（年20日）かそのかわりの庸(よう)（1日に絹絁3尺、または布3尺7寸5分）をさし、21～59歳の男子が納めた。8世紀末には両税法に転換する。

　日本では、「課」が調のみ、「役」が庸（ときには雑徭も含む）で、人頭税と班田は対応しなかったので田租は除外される。平安期には地税化した。

［明石一紀］

『曽我部静雄著『均田法とその税役制度』（1953・講談社）』

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