Reprimand - Reprimand

...However, it seems likely that a considerable number of people became servants, either as ransom for debts owed by failure to make progress, or because of famine and other crimes they committed that they could not repay. In such cases, commoners wrote letters of warning, which made it clear that they were giving up their freedom. Both nobles and samurai families prohibited human trafficking, but during the Kanki famine, the shogunate allowed it, at least temporarily, and it became common for people to openly engage in human trafficking as a necessary circumstance due to the risk of starvation and famine. There is no doubt that the widespread existence of servants determined one aspect of the nature of medieval society.

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "reprimand" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…しかし未進による債務の身代として，また飢饉により，さらになんらかの罪を犯し，それを償いえずに，下人に身を落とす人はかなりの数に及んだものと思われる。こうしたとき，平民はみずからの自由の放棄を明らかにした曳文(引文)，いましめ状を書いたのである。公家，武家はともに人身売買を禁じていたが，寛喜の飢饉のさい，幕府が一時的にせよそれを認めたことから，餓死の危険，飢饉を理由に，やむをえぬこととして人身の売買を公然と行うのがふつうになり，こうした広範な下人の存在が中世社会のあり方の一面を規定していたことはまちがいない。…

※「いましめ状」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報