Guest girl

Japanese: 客女 - きゃくじょ

...Furthermore, there were the "hired guests" who worked for the master, the "field guests" or "manor guests" who lost their land and became tenant farmers for powerful families or landowners, and even the "clothing and food guests" who were given food and clothing but had all the fruits of their labor taken by the master. In the Tang Dynasty, women of a lower class than slaves were called "guest women," and after the collapse of the equal-field system, the households of tenant farmers and merchants who did not own land were called "guest households." The word "guest" can refer to people of such low status, but its original meaning has not been lost....

From [Part Song]

...Among them were those who served in the military as soldiers of their masters, and they were called buqu, so the word buqu came to mean outcasts. buqu was a term used to refer to men, and the term kekjo for women is said to have originated from the term 'guests', meaning that they were slaves who received food and clothing from their masters. Under the law of the Tang Dynasty, buqu and kekjo did not have independent household registers and were attached to their masters' households, had no freedom of movement, and received heavier punishments than their husbands if they committed crimes, but on the other hand, unlike slaves, they were not considered property and could not be bought or sold, and they could marry their husbands' wives....

*Some of the terminology that refers to "guest girl" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…さらに主家に傭われて働く〈傭客〉，土地を失って豪族や地主の小作人となる〈田(佃)客〉や〈荘客〉，はては衣食を支給される代りに労働の成果をすべて主家に取られる〈衣食客〉まで現れる。唐代には奴婢の上の上級賤民の女性を〈客女〉とよび，均田制崩壊後には土地をもたぬ小作人や商人の家は〈客戸〉とよばれる。客はこのような低い身分のものも指すが，一方でその原義も失われない。…

【部曲】より

…その中に主家の家兵として軍事に従う者があり，それを部曲とよんだことから，部曲の語が賤民を意味するようになった。部曲は男子の呼称で，女子を客女というのは主家から衣食の供給を受けて隷従する，いわゆる衣食客に由来するという。唐代法上の部曲･客女は，独立した戸籍をもたず主家に附籍され，移転の自由がなく，罪を犯した場合良人よりも刑が重かったが，一方奴婢とは異なって財産とみなされないので売買の対象とはならず，良人の女をめとることができた。…

※「客女」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

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