Order to restore former territories

...The contents of the order included (1) prohibiting future buying, selling and pawning of land, (2) free return of land already sold and land that had been pawned, (3) not accepting lawsuits for credits and debts, and (4) abolishing the otso system. The shogunate's legislative purpose was to restore the land of the shogunate's retainers through (2) and (3), but in reality it had a social effect of restoring former land to a wide range of areas, not limited to the land of the shogunate's retainers. By the way, in response to the question of why a law that seems to be extremely against social conventions, such as the free return of legally sold land, was enacted and yet was accepted relatively easily by society, there is a theory that originally there were large "divisions" of things in Japan, such as Buddhist objects, sacred objects, and people, and there was a social convention that things that were once moved to another division should naturally be returned to their original division, so there was no great social discomfort in the Tokusei-rei, which returned the things of the shogunate to the shogunate. ...

*Some of the terminology used in reference to the "Order to Restorate Former Territories" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…その内容は，(1)今後所領の売買質入れを禁止，(2)既売却地･質流れ地の無償返付，(3)債権債務についての訴訟を受理しない，(4)越訴（おつそ）制を廃止する，などである。幕府の立法目的は(2)(3)によって御家人所領の復元を企図した点にあったが，現実には御家人所領に限らず，広範な旧領回復令という社会的効果をあげた。ところで，合法的な売却地の無償取りもどしというような，一見きわめて反社会通念的立法が行われ，しかも比較的やすやすと社会に受け入れられたのはなぜかという疑問に対しては，元来日本には仏物･神物･人物というような大きな“ものの区分”が存在し，いったん他の区分へ移動したものを本来の区分へもどすことを当然とみなす社会通念があり，したがって御家人のものを御家人に返すというこの徳政令にも，大きな社会的違和感がなかったという説も行われている。…

※「旧領回復令」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