Military record - Gunkougaki

Japanese: 軍功書 - ぐんこうがき

These are documents in which samurai wrote down their military exploits in battles during the Edo period. In the early modern period, great battles such as the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), the Siege of Osaka (1614-15), and the Shimabara Rebellion (1637-38) occurred, while large numbers of ronin were produced due to changes in daimyo status. On the other hand, as new fudai daimyo expanded their vassals, ronin who wished to serve in the government submitted military exploits books in which they listed their own military exploits as a means of publicity. Daimyo who participated in battles also sometimes investigated the military exploits of their vassals to help control their vassals and determine their hierarchical rankings.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

江戸時代，武士が合戦における武功を書き上げた文書。近世初期には，関ヶ原の戦(1600)，大坂の陣(1614‐15)，島原の乱(1637‐38)など大合戦がおこる一方，大名改易などで牢人が多数輩出した。他方，新たに譜代大名等が家臣団を拡大する中で，仕官を望む牢人は自身の武功を書き連ねた軍功書を提出して宣伝の手段とした。また，合戦に参加した大名が，家臣の武功を調査して，家臣団統制，階層序列確定の参考としたこともあった。

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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