Land survey book - Kenchicho

A land register that records the results of a village's land survey for each plot and clarifies the village's land tax. It is also called a water register, a pole register, or a rope register. The format for recording each plot is to record the name of the hamlet where it is located, whether it is a field or house, its grade (high, middle, or low), its area, the amount of rice (kokudaka), and the name of the person who would be responsible for it, and then list these in order. Finally, the total area of ​​the fields, houses, and village tax for the entire village is entered, and the magistrate of the land survey signs it. This principle was established almost entirely after the Taiko land survey, and was inherited throughout the Edo period. However, there were differences in the details depending on the magistrate of the land survey, and the content also changed. In addition to upper, middle and lower, the ranks sometimes included upper-high (jojo) and lower-low (gege), and in some cases were divided into nine classes. The length of one ken (ken), which measures the area, was 6 shaku 3 sun in the Taiko land survey, 6 shaku 1 bu in land surveys in the early Edo period, and sometimes even shorter after that, so the area effectively became smaller the later the period. The meishin was the officially recognized owner of the land, but in land survey books up until the early Edo period, some had their houses registered and some did not, and some land survey books have records of buntsuke (thought to be the householder or tenant farmer of the buntsuke owner), who were later recognized as hon-hyakusho (real peasants) and were required to pay taxes and duties.

Two land survey records were created, one for the feudal lord (the accounting office) and the other for the village headman (the village headman), and taxes were levied based on this. The land survey records played a major role as the basic ledger for feudal rule.

[Mitsuru Miyagawa]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

一村の検地の結果を一筆ごとに記載し村高を明らかにした土地台帳。水帳(みずちょう)、竿帳(さおちょう)、縄帳(なわちょう)などともいう。記載様式は、一筆ごとに、その所在地の小字(こあざ)名、田畑屋敷の別、等級（上・中・下の品付）、面積、分米(ぶんまい)（石高(こくだか)）、名請人(なうけにん)を記載し、順次これを列記して、最後に、それらを合計した一村全体の田畑屋敷の総面積、村高を記入し、検地奉行(ぶぎょう)が署名するのが原則である。この原則は太閤(たいこう)検地からほぼ確定し、江戸時代を通じて継承された。しかし細かな点では検地奉行によって精粗の差があり、また内容の変化もみられた。等級は、上・中・下のほかに、上々(じょうじょう)・下々(げげ)などを加えた場合や、9等にも分けた場合もある。面積は、それを測る1間(けん)の長さが太閤検地では6尺3寸、江戸初期の検地では6尺1分、その後はさらに短くする場合もあったから、年代の下るほど実質的に狭くなった。名請人はその土地の公認の保有者であるが、江戸初期までの検地帳では屋敷を登録されたものと、されないものとがあり、また検地帳によっては分付(ぶんつけ)記載のあるもの（分付主の家抱または小作人と考えられる）もみられ、それらがのちには本百姓として把握されて、年貢課役の負担を義務づけられた。

　検地帳は2冊作成されて、1冊は領主側（勘定所）に、1冊は村の名主（庄屋(しょうや)）のもとに保管され、これを基準に年貢課役が賦課された。検地帳が封建支配の基礎帳簿として果たした役割は大きい。

［宮川　満］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例