The five-man group

In order to maintain the Goningumi system during the Edo period, each village and town created this register every year, listing its members. It consists of a preface and a main text.

The preface usually contains 20 to 50 detailed regulations concerning the daily lives of farmers and townspeople, and in some cases it can be as long as a hundred or more. Usually, village or town officials read it out to the farmers and townspeople, who all promise to strictly adhere to it. The main text is stamped by the head of each group of five, starting with the group leader. Two copies were made each year, one was given to the feudal lord and the other was kept with the village and town officials. The Goningumicho, along with the Shumon Ninbetsu Aratamecho, is a basic ledger that shows the composition of farmers and townspeople in villages and towns during the Edo period, and is a fundamental historical source for learning about the lives of ordinary people.

[Uesugi Masahiko]

"Research on the Goningumicho by Nomura Kanetaro (1943, Yuhikaku)" "Farming Life in the Edo Period by Kodama Kota (1967, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸時代に五人組制度を維持するために各村や町で毎年作成され、その構成員を記した台帳。内容は、前書と本文からなる。

　前書は、農民や町人の日常生活にかかわる細かい規定が、通常20～50条、長いのは百数十か条書かれている。通常、村・町役人がこれを農民や町人に読み聞かせ、一同がそれを厳守することを約束している。本文は、五人組ごとに組頭を筆頭に各戸主が連印している。毎年2冊作成し、1冊を領主に出し、1冊を村方、町方に置いた。五人組帳は、宗門人別改帳(しゅうもんにんべつあらためちょう)と並んで江戸時代の村や町の農民や町人の構成を示す基本台帳であり、庶民生活を知る基本史料である。

［上杉允彦］

『野村兼太郎著『五人組帳の研究』（1943・有斐閣）』▽『児玉幸多著『江戸時代の農民生活』（1967・吉川弘文館）』

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