Local Samurai - Jizamurai

This refers to the powerful headman class of villages in the late Middle Ages. In the general villages, they were the core of the village community as "otona", but on the other hand, they had surnames, were given honorifics such as "kata" and "dono", and served as lower-ranking officials of the manor, playing a role at the bottom of the ruling structure. As samurai, they were distinguished from ordinary jige peasants. Especially during the Sengoku period, they developed and expanded relationships with surrounding small farmers, such as collecting rent through land management as landlords, and vassal relationships. However, their trends were not unified with a desire to become feudal lords, and in order to maintain their interests, they strengthened horizontal alliances between local samurai and relied on community regulations, which enabled them to realize exploitation and further solidify their base within the village, deepening their ties with the local area. It is believed that various possibilities for the historical process from the Middle Ages to the early modern period through the separation of soldiers and farmers can be clarified by investigating the trends of these local samurai classes.

Furthermore, the term "jizamurai" as seen in military chronicles and other records refers to samurai outside of the domain, as opposed to samurai belonging to the shogunate, shugo, or daimyo, and also includes the concept of kokujin feudal lords.

[Toshiko Ito]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中世後期村落の有力名主(みょうしゅ)層をさす。惣村(そうそん)においては「オトナ」として村落共同体の中核をなしていたが、その一方で、名字をもち、「方(かた)」「殿(どの)」などの敬称を付され、荘園(しょうえん)の下級荘官となって支配機構の末端を担うなど、侍衆として一般の地下(じげ)百姓衆とは区別される存在であった。とくに戦国期に入ると、彼らは周辺小農民との間に地主経営による小作料の収取関係や、被官関係を展開し拡大していく。しかし、その動向は領主化への志向に一元化されるものではなく、権益を保持するため、地侍同士の横の連合を強めるとともに、共同体規制に依存して、その規制によって収奪を実現し村落内における基盤をますます固めるなど、在地との結合を深めるような面をもっていた。兵農分離を経て中世から近世に至る歴史的過程のさまざまな可能性は、このような地侍層の動向を探ることによって究明されるものと考えられる。

　なお、軍記や記録などにみられる地侍は、幕府や守護・諸大名に属する武士に対して、在野の武士という意味で、国人(こくじん)領主の概念をも含むものである。

［伊藤敏子］

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