Self-report - Self-report

In the Edo period, this was one of the vigilante organizations established in the towns of large cities, in contrast to the Tsujiban (crossroad guards) in samurai estates. It is said that this name was born because initially, landlords were the ones who protected their towns. It also referred to the permanent huts that were built for this purpose, and were called Jibunbanya or Banya. In Edo, the landlords themselves were initially on guard duty, but later it was rotated among townspeople, regardless of whether they were landlords or shop tenants, and they were stationed in guardhouses on the corners of major streets, which were usually 9 shaku 2 ken in size (in reality, it is said that they were about 3 ken in size). As a rule, there was one guardhouse per town, and in 1850 (Kaei 3), there were 994 guardhouses in Edo. Usually, there were five guards: two homeowners, one guard, and two shopkeepers, but during the day, this was halved to 2 to 3 people. In small towns, there were three guards: one homeowner, one guard, and one shopkeeper. Their duties mainly consisted of delivering town notices and keeping watch over fires, and they took turns patrolling the town to keep watch. If they spotted any suspicious people, they would capture them and hand them over to the police officers. The guardhouses were also used as places for the police officers to conduct preliminary interrogations of suspects.

In 1721 (Kyoho 6), a position called kakiyaku (clerk) was created to handle accounting matters within the town, and these clerks and hired guards began to work for the town. In addition to their salary from the town, they were paid a storekeeper's fee (tanabansen), so the costs of repairing the guardhouse, which was supposed to be borne by the town, sometimes had to be borne by the guards themselves. In addition, rights to the guardhouse, known as guardhouse stock, were bought and sold, and the trend of bringing food and alcohol into the guardhouse and using it for neighborhood meetings was often reprimanded for any breach of discipline. Nevertheless, the self-guard system played a major role in maintaining security for the town, and continued until 1869 (Meiji 2).

[Fumio Inagaki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸時代、武家地の辻番(つじばん)に対し、大都会の町地に設けられた自警組織の一つ。初め地主らが町内を守ったので、この名称が生まれたという。またそのための常設小屋をもさし、これは自身番屋、番屋とよばれた。江戸では、当初の地主自身の勤番が、のちには地主、店借(たながり)の別なく町民の回り持ちになり、大通りの角地に、決まりでは9尺2間の番屋（実際には2間に3間ぐらいはあったという）に詰めた。原則として1町1番屋で、1850年（嘉永3）には江戸に994軒を数えた。普通は、家主2人、番人1人、店番2人の5人で、昼間は半減して、2～3人。小さな町では家主、番人、店番各1人の3人であった。事務は町触(まちぶれ)の伝達や火の番が主で、交代で町内を巡回して警備に努め、不審な人物がいれば、捕らえておいて廻(まわ)り方同心に引き渡した。番屋は、町同心が容疑者に対し予審を行う場所にも用いられた。

　1721年（享保6）に書役(かきやく)という町内の計算事務を行う職ができると、この書役や雇番人に町の仕事を代勤させるようになった。彼らには町からの給料のほかに店番銭(たなばんせん)が払われたため、町内負担のはずの番屋の修繕費用も番人の出費となる場合もあり、また番屋株と称する権利の売買が行われたり、番屋に酒食を持ち込んで町内の寄合会合に使用する風潮に対し、たびたび綱紀の乱れが戒められた。とはいえ、町方の警備維持にこの自身番制度の果たした役割は大きく、1869年（明治2）まで続いた。

［稲垣史生］

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