Undercoat middle part - undercoat

This was a method of settling disputes over taxes and official duties, which was used from the mid-13th century (mid-Kamakura period) to the end of the 14th century (the end of the Northern and Southern Court period). It was a method of dividing up the land that produced the surplus products of taxes and official duties, in order to secure them. It was mainly carried out between manor lords (main family, lord's family) and land stewards, and was promoted as a policy by the Kamakura and Muromachi Shogunates. It was often seen in the case of temple and shrine lands, and was found throughout the country, with many examples in the western part of the country, such as Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu. In the 13th century, new profits were created by the development of undeveloped lands inside and outside the manor by land stewards and powerful headmen, and the development of utilization of mountains, fields, rivers, and seas other than agricultural production (hunting, logging, fishing, etc.). As a result, the land stewards' rule as feudal lords went beyond the traditional tax and official duties, and they expanded their possessions of fields, mountains, and fields. Furthermore, after the Jōkyū War (1221), the newly appointed land stewards invaded manors in the west, which made disputes between lords and land stewards frequent. To resolve these disputes, the Shimo-ji-chubun system was implemented in parallel with the land steward's request for tax payments, which took place a little later than this system. The method was to divide the entire disputed land, each party taking possession of one side of it, and to draw a boundary line so that neither party would infringe on the other's. In doing so, not only was the land's use (fields, mountains, etc.) and topography taken into consideration, but sometimes even the resident peasants were divided, and since the principle was to divide the land according to the amount of profit each party would make, "division in between" was not necessarily an equal division. There were cases where the parties reached a settlement (wayo division in between), and cases where the shogunate unilaterally issued a division order after receiving a request from the lord's side. In either case, the result was that official division maps and division documents were drawn up, and with the shogunate's approval, each party came to have a common domain.

[Jiro Shimada]

"Yasuda Motohisa, 'Study of the Jito and Jito Lordship System' (1951, Yamakawa Publishing)" ▽ "Takeuchi Rizo, ed., 'Systematic Japanese History Series 6, Land Institution History I' (1973, Yamakawa Publishing)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

13世紀中ごろ（鎌倉中期）から14世紀末ごろ（南北朝末期）まで行われた、年貢・公事(くじ)などをめぐる争論の解決方法の一つ。上分(じょうぶん)（年貢および公事などの剰余生産物）を確保するため、これを生み出す土地すなわち下地を分割する方法である。主として荘園(しょうえん)領主（本家(ほんけ)、領家(りょうけ)）と地頭(じとう)の間で実施され、鎌倉・室町幕府がこれを政策的に推進した。寺社領の場合に多くみられ、かつ地域的には全国にわたるが、中国、四国、九州などの西国地方に事例が多い。13世紀になると地頭や有力名主(みょうしゅ)らによる荘域内外の未開地の開発の進行、農業生産以外の山野河海(さんやかかい)利用の発展（狩倉(かりくら)、伐木、漁労など）によって新たな得分(とくぶん)が生まれたが、これに伴い、地頭らの領主的支配は、従来からの年貢、公事抑留にとどまらず、田畑(たはた)、山野などの領有のいっそうの拡大に向かった。さらに承久(じょうきゅう)の乱（1221）後、西国地方に置かれた新補地頭(しんぽじとう)らの荘園侵略もこれに輪をかけたため、領家、地頭間の争論は頻発した。その解決のため、年貢などの地頭請(うけ)とともに、ややこれにおくれ、かつ並行して行われたのが下地中分である。その方法として、争論対象地全体を分割し、それぞれ一方を両者が領有し、相互にこれを侵さないように境界線を引いた。その際田畑、山野などの地目や地形を考慮して分割するのみならず、居住する農民まで分割することもあり、また本来両者の得分の量に応じて分割するのが原則であったから、「中分」といっても均等分割とは限らなかった。その手続としては、当事者相互の和解によるもの（和与(わよ)中分）と、領家方から申請を受けた幕府が、一方的に中分命令を下す例があった。いずれにせよ、その結果、正式に中分絵図や分文(わけぶみ)が作成され、幕府の承認を得て相互に一円支配を行うことになった。

［島田次郎］

『安田元久著『地頭及び地頭領主制の研究』（1951・山川出版社）』▽『竹内理三編『体系日本史叢書6　土地制度史Ⅰ』（1973・山川出版社）』

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