Shrine money - Shidosen

Money donated to temples to pray for the repose of the dead and to cover the costs of running and repairing temple shrines. Since the Muromachi period, many temples have found it difficult to collect taxes from manors and estates, and so have used the money as loan principal to earn interest or to purchase rice fields (tokubunken), providing a source of revenue to overcome financial difficulties. The lending of shrine money and the resulting accumulation of land at Zen temples was particularly notable. The Muromachi Shogunate protected the lending of shrine money by temples, and exempted shrine money loans from the Tokuseirei when the loans were recorded and registered in the temple's shrine register and the interest rate was less than 2% per month. Even in the Edo period, the loaning of shrine money and silver continued, and the Shogunate protected this.

[Ginya Sasaki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

死者の冥福(めいふく)を祈るため、寺院の祠堂の運営や修理費として寄進された金銭。室町時代以降荘園(しょうえん)や所領などからの年貢徴収が困難となっていた多くの寺院では祠堂銭を貸付元本として運用して利子を稼いだり、田畠(でんぱた)（得分(とくぶん)権）の購入資金にあて、寺院財政の窮状打開のための財源とした。禅宗寺院における祠堂銭の貸付、それによる土地集積が顕著であった。室町幕府は寺院の祠堂銭貸付を保護し、その貸借が寺院の祠堂帳に記載登録されていて貸付利子が月二文子(にもんし)、すなわち2％以内の祠堂銭貸付については徳政令の適用を免除した。江戸時代になっても祠堂金・祠堂銀の貸付は行われ、幕府はこれを保護した。

［佐々木銀弥］

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