Magistrate - Daikan

Originally, it was a term for a person who acted as a representative of the main official. From the Middle Ages onwards, the person who was in charge of collecting taxes on land was called a daikan, but in the Edo period, it referred to local officials in charge of administration and public order in territories directly controlled by the shogunate and various feudal domains. From the Kamakura period, it became the general term for jitodai (deputy lord of a land), but during the Sengoku period and under the Toyotomi government, it came to play an important role in collecting taxes on kurairichi (directly controlled territories), managing water and civil engineering works, and procuring military supplies. In the early Edo Shogunate, there were magistrates under the head magistrate (Ina Tadatsugu, Okubo Nagayasu, Hikosaka Motomasa, etc.) mainly in the Kanto region, and wealthy merchant magistrates in Kinai and Omi, but most were local skilled people and numbered as many as 70. During the process of establishing the Bakufu-han system (Kanbun, Enpo, and Genroku periods), many of these hereditary magistrates who were tax contractors fell from grace due to tax arrears and other irregularities, and in 1725 (Kyoho 10) the Act on the Payment of Daikansho Expenses was revised to change them into tax collectors in charge of civil affairs at each magistrate's office.

The Shogunate's magistrates belonged to the Kanjo Bugyo (financial magistrate), were appointed from the hatamoto, and had control over 50,000 to 100,000 koku of land, but from the middle period onwards, they were mainly selected from the Kanjo Office officials, as well as farmers and the magistrate's office cadres. However, their number decreased to 40 to 50, and they were responsible for local administration, such as land surveys, inspections, tax collection, irrigation and flood control, and management of the Ninbetsu and Goningumi, as well as public order and prosecution. At each magistrate's office distributed throughout the country, cadres included a dozen or so tetsuki (attached to the deputy), tedai ​​(clerks), and scribes who worked in Edo and their assigned areas to handle administrative tasks, and local officials were placed in the mines. The magistrate's salary was 150 bales of rice, and there were also hereditary magistrates such as Egawa (Nirayama in Izu), Tarao (Shigaraki in Omi), Suminokura (Kyoto), and Takagi (Nagasaki). The feudal lords were mainly placed under the county magistrate or county magistrate, and were responsible for controlling villages, collecting taxes, investigating religious affairs, and carrying out land surveys. They were also called samurai magistrates or local magistrates, and were small in size and authority.

[Nao Murakami]

"Tenryo" by Murakami Nao (1965, Jinbutsu Oraisha)" ▽ "Maidars of the Edo Shogunate" by Murakami Nao (1983, Kokusho Kankokai)" ▽ "Edo Shogunate Magistrate Historical Materials" edited by Murakami Nao and Arakawa Hidetoshi (1975, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)" ▽ "Edo Shogunate County Magistrate Historical Materials" edited by Murakami Nao (1981, Kondo Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

本来は本官を代理する人の呼称。中世以降は所領を預り年貢収納をつかさどる者を代官と称したが、江戸時代では幕府、諸藩の直轄地の行政、治安を担当した地方官をいう。鎌倉時代から地頭代(じとうだい)（地頭の代官）の一般的呼称となったが、戦国期や豊臣(とよとみ)政権下では蔵入地(くらいりち)（直轄領）の年貢収納や水利土木の管理、軍事物資の調達に重要な役割を果たすようになった。江戸幕府初期には、関東を中心に代官頭(だいかんがしら)（伊奈忠次(いなただつぐ)、大久保長安(おおくぼながやす)、彦坂元正(ひこさかもとまさ)ら）の下に代官がおり、畿内(きない)、近江(おうみ)には豪商代官が存在したが、多くは地方巧者(じかたこうしゃ)が任ぜられ、その数も70名に及んだ。幕藩制社会の確立（寛文(かんぶん)・延宝(えんぽう)～元禄(げんろく)期）過程で、これらの世襲的・年貢請負人的な代官の多くは年貢滞納や不正を理由に失脚し、1725年（享保10）代官所経費支給仕法の改正により、各代官所で民政を担当する貢租徴税官へ改変した。

　幕府代官は勘定奉行(かんじょうぶぎょう)に属し、旗本から任命され5～10万石を支配したが、中期以降には、主として勘定所役人のほか、農民や代官所の属僚からも抜擢(ばってき)された。しかし、その数は40～50名に減少し、検地・検見(けみ)・年貢収納、灌漑(かんがい)・治水、人別や五人組の差配などの地方行政、治安、検察にあたった。全国的に分布した各代官所においては、属僚には十数名の手付(てつき)、手代(てだい)、書役などを江戸と任地に勤務させ事務処理にあたらせ、鉱山には地役人(じやくにん)を置いた。代官の役高は150俵で、ほかに江川(えがわ)（伊豆(いず)の韮山(にらやま)）、多羅尾(たらお)（近江の信楽(しがらき)）、角倉(すみのくら)（京都）、高木（長崎）など世襲代官もいた。藩の代官はおもに郡代や郡奉行(こおりぶぎょう)のもとに置かれ、村方を支配し、年貢収納や宗門改(しゅうもんあらため)や検地奉行を兼務し、郡単位に民政を担当し、侍代官(さむらいだいかん)や在郷代官とも称し、規模や権限も小さかった。

［村上　直］

『村上直著『天領』（1965・人物往来社）』▽『村上直著『江戸幕府の代官』（1983・国書刊行会）』▽『村上直・荒川秀俊編『江戸幕府代官史料』（1975・吉川弘文館）』▽『村上直編『江戸幕府郡代代官史料集』（1981・近藤出版社）』

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