Substitution - Degawari

Short for "detsuri boukein" (transition servant), this refers to a servant employed for a short period of time. While fudai and nenkiri service lasted a year or more, zue and ikkai service were employed for half a year or at most a year, and were called zue and ikkai service. Most apprentices in samurai households and town houses were fudai and kogai who had been employed for generations or long-term apprentices, but the men and women who worked in odd jobs at wealthy farming and merchant houses were often replaced. In the late early modern period, even samurai servants were replaced more and more, and this gradually extended to wakato, chugen, komono, zoritori, and others.

The reasons for this were the increase in the number of processors of goods production in various regions, which required more employed labor, and the increase in the number of people migrating from rural areas to cities and handicraft production areas, including seasonal labor. In other words, it can be said that the generalization of replacement was accompanied by the development of commodity production and handicrafts in the early modern period. The time for replacing old and new servants was originally February, but after the Meireki fire in Edo (1657), it was March 5th.

[Susumu Kitahara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

出替り奉公人の略で、短期雇いの奉公人のこと。譜代(ふだい)奉公や年季（年切(ねんきり)）奉公が1年ないしそれ以上にわたるのに対し、半年または長くも1年を奉公期間とし、これを半季居(ずえ)・一季居奉公と称した。武家奉公や町屋の丁稚(でっち)奉公は、代々勤める譜代・子飼(こがい)や長年季奉公が主であったが、富農・商家において雑役に従事する下男や下女は、出替りが多かった。近世後期には武家奉公ですら出替りが増え、しだいに若党(わかとう)、中間(ちゅうげん)、小者(こもの)、草履取(ぞうりとり)らに及んだ。

　その原因は、各地に商品生産の加工業者が増え、雇用労働を多く必要とするようになったこと、一方、季節労働を含めて農村から都市や手工業生産地への出稼ぎが増大したことなどによる。すなわち、出替りの一般化は、近世における商品生産の展開、手工業の発達に伴うものであったといえる。新旧の奉公人が交替する出替り時節は、初め2月、江戸の明暦(めいれき)大火（1657）後は3月5日とされていた。

［北原　進］

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