Tsukudō - Denko

The most common term for tenant farmers in China. It is also called denkyaku, chikyaku, sokyaku, soko, and shuko. The original meaning of shu is to cultivate land, but it is also used to mean rent. Generally speaking, there were two types of farming relationship between landlords and tenant farmers. In one, the tenant farmers rented land from the landlord and paid a fixed amount of land tax as rent, called soden (rental land) or soshu (rental seed). In the other, there was no land rental relationship, but the landlord recruited tenant farmers to cultivate his land for them, and as a reward, he distributed a fixed percentage of the harvest regardless of the harvest, called bunshu (shared seed) or denshu (ten seed). The term for both is "soden." There are two types of soden: one in which the landlord prepares oxen, plows, and rakes (collectively called oxen tools) to perform plowing, sowing, plowing (cultivation and weeding), and harvesting (the share of the harvest is usually half of the landlord's share), and the other in which the landlord prepares the oxen tools. The latter is further divided into two types: one in which the landlord uses the landlord's oxen tools to perform the work from plowing to harvesting (shutsuku 73), and one in which the landlord does not perform plowing but instead shares the work of plowing and harvesting (shutsuku 82). Soden was carried out by small and medium-sized landlords in villages using poor farmers in the neighborhood as a method of self-management instead of self-cultivation, and soden was often seen on land owned by large landlords, especially parasitic landlords living in cities. In terms of region, there was a tendency for there to be more varieties in northern China, and more leased land in central and southern China.

Historically, this type of land tax system was established after the mid-Tang Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, land tax was classified as rent, tax seed, and divided seed as share of income, combined seed, half seed, divided field, divided plough, etc. For grain fields, the land tax was set at a certain amount of the main grains cultivated in the field, such as foxtail millet, wheat, beans, and rice, and for fields and sparse land where only crops with low commercial value could be grown, a monetary tax was collected. Examples of monetary tax can be seen from the Song Dynasty. With divided seed, the grain and straw of all cultivated crops were subject to distribution. In the Song dynasty, landlords and landowners were placed in an unequal legal position, and if a landlord committed a crime of assault or injury resulting in death against a landlord or his family, he was punished more severely than the general public, while landlords' crimes against landlords were punished lightly. In the Ming dynasty, this inequality disappeared. Also in the Ming dynasty, landlords invested labor and assets in the cultivation and improvement of rented fields, or paid tax (a guarantee for the land tax), and thus acquired claims against the landlord. The practice of transferring rented fields to other people by transferring these claims became widespread. The rented fields transferred by a landlord to other people were generally called denmen (field surface), and the landlord's ownership rights, which were opposed to the field surface, were called dentei (field bottom). Not much is known about the situation before the Northern and Southern Dynasties. During the Three Kingdoms period, a relationship in which the share of land was changed depending on whether or not the farmer had oxen was observed, but whether this is the same relationship as the division of land into different categories must be examined in detail along with the origins of the land lease practice.

[Yasushi Kusano]

"Kusano Yasushi, 'Large Land Ownership and the Development of the Tsukuda House System' (included in 'Iwanami Lecture Series World History 9: Middle Ages 3', 1970, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Shuto Yoshiyuki, 'Research on the History of the Land System in China' (1954, University of Tokyo Press)" ▽ "Amano Gennosuke, 'Chinese Agricultural Economics, Vol. 1' (1940, Kaizosha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国で小作人をさすもっとも一般的な呼称。佃客(でんきゃく)、地客(ちきゃく)、荘客(そうきゃく)、租戸(そこ)、種戸(しゅこ)などともいう。佃の本来の語義は田地を耕種すること、転じて賃借の意味にも用いられる。一般的にいって地主と佃戸の耕作関係には二つの型式があった。一つは、佃戸が地主より田地を賃借し、地代として約定した定額の田租を納めるもので、租田(そでん)、租種(そしゅ)とよばれていた。他の一つは、田地の賃貸関係はなく、地主が佃戸を募って自分の田地を代耕させ、その報酬として豊凶にかかわりなく一定の分率で収穫を分配するもので、分種(ぶんしゅ)、佃種(でんしゅ)とよばれていた。両者を併称する呼称は租佃(そでん)である。分種には、佃戸が耕牛、犂(すき)、耙(まぐわ)（あわせて牛具という）を用意して、犂耕(りこう)、播種(はしゅ)、鋤耘(じょうん)（中耕除草）、収穫を行うもの（収穫の分率は通常主佃中半）と、地主が牛具を用意するものとの二類がある。後者にはさらに、佃戸が地主の家の牛具を用いて犂耕から収穫に至る作業を行うもの（主佃73）と、犂耕をせずに鋤耘、収穫の作業を負担するもの（主佃82）とがあった。分種は、在村の中小地主が自作にかわる自己経営の方式として近隣の貧農を用いて行い、租田は、大地主、とくに寄生的な都市在住の地主の所有地で多くみられた。また地域的には華北に分種が多く、華中、華南で租田が多い傾向がみられた。

　歴史的にこのような租佃様式が成立するのは唐中期以後である。宋(そう)代では、租田を租賃、租種、分種を分収(ぶんしゅう)、合種(ごうしゅ)、半種(はんしゅ)、分田(ぶんでん)、分鋤(ぶんじょ)などとよんで両者を類別していた。租田の田租は、穀作田ではアワ、ムギ、マメ、イネなどその田で栽培される主要な穀物の一定量で定められ、畑や商品価値の低い作物しかできない瘠地(せきち)では銭租がとられていた。銭租の事例は宋代から認められる。分種では栽培したすべての作物の穀物と藁(わら)とが分配の対象となっていた。宋代では佃戸は地主に対して法的に不平等な地位に置かれ、佃戸が地主やその家族に対して暴行傷害致死の罪を犯すと一般の場合より重く罰せられ、逆に地主の佃戸に対する犯罪は刑量を軽くされていた。明(みん)代になるとこうした不平等はなくなった。また明代になると、佃戸は租田の開墾、改良に労働資財を投じたり、あるいは押租(おうそ)（田租の保証金）を納めたりして地主に対して債権をもち、この債権を譲渡する形式をとって租田を別人に譲渡する慣行が広まっていった。佃戸によって別人に譲渡される租田は一般に田面(でんめん)とよばれ、田面に対置される地主の所有権は田底(でんてい)とよばれていた。南北朝以前のことはあまり明らかでない。耕作者が耕牛をもつか否かで分率を変える関係が三国期に認められるが、分種と同じ関係かどうか、租田慣行の由来とともに詳考すべきところである。

［草野　靖］

『草野靖著『大土地所有と佃戸制の展開』（『岩波講座　世界歴史9　中世3』所収・1970・岩波書店）』▽『周藤吉之著『中国土地制度史研究』（1954・東京大学出版会）』▽『天野元之助著『支那農業経済論　上』（1940・改造社）』

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