Peasant - Hyakusho

In ancient times, it was also called "Hyakusei" and meant all citizens (people of the nation, also called "Omitakara") with a surname, excluding aristocrats, bureaucrats, lower-class commoners, and slaves. In the family register of Oshimago, Katsushika County, Shimousa Province (part of Edogawa Ward and Katsushika Ward, Tokyo), there are names such as Anaobe no Oyama, Anaobe no Oshihata, Osakabe no Shite, and Mibube no Shima, which are peasants with the surnames Anaobe, Osakabe, and Mibube, respectively. Under the Ritsuryo system, peasants were allotted land and were required to pay taxes such as rent, tax, labor, and miscellaneous duties, but they resisted by evading these taxes and becoming vagrants or running away, thereby undermining the very foundations of the Ritsuryo system.

Under the imperial state in the 10th and 11th centuries, peasants, either on their own or together with the county governors, would submit petitions such as "Prayer to the Governors and Peasants" to denounce the oppressive governance of the provincial governors and demand that the government dismiss them. The most famous petition is the one in 988 (Eien 2) for the governors and peasants of Owari Province.

With the establishment of the manor and public land system in the 11th and 12th centuries, peasants became a status that required them to pay taxes and public duties on the manors and public land. However, not only farmers but also fishermen and people engaged in other industries other than agriculture were considered peasants as long as they paid taxes and public duties. Some peasants, such as craftsmen, were exempt from these taxes and public duties and were organized as artisans who served the Imperial Court, aristocrats, temples and shrines with their skills. Article 42 of the Kamakura Shogunate Law stipulates that peasants have the freedom to "leave and stay" as long as they pay taxes and public duties, and they are clearly distinguished from servants who can be bought, sold and transferred. Peasants also had the status of residents with rights and obligations as members of the village community, and were distinguished from samurai who had not settled there for a long time and were not granted many rights and obligations, such as temporary residents and roaming ronin.

The peasants were derogatorily called "domin" by the nobles and samurai, but in the 14th and 15th centuries, there were uprisings such as the Shoke uprising against the manor lord's tax and public duties, and the Tokusei uprising demanding the cancellation of debts, i.e., amnesty. These were called "tsuchi-ikki" because they were uprisings by local peasants. The rise of these peasant movements also gave rise to a movement to call themselves "On-hyakusho" (peasants). The upper class of peasants, local lords, were called myoshu (headman) or jizamurai (local samurai), and some became vassals of samurai, carrying part of their military power and leaving the peasant class; this trend was encouraged during the Sengoku period by the daimyo's military expansion policies. At that time, the social situation in which those in a lower position rose to become those in a higher position, including cases of vassals neglecting or, in some cases, overthrowing their lord, or of peasants resisting their lord, and even of peasants rising to become samurai, was called "gekokujo" (overthrowing the ruling class).

[Minegishi Sumio]

Incidentally, the word "hyakusho" originally did not refer only to farmers, but in ancient times it broadly referred to the general public, and even in the Middle Ages, samurai, merchants, and craftsmen lived in rural areas, so even if we understand "hyakusho" as people who live in rural areas, the definition was very diverse. However, in the Edo period, all hyakusho were farmers, and a system was established in which all people who lived in rural areas were hyakusho. In that sense, the meaning of today's hyakusho = farmer was established during the Edo period.

After the Northern and Southern Court period, the small and medium-sized headman and farmer classes that emerged from the disintegration of the old myo system later, from the Muromachi period through the Sengoku period, mainly the kokujin and jisamurai classes, created organizations such as sou and go in rural areas, where they worked together on farm work, shared the use of irrigation water and iriai, held festivals, and otherwise managed the rural areas through regular meetings, decided on rules for sou and go, punished violators, and elected rural representatives by public vote, creating strong communities in daily life. This was the establishment of the goson system, and these organizations became the basis for the living communities of peasants in the later Edo period. Moreover, peasants not only shared their lives within their villages, but also negotiated and contracted with manor lords and shugo daimyo for taxes and other duties, and when negotiations did not go well, they would rise up in groups in peasant uprisings. These were joined by demands for amnesty edicts and religious organizations, and a variety of peasant uprisings developed, mainly in the Kinai region.

Throughout the turmoil of the Warring States period, which began with the Onin War (1467-77), the feudal lords of the warring states who were born in various regions created their own territories to compete with the local governments, while also responding to the trends in the rural areas. On the one hand, they recognized the village system and entrusted the management of the rural areas to them, while on the other hand, they carried out land surveys and sword hunts, and prohibited peasant uprisings. They also promoted the relocation of samurai to castle towns, the conversion of kokujin and jizamurai to samurai, and the concentration of merchants and industrialists in castle towns. This was the beginning of the so-called separation of soldiers and farmers policy. This policy was then thoroughly implemented throughout the country by the Azuchi-Momoyama government, which implemented the Taiko land surveys, sword hunts, and village killings, established the village acceptance system, and promoted the complete relocation of samurai, merchants and industrialists to cities. The implementation of the status laws and the nationwide Ninbetsu Araatame reform limited the inhabitants of the rural areas to farmers, and established their status as peasants.

Later, the Edo Shogunate further perfected the system, establishing a nationwide system of separation of soldiers and farmers, and completing the regional division of authority, place of residence, and occupation for each member of the body under the class system of samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants. In rural areas, only peasants were fixed as peasant status, and a system of peasants = farmers was established nationwide.

In the Edo period, as the basis of the feudal domain system, feudal lords tried to organize the areas where peasants lived, i.e., the farming villages, and control the lives of the peasants there. For this reason, about 80,000 farming villages were established throughout the country, and all peasants were forced to live in one of these villages, where village officials selected by the peasants monitored their production and lives and collected annual taxes. All of the peasants' land holdings were recorded in land survey books, and each person was recorded in a sect-based register for each family, and the village affiliation of land and people was determined, and common land and other areas were divided, and the territory of the village was decided. In the villages, peasants were controlled and monitored by groups such as five-person groups and village groups. As in the Middle Ages, peasants also held village meetings to discuss village management, enacted village laws, and regulated village life, but under the separation of soldiers and farmers system, control was strengthened more than in the Middle Ages, and management of the production and lives of peasants as tax producers and regulation by villages were strengthened.

Moreover, in addition to these village restrictions, feudal lords enacted various laws to strengthen their control. The Keian Edict (1649) regulated the details of daily life, such as food, clothing, and shelter, and also issued a ban on the permanent sale and purchase of farmland and land division restrictions, forbidding the transfer of land, and a prohibition on the buying and selling of crops through the Katsutake Kinki Ban. There were many other laws like these as well.

So what was the reality of farmers in rural areas under such regulations? Generally speaking, the core of farmers in the Edo period was called hon-byakusho, and feudal lords' policies were based on this, but in reality, there were various other lower-class farmers in each region, such as mizu-no-miyakusho, nago, and genin. The qualifications for hon-byakusho were generally those who owned real fields and paid annual taxes, but there were also various types depending on the scale of their management. In particular, the class of people who served as village officials in early rural areas were many of the feudal lords of the Middle Ages who had settled in rural areas as farmers even after the separation of soldiers and farmers. Although they were called hon-byakusho, many of them owned many nago and genin and ran large-scale management in the Middle Ages, and many of them served as village officials in the village and had privileges in terms of water supply and membership. These are also called early hon-byakusho. The reality of ordinary hon-byakusho also varied greatly depending on the region and time period.

Generally speaking, the standard management style was that of a small farmer who had become independent from the headman management of the Middle Ages, with about one chobu (approximately 99 ares) of land (the Land Division Restriction Law set the standard at 10 koku), owning fields and a house, and maintaining an independent small business as a monomarried family consisting of a couple and several children. Therefore, it is thought that most of these businesses were small-scale businesses that used a lot of fertilizer and were labor-intensive, and that they carried out diversified management that combined rice with various field crops. The aforementioned feudal lord's control measures had the goal of maintaining such businesses, and various policies were implemented, and in order to maintain these businesses even afterwards, they also fixed the businesses as peasant shares and restricted their division.

From the mid-Edo period onwards, the management of these self-sufficient peasants changed drastically due to the heavy burden of taxes, frequent disasters such as famines, and the influx of a monetary economy into rural areas, leading to a polarisation between powerful and poor farmers. In other words, some powerful farmers who were originally well off became landlords through land sales, while some even engaged in usury and became merchants in their hometowns. On the other hand, lower-class peasants, who suffered under the weight of taxes and the pressure of the commodity and monetary economy, gave up their land as pawns and fell into the role of tenant farmers under landlords, or left agriculture to become day labourers doing various odd jobs, while an increasing number of people left the rural areas for the cities due to financial difficulties, some of whom became servants, but many of them became urban vagrants.

As a result, rural areas, which had been based on the independent management of peasants, underwent major changes, and conflicts between peasants intensified. From the mid-period onwards, many village disturbances occurred within the villages, leading to an outbreak of peasant uprisings and sabotage, and the village system continued to change.

Furthermore, these changes in the management of hon-peasants greatly altered the feudal lords' economies, which had traditionally been based on the collection of taxes from these businesses. After this period, feudal lords took various measures to increase income other than taxes, as well as to reconstruct hon-peasant management, such as encouraging people who had migrated to the cities to return to their hometowns, providing various forms of rice and financial assistance and management assistance, redeveloping wasteland and securing labor, and reorganizing and strengthening the functions of villages, centering on village officials. However, these policies did not help to resolve the changes in rural areas.

Eventually, with the Meiji Restoration, the old village governance system collapsed and was reorganized into a town and village system, and the old land and tax systems were reformed through reforms such as the land tax reform, and both the rural system and peasant management changed considerably from the Edo period. However, the peasant = farmer system continued after that, and rural areas centered on landlords, self-cultivating farmers, and tenant farmers that emerged at the end of the Edo period have continued to exist to this day, despite many subsequent changes. And villages, which were the living communities of peasants in the Edo period, have continued to remain as villages within administrative villages even in modern times, and continue to function as communal organizations for labor and life in rural areas all over the country to this day. Therefore, it can be said that the peasant = farmer system established in the Edo period continues to exist today, along with the villages that were the background to it, although in a different form.

[Uesugi Masahiko]

"History of Early Modern Peasant Life" by Kodama Kota (1957, Yoshikawa Kobunkan) " "Historical Analysis of Village Structure" edited by Nakamura Yoshiharu (1956, Nippon Hyoronsha) " "Economy and Society of Early Modern Villages" by Harada Toshimaru (1983, Yamakawa Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

古代では「ひゃくせい」ともいい、貴族や官僚、下層の部民(べみん)や奴婢(ぬひ)を除く姓氏を有するあらゆる公民(こうみん)（国家の民、「おおみたから」ともいう）を意味した。下総(しもうさ)国葛飾(かつしか)郡大嶋郷(おおしまごう)（東京都江戸川区・葛飾区の一部）の戸籍に、孔王部小山(あなおべのおやま)、孔王部忍秦(おしはた)、刑部止手(おさかべのして)、壬生部嶋(みぶべのしま)などの人名がみられるが、これらはそれぞれ孔王部、刑部、壬生部などの姓をもつ百姓である。律令(りつりょう)制のもとで、百姓は班田(はんでん)を給され、租(そ)・調(ちょう)・庸(よう)・雑徭(ぞうよう)などの課役を負担したが、これらの課役を忌避して浮浪・逃亡などの抵抗を行い、律令制度の根幹を下から掘り崩した。

　10～11世紀の王朝国家のもとで、百姓は独自で、あるいは郡司(ぐんじ)とともに「郡司百姓等解(ひゃくせいらのげ)」などという訴状を提出し、国司(こくし)の苛政(かせい)を糾弾し罷免を政府に要求するなどの動きを示した。988年（永延2）の尾張(おわり)国郡司百姓等解文は有名である。

　11～12世紀の荘園(しょうえん)・公領制の成立とともに、百姓は荘園・公領で年貢・公事(くじ)を負担する身分となった。ただし百姓は農民のみでなく、漁民やその他農業以外の産業に従事する人々も、年貢・公事を納める限り百姓であった。手工業者など百姓の一部は、この年貢・公事を免除され、技術でもって朝廷や貴族・寺社に奉仕する職人(しきにん)として組織された。鎌倉幕府法42条では、百姓は年貢・公事を納めている限り「去留(きょりゅう)」の自由を確保しているものとして規定され、売買・譲渡の客体となる下人(げにん)と明確に区別されている。百姓はまた村落共同体の成員として、その権利と義務をもつ住人という身分をもち、定住の期間が浅く、権利・義務があまり認められていない間人(もうと)や一時的居留や浮浪して歩く浪人と区別されていた。

　百姓は、貴族や武士などから土民(どみん)と蔑称(べっしょう)されていたが、14～15世紀には、荘園領主の年貢・公事に反対する荘家(しょうけ)の一揆(いっき)、債務の破棄すなわち徳政を求める徳政一揆などを起こし、これらは在地の土民の一揆ということで土(つち)一揆と称された。百姓のこのような運動の高まりは、一方で自らを「御(おん)百姓」と称し、結集する動きを生み出していった。百姓の上層の土豪層は、名主(みょうしゅ)とか地侍(じざむらい)とよばれ、武士の家臣になり、その軍事力の一端を担って百姓から離脱する者もあり、その傾向は戦国時代に入ると大名の軍事力拡大政策のなかで助長されていった。家臣が主君をないがしろにしたり、場合によっては打倒すること、あるいは、百姓が領主に抵抗すること、さらにこの百姓から武士に上昇していくことなど含めて、当時下位にある者が上に成り代わっていく社会状況は「下剋上(げこくじょう)」とよばれた。

［峰岸純夫］

　ところで本来百姓ということばは、農民のみをさすことばではなく、古代では広く庶民一般をさし、中世でも、農村に武士や商人・職人が居住したので、百姓を農村に住む人と解しても、その内容は多種多様であった。だが江戸時代では、百姓はすべて農民であり、農村に居住する人々はすべて百姓という体制が実現した。その意味で、今日の百姓＝農民という意味は、江戸時代に確立した。

　南北朝期以後、旧来の名(みょう)体制の分解から生まれた中小名主や作人層は、その後室町から戦国時代にかけて、国人(こくじん)・地侍層を中心に、農村に惣(そう)や郷(ごう)などの組織をつくり、農村内で農作業を共同で行い、用水・入会(いりあい)の利用を共同で行い、祭礼などを共同で行うとともに、つねに寄合(よりあい)により農村を運営し、惣や郷の掟(おきて)を決め、違反者の処罰を行い、また農村の代表者を公選で選ぶなど、生活上の強い共同体をつくりだした。郷村制の成立であり、この組織が後の江戸時代の百姓の生活共同体の母体となった。しかも農民は、村内の生活の共同のみならず、荘園領主や守護大名との年貢・諸役の交渉や請負を行い、交渉が不調のときには集団で土一揆を起こし、これに徳政令の要求や、宗教組織が結び付いて、畿内(きない)を中心に多様な農民の一揆が展開した。

　応仁(おうにん)の乱（1467～77）に始まる戦国の動乱を通じ、各地に生まれた戦国大名は、独自の分国をつくり対抗するとともに、これら農村の動向に対応し、一方で郷村制を認め農村の運営を彼らに任せ、他方で検地・刀狩を行い、土一揆を禁止した。また武士の城下町移住、国人・地侍層の武士化、商工業者の城下町集住を図った。いわゆる兵農分離政策の開始である。そしてその政策は、やがて織豊(しょくほう)政権により全国に徹底して行われ、太閤(たいこう)検地、刀狩、村切(むらぎり)の実施と村請(むらうけ)制の確立、武士・商工業者の都市への完全移住が進められ、身分法令の実施、全国的人別改(にんべつあらため)の実施により、農村での住民が農民に限定され、百姓身分として定着化された。

　さらにその後、江戸幕府がその体制をより完成させ、全国的な兵農分離体制を確立し、士農工商の身分制で、全身分の権限、居住地、職業の地域的引き分けが完成し、農村には農民のみが百姓身分として固定化され、全国的に百姓＝農民の体制の確立をみたのである。

　そして江戸時代には、幕藩体制の基盤として、領主が、この百姓の居住地＝農村を支配的に編成し、そこでの百姓の生活を統制することに努めた。そのため全国に約8万の農村が置かれ、すべて百姓はこのどこかに集住させられ、百姓から選ばれた村役人に、生産や生活を監視され、年貢を徴収された。百姓はその持ち地をすべて検地帳に書き上げられ、人は家族ごとに宗門人別帳(しゅうもんにんべつちょう)に書き上げられ、土地と人の村帰属が決定し、入会地などの区分が行われ、村の領域が決められた。村では、百姓は五人組や村組などにより生活の共同と統制・監視を受けた。また百姓は、中世と同じく村寄合を開き、村の運営を協議し、村法を制定して、村での生活規制を行ったが、兵農分離体制下では、中世よりも統制が強化され、年貢生産者としての百姓の生産・生活の管理と村落による規制が強化された。

　しかも領主は、こうした村落の規制に加え、さまざまの法令を制定し、その統制を強化した。慶安御触書(けいあんのおふれがき)（1649）で衣食住や生活の細部を統制し、また土地に対し田畑永代売買の禁令、分地制限令を出し、その移動を禁じ、勝手作り禁令で作物の規制を行ったが、こうした法令は、そのほかにも多数出された。

　ではそうした規制下の農村での百姓の実態はどうか。一般に江戸時代の百姓の中核は本(ほん)百姓といい、領主の政策でもそれを基盤としたが、実際には、そのほかに水呑(みずのみ)百姓や名子(なご)、下人(げにん)など、各地域別に各種の下層農民がいた。また本百姓の資格は、一般に本田畑をもち年貢を納入する者というが、これにもその経営規模などでさまざまなものが存在した。ことに初期の各地農村で村役人を勤めた階層には、中世の土豪的領主層が、兵農分離後でも農村に百姓身分として土着した者が多く、彼らは本百姓といっても多くの名子・下人を保有し、中世的大経営を行うものが多く、村のなかでも村役人を勤めるほか、用水・入会などに特権をもつ者が多かった。これらを初期本百姓ともいう。そのほか一般の本百姓の実態も、地域と時期により実に多様であった。

　一般的に標準的な経営は、中世の名主経営から自立してきた小農民で、一町歩（約99アール）ほどの土地をもち（分地制限令では10石を基準とする）、田畑と屋敷を保有し、夫婦と子供数人の単婚家族で、自立的小経営を維持していた。だからその経営は、多肥労働集約型小経営が多く、稲とともに各種の畑作物をあわせた複合経営を行ったと考えられる。前述の領主の支配策では、そうした経営の維持を目標とし、諸政策が行われたし、その後もその経営を維持するため、その経営を百姓株として固定し、その分割を制限することも行われた。

　江戸時代中期以後、年貢の過重、飢饉(ききん)などの災害の多発と、農村への貨幣経済の流入により、これら自給的な本百姓の経営は大きく変動し、有力農民と貧農への両極分解が展開する。すなわち本来的に生活の豊かな一部有力農民は、事実上の土地売買を通じて地主化し、なかには高利貸を営み、在郷商人化するものも出た。一方、年貢の重圧に苦しみ、商品・貨幣経済の圧迫を受けた下層農民は、質地などで土地を手放し、地主の下で小作人に転落するほか、農業を離れて、各種の雑業で日雇取(ひようとり)化するほか、生活苦から農村を捨てて都市へ流出する者が増加し、一部奉公人化する者もいるが、多くが都市浮浪人化していった。

　その結果、本百姓の自立経営を基盤とした農村は大きく変質するとともに、百姓間の対立も激化し、村内で中期以後に多くの村方騒動が引き起こされるとともに、百姓一揆、打毀(うちこわし)の激発を招くなど、村落体制の変動が続いた。

　さらにこうした本百姓経営の変動は、旧来その経営よりの年貢収奪で成り立っている領主経済を大きく変動させた。この時期以後に領主層が年貢以外の各種の収入増加策をとるとともに、都市流出民の帰郷、各種の施米・施金や経営の助成、荒れ地の再開発と労働力の確保といった本百姓経営の再建策をとったり、また村役人を中心とする村の機能の再編・強化を図ったのはそのためであるが、これらの政策は、農村の変動の解決には役だたなかった。

　やがて明治維新の改革で、旧来の村落支配体制が崩壊し町村制に再編成され、地租改正などで旧来の土地・租税制度が改革されると、農村の体制も農民の経営にも、江戸時代とはかなり変化がみられた。ただ百姓＝農民体制はその後も続き、江戸末期から生まれた地主・自作農・小作農を中心とする農村が、その後の多くの変動を伴いながらも今日まで続いてきている。そして江戸時代の百姓の生活共同体であった村は、近代以後も行政村の中の村落として残り続け、今日に至るも各地農村で、労働や生活の共同組織として機能し続けている。したがって江戸時代に確立した百姓＝農民の体制は、その背景となった村落とともに今日も形を変えつつも存続しているといえよう。

［上杉允彦］

『児玉幸多著『近世農民生活史』（1957・吉川弘文館）』▽『中村吉治編『村落構造の史的分析』（1956・日本評論社）』▽『原田敏丸著『近世村落の経済と社会』（1983・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