Knowledge - Bunchi

Japanese: 分知 - ぶんち

In the Edo period, this meant the division and inheritance of fiefs held by daimyo, hatamoto, or kyunin. Also written as bunchi. Among the samurai families who were granted land by the shogun or daimyo, families with land holdings of 500 koku or more divided the land and established branch families in order to preserve the family name for a long time. In this case, the bunchi in the narrow sense means that the shogun or daimyo officially recognized the person and appointed as a daimyo, hatamoto, or hanshi, and issued a letter of assignment, while uchiwake means that the letter was not issued. Uchiwake was semi-independent from the main family, and there was a difference in that even if the family was extinct, the bunchi family's land would be confiscated, while uchiwake was returned to the main family.

Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

江戸時代，大名や旗本・給人の知行を分割・相続すること。分地とも記す。将軍または大名から所領を与えられている武家のうち500石(こく)以上ほどの家では家名を永く残すために，所領を分与し，分家を興した。この場合，将軍や大名に公認されて大名・旗本・藩士として取り立てられ，宛行状(あてがいじょう)を公布されるのが狭義の分知で，公布されない場合を内分(うちわけ)という。内分は本家に対して半独立で，断絶しても分知家は所領を没収されるが，内分は本家に返されるという相違などがある。

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