Heiko (English spelling)

Japanese: 兵戸 - へいこ（英語表記）bīng hù

Hereditary soldiers in China during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties. Also called military households, military families, or shi families. The conscription system for ordinary county and prefecture citizens fell into disuse around the time of the Later Han dynasty, and there was a trend toward separating the military and the people, but the governments of the Wei and Jin dynasties and later enlisted refugees and surrendered people in the military and made military labor hereditary. As households directly under the state, which were distinguished from ordinary county and prefecture citizens, they tended to be looked down upon, but in the Southern Dynasties they were often released and became county and prefecture citizens, and the military household system gradually declined. Soldiers of the Five Barbarians and the Northern Dynasties were also a type of military household, but their status was high as an example of northern peoples, and this characteristic was inherited in the later fubing system.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

中国，魏晋南北朝に行われた世襲的兵士。軍戸，兵家，士家ともいう。後漢ころから一般郡県民による徴兵制がすたれ，兵民分離の傾向がみられるが，魏･晋以後の諸政権は，流民や降伏民などを兵籍につけ，軍事労働を世襲させた。一般郡県民と区別された，国家直属の戸であるところから，賤視される傾向があったが，南朝ではしばしば解放されて郡県民となり，兵戸制度はしだいに衰えた。五胡･北朝の兵士も一種の兵戸であるが，北方民族の例としてその地位は高く，この特性がのちの府兵制に継承される。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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