Bonge

A social rank designation used in the Middle Ages to refer to ordinary commoners other than samurai. It was mainly used during the Kamakura period. Also called kōtsunin or zōnin, it included lower-ranking officials in the shogunate's institutions, craftsmen, and merchants, but generally meant farmers. Bonka and peasants, along with samurai, genin, and shoju, are said to constitute the basic social ranks of the Middle Ages, and therefore the shogunate law clearly stipulates the distinction between them and the samurai class, focusing on punishments and clothing. For example, while the punishments for samurai were characterized by property punishments such as confiscation of land, the punishments for bonka were characterized by corporal punishments such as confinement, branding the face with a fire mark, and shaving one side of the temple. In addition, the Bonka were prohibited from wearing eboshikake (black hats) or tabi (socks), or from riding horses in the city of Kamakura, and of course could not become Gokenin (vassals of the Shogun). In the late Middle Ages, they were also called Jigenin (underground people).

[Kimura Shigemitsu]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中世において侍(さむらい)身分以外の一般庶民を意味した身分称呼。おもに鎌倉時代に用いられた。甲乙人(こうおつにん)、雑人(ぞうにん)などともいわれ、幕府諸機関の下級職員や手工業者、商人なども含むが、一般的には百姓を意味することが多かった。凡下・百姓は、侍、下人(げにん)・所従(しょじゅう)とともに、中世の基本的な身分を構成するといわれ、したがって、幕府法には侍身分との区別が、刑罰や服装などを中心に明確に規定されている。たとえば、侍の刑罰は所領没収などの財産刑に特色があったのに対し、凡下のそれは禁獄や火印を面に捺(お)す、「片方鬢髪(びんぱつ)」を剃(そ)るなどの体刑が特色であった。また、凡下は烏帽子懸(えぼしかけ)・足袋(たび)の使用や鎌倉市中における騎馬が禁じられており、御家人(ごけにん)になることはもちろんできなかった。中世後期には地下人(じげにん)などともよばれた。

［木村茂光］

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