Village details book

This is a ledger that records the outline of a village during the Edo period. It is also called a village register, village catalog, village details, village pattern register, etc. It generally records the village tax, tribute, water supply, construction, household entrance, number of cattle and horses, farming, land clearance, temples, shrines, and markets. Village details registers were usually ordered to be prepared and submitted by village officials when inspectors were dispatched from the shogunate, when lords or deputies inspected villages, or when a lord was replaced or transferred to another province. Therefore, the details of the records vary in quality depending on the instructions given at the time. In addition, village officials may falsify the actual situation of the village for fear of an increase in the tax burden, but it is a convenient historical material for learning about villages during the Edo period.

[Shinzo Hasegawa]

"Research on Village Details Books" by Nomura Kanetaro (1949, Yuhikaku)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸時代に一村の概要を書き記した帳簿。村差出(さしだし)帳、村鑑(むらかがみ)、村銘細(むらめいさい)、村柄(むらがら)書上帳などともいう。一般に一村の村高、貢租、用水、普請(ふしん)、戸口、牛馬数、農間渡世(のうかんとせい)、除地(じょち)、寺社、市場などを書き記す。村明細帳は普通、幕府から巡見使(じゅんけんし)が派遣されたり、領主や代官が村々を巡見する場合、または領主の代替りや国替えのときなどに、領主側から村役人に作成を命じて提出させたものである。そのため記載内容もそのときの指示によって精粗がある。また村役人側で租税負担の増大などを恐れて、村の実情をごまかして書き上げる場合もあるが、江戸時代の村のようすを知るうえには手ごろな史料である。

［長谷川伸三］

『野村兼太郎著『村明細帳の研究』（1949・有斐閣）』

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