Neighborhood system - Rinposei

Japanese: 隣保制 - りんぽせい

The system of neighborhood associations has been practiced in China for many generations. For the government to control the people, it is very effective to have them form neighborhood associations and have them take collective responsibility for things like the police and tax payments. The most famous in ancient times is the Law of Ten Fifth, enacted by Shang Yang during the Warring States period under Duke Xiao of Qin (around 359 BC), which transferred the military system to civilian rule. A ten-fifth is an association of ten or five households, and at that time the people, including peasants, were all crowded together within the walls of a city, living in a row of gates on both sides of a narrow alley. So the five houses on one side were grouped together to form a half unit, called Go, and the half unit of the five houses on the other side of the alley, combined with Go, formed a single unit, called Ju. If you want to form a neighborhood association under such a row of houses, you have no choice but to form a ten-fifth. Shang Yang's main purpose was to have people monitor and report each other's crimes, and those who reported were given the same reward as those who beheaded their enemies, and those who hid were given the same punishment as those who surrendered to their enemies. This system of ten and five is thought to have been in place throughout the Han dynasty, when the living environment was the same. However, when the Six Dynasties began and the village system spread and people built houses in villages like placing go stones on a go board, the neighborhood system also changed accordingly.

The Tang Dynasty's neighborhood system was based on the principle of "four families are neighbors and five families are wards." Of these, the five families are neighborhood groups with fixed scope, and each family in the ward shares equal responsibility. In contrast, the four neighboring families are relative, and refer to the four families in the north, south, east and west with a certain family at the center, and they are responsible for each other individually, and the scope of the four families changes according to the family considered to be the center. Therefore, wards can be counted by stacking them, but this is not possible for neighbors. However, with one family as the center, its neighbors in the north, south, east and west share joint responsibility with each other even if they are not included in the same ward. After the Song Dynasty, the neighborhood system was left to local officials to implement rather than being uniformly prescribed in detail by the center, and local officials could enact special legislation as necessary. Wang Anshi's Baojia Law was intended to organize militias for military purposes, but in that the lowest level of the system was a ward consisting of ten families, it can be said to be based on the neighborhood system.

[Miyazaki City]

Korea

The neighborhood system before the Yi Dynasty (1392-1910) is unclear, but in the Yi Dynasty, the "Geuk Daejeon" (1485) established the Goka Sakutō Law, which defined five households as one tong, five tongs as one ri, and several ri as myeons, with a chief commander, village chief, and agricultural inspector for each. It is unclear to what extent this law was enforced, but in 1675, the "21 Articles of the Goka Tongjimoku" was enacted to ensure its implementation, as an increase in the number of people fleeing the country. According to this, five neighboring households were defined as one tong, and 5 to 30 tongs were defined as one ri, with a chief commander for each tong, a village chief, and a village official for each village, who were to be in charge of affairs within the tong and village, respectively. The villages were attached to myeons, and the myeons were assigned chief governors and vice governors. The Tono required each household to report the names of their members, the number of adult males, the number of females, the number of rooms, etc., encouraged mutual assistance, and made efforts to promote good and punish evil. They also required reports of unfilial acts, murder of rebels, injury, theft, the presence of refugees or people with unknown origins, and the relocation of families to other regions. In addition, civil engineering works within the village were to be carried out jointly within the village and the district.

[Yazawa Kosuke]

China's Neighborhood System
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China's Neighborhood System

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

中国で歴代行われてきた隣組の制度。政府が人民を支配するうえで、警察、納税などについて、隣組をつくらせて連帯責任をもたせるのは甚だ効果ある方法である。古代においてもっとも有名なのは戦国時代の秦(しん)の孝公のとき（前359ころ）商鞅(しょうおう)が施行した什伍(じゅうご)の法で、軍制を民治に移したものである。什伍とは十家五家の組合であるが、当時の人民は農民を含めて、すべて城郭内に密集し、狭い小路の両側に門を連ねて住んでいた。そこで片側の五軒を組んで半単位としたのが伍であり、その小路の向こう側五軒の半単位、伍とをあわせて一単位としたのが什である。このような屋並みの下で隣組をつくろうとすれば、このような什伍とならざるをえない。商鞅がもっともおもな目的としたのは、人民の犯罪を互いに監視し告発しあうことにあり、告発した者には敵の首を斬(き)ったと同じ賞を与え、隠匿(いんとく)した者には敵に降(くだ)ったと同じ罰を科したという。この什伍の制は、住居環境が同じである漢代を通じて行われたと思われる。しかし、六朝(りくちょう)に入り、村制が普及し、人民が村落で碁盤の上に碁石を置いたように住宅を建てると、隣組の制度もしたがって変わってくる。

　唐代の隣保制は、「四家を隣と為(な)し、五家を保と為す」を原則とする。このうち五家の保は範囲の固定した隣組で、この保内の各家は平等に責任を分かち合う。これに対し隣の四家とは相対的で、ある家を中心とした東西南北の四家のことで、相互間に個別的に責任を負い合うのであり、四家の範囲は中心と考える家に従って異動する。そのため保はそれを積み重ねて何保と数えることができるが、隣ではそれができない。しかし一家を中心として、その東西南北の隣は、もし同じ保内に含まれなくても互いに連帯責任を分かち合うのである。宋(そう)以後、隣保の制は、中央から一律に細部まで規定するよりも、実施を地方官に一任し、地方官は必要に応じて特別の立法を行うことができた。王安石の保甲法は、軍事的に民兵を組織するのが目的であったが、その最末端が十家からなる保である点において、隣保制のうえにたつものであるといえる。

［宮崎市定］

朝鮮

李朝(りちょう)（1392～1910）以前の隣保制は不明だが、李朝になると、『経国大典』（1485）で五戸＝一統、五統＝一里、数里＝面とし、それぞれに統首、里正、勧農官を置く五家(ごか)作統法が定められた。これがどの程度実施されたのかは不明だが、逃亡による避役者の増加に伴い、1675年「五家統事目21か条」を制定し、その徹底を図った。それによれば、近隣の五家＝一統、5～30統＝一里とし、統ごとに統首、里ごとに里正、里有司を置き、それぞれ統内、里内の事をつかさどらせた。里は面に属させ、面には都尹(といん)、副尹を置いた。統では、戸ごとに力役の名称、成年男子数、婦女数、部屋数などを報告させ、相互扶助を奨励し、勧善懲悪に努めさせ、親不孝、叛主(はんしゅ)殺人、傷害、盗み、流民や来歴不明者の存在、他地方への家族の移住などは報告させた。また、里中の土木事業は里内、面内で共同で行わせた。

［矢澤康祐］

中国の隣保制

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