Rules and Regulations

A form or designation of law that was widely used in the late Middle Ages. It was particularly used by daimyo and local lords, and may also refer to mutual regulations and rules within a soson (common village) of the same period. The terms okime and sadame have the same meaning. In the Kamakura period, these had the meaning of mutual regulations within a specific group or class, but after the Muromachi period, when laws were issued not only by the shogunate and manor lords but also by daimyo and local lords, they began to use the traditional code of conduct as a form of law that went beyond the framework of mutual regulations. This was probably because they considered the code of conduct to be a convenient form. Furthermore, during the transition from the Sengoku period to the early modern period, these terms became more common and came to have the same meaning as laws.

[Masaki Kubota]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中世末期に盛んに用いられた公布法の形式、称呼の一つ。とくに大名や在地領主などが多く用い、また同時期の惣村(そうそん)内部の相互規制・規定を称する場合もある。置目(おきめ)、定(さだめ)と称されるものも同様の意味をもつ。これらは鎌倉期においては特定の集団・階層内部の相互規制としての意味をもっていたが、室町期以降、法の発布が幕府、荘園(しょうえん)領主にとどまらず大名や在地領主によっても行われるようになると、彼らはそれまでの掟書を相互規制の枠を超えた公布法の形式として用いるに至った。これは彼らが掟書を手近な形式と考えた結果によるものであろう。さらに、戦国期から近世への移行過程でこれらが一般化していき、法令と同一の意味とされるに至った。

［久保田昌希］

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