Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
sons, a son-in-law would be brought in for the eldest daughter. Technically what occurred
was the adoption into the family of a son. In this sort of marriage, the dominance of the
husband over the wife might not be so marked; in fact, the adopted son-in-law was tradi-
tionally an unassertive figure.
Just as the household had its status hierarchy, so too the village itself had a clear-cut
class distinction. In his great survey of 1582-98, Hideyoshi had registered the holders of
land, and when Ieyasu had assumed power, he did nothing to alter the pattern thus recor-
ded. The names of the farmers that appeared on it formed the class of the
honbyakushō,
“original farmers”; they were often descendants of long lines of landowners, and some of
them had chosen to abandon the sword and become full-time farmers. The larger houses in
the village belonged to them, and their families would certainly maintain the formal mar-
riagecustoms.Belowthemwerethesmallholdersandlandlessmen,livinginsmallhouses,
or in the houses of their employers; they had very little status, being the dependants of the
landholders, nor did they appear in the tax-registers, or have the right to join in the vari-
ous corporate groupings in the village organization. Nevertheless, in a regulated country
like Japan, the existence of these men could not go unrecorded, and the means by which
thiswasdonewasthereligiousregister.WhenChristianitybecameillegal,eachfamilyhad
to become the registered parishioners of a Buddhist temple, and each village had to make
an annual return of all its inhabitants, including servants and womenfolk, with their reli-
gious affiliations, and declare that every person of every grade had been examined and that
no persons suspected of Christianity were to be discovered. This return was signed by the
priest of the temple concerned and the village officials.
Each person in the village had his place in the web of interconnection that was charac-
teristic of Japanese society. The honbyakushō had to form groups of five, with one of them
being appointed as spokesman forthe rest. The whole groupassumed responsibility forthe
tax of its members, and could also be punished for the shortcomings of any one of the five.
Theyhadtosignanannualpledgenottoharboranycriminal.Thegroupswereallrespons-
ible to the village headman who was in charge of the village office, and had to answer to
the official of the domain of his village. The position of headman was very often heredit-
ary, but sometimes the appointment was either by selection of the lord himself, or by the
lord's approval of a former headman's nomination, or in some cases by election by heads
of families. There were intermediaries between the five-family groups and the head-man,
who acted as his assistants, and were chosen either by him or by election from the leaders
of the groups. There was another village officer known as the “farmers' representative,”
whonegotiatedforthem,transmittedinstructionstothem,andalsoonoccasionsseemedto
have acted as a sort of constable for the headman. The headman often belonged to an old
family of the district, perhaps one that had established the village, and had chosen to give
up the sword for the plough. His position between the villagers and the lord's representat-
