Study on landed property rights under the ritsuryo system in ancient Japan

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24720287
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Japanese history
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: OGURA Makiko 北海道大学, 文学研究科, 准教授 (30609897)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 日本古代史 / 土地制度 / 法制史 / 初期荘園

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to clarify contents and characteristics of landed property rights under the ritsuryo system in ancient Japan (the Nara and Heian periods).
Concretely, I inspected documents on sales and donations of land, the law for dealings in land, records of purchasing land left on Japanese official history book, and documents on recognition of shoen (landed estate) ownership. Conclusions of this study are as follows; both seller and buyer of land was likely to have a right to cancel a sales contract in ancient Japan; “sho” was private land with buildings such as warehouses, which functioned as a base of economic activities, and private land without farmland was also called “sho”; “sho” was basically managed under the same system whether it includes farmland or not.

Free Research Field

日本古代史