A Comprehensive Study on the kenchi and murauke system of land administration during Japan's Medieval and Early Modern Period

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26284094
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese history
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University
• Principal Investigator: Watanabe Takashi 一橋大学, 大学院社会学研究科, 教授 (10192816)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 長谷川 裕子 福井大学, 学術研究院教育・人文社会系部門(教員養成), 准教授 (20635122)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KURODA Motoki 駿河台大学, 法学部, 教授 (60506517) ; HIRAI Kazusa 花園大学, 文学部, 准教授 (20609721) ; KAWATO Takashi 千葉経済大学, 経済学部, 准教授 (20456289)
• Research Collaborator: HIRAYAMA Masaru ; SHIBA Hiroyuki ; KIGOSHI Ryuzo
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 検地 / 村請 / 村落 / 中世・近世移行期

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The Sengoku (“Warring States”) period is arguably the topic in Japanese history which is the most popular among the general public. The period saw the transition from a medieval to an early modern society, - both of which, however, were based on land and agriculture. A proper understanding of this transition is therefore hardly to be reached without research into the system of land ownership. With the purpose of laying the groundwork for further studies in this field, we have gathered historical documents from around Japan on kenchi, land surveys by feudal lords, and murauke, a system in which village communities themselves undertook the task of collecting land taxes for feudal lords. The sources have been made publicly accessible through a database.

Free Research Field

日本近世村落史