Edo-period village
During the Edo period of Japanese history, villages (村, mura) were self-governing administrative units, led by the village headman (庄屋, shōya).
Description
[edit]The development of mura reflected specific changes that show the transition of the Edo community from medieval agricultural to mature administrative unit.[1] Before the Edo period, samurai administered the villages, but during the sword hunt they were put to a choice: give up their sword and status and remain on the land as a peasant, or live in a castle town (城下町, jōkamachi) as a paid retainer of the local daimyō (lord). Villages were also manufacturing units: In western Japan, cottage industries developed, with each family of the village taking over a one step of the production process.
Villages were taxed as a unit, with the village headman responsible for taxation. Taxes were paid in rice, often 40 to 50% of the harvest. Criminal punishments could also be imposed on the village as a unit.
Prior to the emergence of religious authorities such as the Buddhist establishment, mura - along with the family (ie) - helped establish Japanese cultural practices such as ancestral veneration and funerary rites.[2] Some of the villages served as enclaves or base-villages for the miko or female shamans.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ Hall, John W.; Hall, John Whitney; Brown, Delmer M.; Jansen, Marius B.; McCullough, William H.; Kanai, Madoka; Shively, Donald Howard; Yamamura, Kozo; Duus, Peter (1997). The Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 16. ISBN 0-521-22357-1.
- ^ Kornicki, P. F.; McMullen, I. J. (1999). Religion in Japan: Arrows to Heaven and Earth. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 121. ISBN 0-521-55028-9.
- ^ Blacker, Carmen (2004-08-02). The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan. Surrey: Curzon Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-135-31873-4.