紀要論文

慶長検地後の琉球王国の貢租制度

The Tribute System in the Ryukyuan Kingdom after the Keicho Land Survey

jpn

00229741

https://doi.org/10.15002/00003286

法政大学経済学部学会

73

1・2

235

265

2005-07-30

Version of Record

Over the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Ryukyuan Kingdom had succeeded in unifying the entire Southwest Island Archipelago. However, as a result of the Satsuma Invasion early in the seventeenth century (in 1609, the fourteenth year of the Keicho era, to be precise), the kingdom was forced to cede the Amami Islands and, further, to render tribute to Satsuma. This tribute was assessed according to a standard known as koku-daka, based on the results of the Keicho Land Survey. In this survey, the values and amounts of various agricultural and other products were calculated in terms of unpolished rice, with the koku (approximately 180 litres) serving as the standard unit. Products from each and every village and all adult peasants were likewise assessed by the Keicho Survey and registered in an official roll (known as Nayose-cho). On the basis of these koku-daka registry lists, the royal court levied various forms of tribute on the villages. In turn, each village determined the amount of tribute to be paid by individual peasants. This allotment from village members was, however, not set according to the koku-daka standard, but per capita or per unit of allotment of land, for, in the Ryukyu Kingdom, the holdings of individual peasants were frequently altered by allotment of land at the village level. Since the Southwest Islands were under constant threat from natural disasters, such as typhoons and drought, the common ownership of forest, field and arable land was vital for the continuing existence of the villages and the survival of the inhabitants. Thus, it is clear that the frequent allotment of land was the fundamental basis for this common ownership. For this reason, it was impossible for the holdings of every peasant registered in the roll to function as the basis for tribute assessment. In this sense, it can be said that the Ryukuan Kingdom assessment system was not the koku-daka system as such, but a communal assessment system.

Article

AN00071028