Portrait of a Tokugawa Outcaste Community ... - East Asian History

EastAsianHistoryNUMBER 32/33 . DECEMBER 20061]uNE 2007Institute of Advanced StudiesThe Australian National University

EditorAssociate EditorEditorial BoardDesign and ProductionPrinted byBenjamin PennyLindy ShultzB0rge BakkenGeremie R. BarmeJohn ClarkHelen DunstanLouise EdwardsMark ElvinColin JeffcottLi TanaKam LouieLewis MayoGavan McCormackDavid MarrTessa Morris-SuzukiKenneth WellsOanh CollinsGoanna Print, Fyshwick, ACTThis is a double issue of East Asian History, 32 and 33, printed in November2008. It continues the series previously entitled Papers on Far Eastern History.This externally refereed journal is published twice per year.Contributions toThe Editor, East Asian HistoryDivision of Pacific and Asian HistoryResearch School of Pacific and Asian StudiesThe Australian National UniversityCanberra ACT 0200, AustraliaPhone +61 2 6125 5098 Fax +61 2 6125 5525Email eastasianhistory@anu.edu.auSubscription Enquiries toEast Asian History, at the above addressWebsitehttp://rspas.anu.edu.au/eah/Annual Subscription Australia A$50 (including GST) Overseas US$45 (GST free) (for two issues)ISSN 1036-6008

CONTENTS1 The Moral Status of the Book: Huang Zongxi in the Private Libraries of Late­Imperial ChinaDuncan M. Campbell25 Mujaku Dochu (1653-1744) and Seventeenth-Century Chinese Buddhist ScholarshipJohn Jorgensen57 Chinese Contexts, Korean Realities: The Politics of Literary Genre in Late­Choson Korea (1725-1863)Gregory N. Evon83 Portrait of a Tokugawa Outcaste CommunityTimothy D. Amos109 The South China Sea and Its Coral Reefs during the Ming and Qing Dynasties:Levels of Geographical Knowledge and Political ControlUlises Granados129 Maize, Ecosystem Transition and Ethnicity in Enshi, Central ChinaXu Wu151 Narcotics, Nationalism and Class in China: The Transition from Opium toMorphine and Heroin in Early Twentieth-Century ShanxiHenrietta Harrison177"Our Missionary Wembley": China, Local Community and the British MissionaryEmpire, 1901-1924Sarah Cheang199 Western Protestant Missions and Modern Chinese Nationalist DreamsLianXi217 The Shanghai Fine Arts College and Modern Artists in the PublicSphere (1913-1937)JaneZheng

Cover calligraphyYan Zhenqing MgP, Tang calligrapher and statesmanCover illustration Detail from Chinese Anti-opium poster, c. 1895. "Quanshi jieshi dayan wen" [Essay Urging the World to Give UpOpium]

West Lake from Wang Villa (Wang Zhuang), Lois Conner, 2008The editor and editorial board of EastAsian History would like to acknowledgethe contribution made to the journal byProfessor Geremie Barme.Geremie has been editor of East AsianHistory since it began under this title in1991, and was editor of its predecessorPapers on Far Eastern History from 1989.In this period, he has sustained andpromoted the importance of the journalas a forum for rigorous and originalhistorical scholarship on China, Koreaand Japan. Encouraging and exacting inequal measures, he has been generous toscholars taking their first steps in learnedpublication. During Geremie's tenure, EastAsian History has become a major journalin the field, noted for its consistently highstandards of scholarship and the care takenin its production. His editorship stands asan example and a challenge to the neweditorial team.Sometimes words flow easilyAs soon as he grasps the brush;Sometimes he sits vacantly,Nibbling at it.Lu Ji, from Literature: A RhapsodyTranslated by Achilles Fang, "Rhyme prose onLiterature: The Wen-Fu of Lu Chi (A.D. 261-303)",Harvard}ournal of Asiatic Studies, 14, 3/4 (Dec.,1951): 527-Q6, p.534EX:1*fIDl\lJ,¥mEX:13- ii rmX JlJit ?t

The editor and editorial board of EastAsian History would like to acknowledgethe contribution made to the journal byMarion Weeks.Marion joined what was then the Departmentof Far Eastern History in 1977. Fromthat time, she was involved in variouscapacities with, first, Papers on Far EasternHistory, and then East Asian History,for which she served as businessmanager from its inception. By the timeof her retirement from the Division ofPacific and Asian History in November2007, Marion had become the heart andsoul of the journal.Over the years she worked with manyeditors-Andrew Fraser, John Fincher,Sydney Crawcour, Ian McComas Taylor,Jennifer Holmgren, Geremie Barme,Benjamin Penny-as well as numerousassociate editors, copy editors, printersand, of course, countless authors andmanuscript readers. All owe her animmense debt of gratitude.East Asian History would certainly nothave been the same without Marion-attimes, without her, East Asian Historymay not have been at all.Imperial Summer Retreat, Chengde, Lois Conner, 2000

PORTRAIT OF A TOKUGA W A OUTCASTE COMMUNITY Timothy D. AmosThe aim of this article is to examine the lives and experiences of "outcastes"in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century eastern Japan (presentdaySaitama prefecture) commonly referred to as eta t7 and hinin FA l Japanese historians have laid the groundwork for the present studywith over three decades of careful empirical research. While indebted tothese scholars, I wish to focus on some of the complexity and dynamismof the lives and relationships of outcaste communities occasionally lostin previous studies because of particular methodological concerns arisingfrom ideological differences. 2 Understanding these groups principallyas premodern antecedents of modern burakumin tl'1i.§;, a commonteleology in literature on the subject, tends to obscure the realities of theirdaily lives and the deeper historical meaning of their experiences. 3 Inrecords like Documents o/the House o/Suzuki (Suzuki-ke monjo **)(in and other previously unpublished materials, 4 marginalized Tokugawa"status groups" (mibunteki shudan $.t5ti¥JBB) appear as distinct yetfluid social/occupational groups with problematic status designations whoexperience changes that both reflect and suggest the existence of largerhistorical processes at work. 5This study, in constructing a portrait of life in an early modern outcastecommunity, is concerned with three main questions. Firstly, what did lifelook like for members of eta and hinin communities during the latterhalf of the Tokugawa period? Secondly, what change, if any, occurredwithin rural outcaste communities during this time? And thirdly, knowingfrom previous scholarship that this period is characterized by an intensificationof discriminatory poliCies by the Tokugawa shogunate, what effect,1 The term "outcaste" is reluctantly employedhere. While it is clear that the main outcastegroups in eastern Japan were subject to extremepractices of discrimination during theeighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it isalso true that they assumed official functionssuch as policing and guard duties-clutieswhich located them firmly within a largermechanism of shogunate governance. I willhereafter cease to place the word outcastein quotes although it is my intention to continueto see this word as problematic. For agood introduction to the eta and problemsof terminology see the introduction to NoahMcCormack's contribution in an earlier issueof this journal: "Buraku Immigration in theMeiji Era-Other Ways to Become Japanese',"East Asian History 23 (June 2002): 87.2 For an in-depth discussion of this problem,see "Introduction" in Timothy D. Amos,"Ambiguous Bodies: Writings on the JapaneseOutcaste" (PhD diss., Australian NationalUniversity, 2005), pp.1-27.3 Some scholars do seriously questionsimplistic linkages between pre-modern etaand hinin groups and modern burakumincommunities. See, for example, any of thepost-1990 works of Hatanaka Toshiyuki,especially Burakushi no owari [The End ofBuraku History] (Kyoto: Kamogawa lOVER83

A TOKUGAWA OUTCASTE COMMUNITY89for example, writes that Lower Wana village submitted to Upper Wanavillage rule with regard to the collection of farming taxes, the preparationof population and group registers and the notification of changes invillage office. But all under their jurisdiction in these matters, Lower Wanavillage was removed from all Upper Wana village administration dutiesand had no voice in Upper Wana village affairs. In this sense, the label"lower" is seen to be originally a practice of administrative subordinationto the main farming village that most likely developed into a form of discriminatorylabelling indicating inferiority in later periods. 191 9 Minegishi, Kinsei hisabetsuminshi nokenkyU, p.71.20 Sa ita rna Kenshi Shiry6 Hen, ed., Shinpensaitama kenshi: shiry6 hen kinsei [New HislOryof Saitarna Prefecture] (Urawa: Saitarnaken,1991), Vo1.14, pp. 3, 752-73.21 Ibid., p.54.22 Minegishi, Kinsei hisabetsuminshi nokenkyU, pp.l24-34.23 Ibid., pp.59-

90 TIMOTHY D. AMOSFigure 5Reproduction of Lower Wana Village, based on BushO yokomi-gunshimowana sonchO ezumen [Map of Lower Wana village, Yokomi county,Musashi province] (1826) in the possession of Suzuki Mikio. Reproductionby the authoracted as "group head" and kogashira IJ\jj or "local eta village leader". Minegishihas argued that the titles of grouphead and local eta village leader werebasically synonymous. 24 The term"kogashira", however, appears to havebeen used only in relation to Danzaemonrule.SouthWana VillageTo Upper WaneVillageInterestingly,hinin in the LowerWana community did not live withinthe village itself. Rather, they eitherlived on the edge of the swamp thatcreated a natural border between Upperand Lower Wana villages or in thenorth-eastern corner of Lower Wana villagebordering a small forest. While thissegregation was clearly related to thedifferent functions of eta and hininthatis, the main hinin hut in LowerWana village (which probably doubledas a guardhouse) was only establishedin the early 1710s and presumably as aresponse to the growing number ofvagrants passing through both Upperand Wana Lower villageS-it doubtlessgave rise to an internal hierarchywithin the village with its own associatedstigma.RitefielcisJin'emon RicefieldsFields fot non-rice cropsForestationSwampGraveyardsHuts24 Ibid, p.74.

A TOKUGAWA OUTCASTE COMMUNITY91Inter-Community Outcaste RelationsA significant difference between Upper and Lower Wana villages existedin their notions of land. Lower Wana villagers' understandings of theirlocal territory went beyond simple notions of land ownership and geographicallyor topographically defined space. Another terrain quite apartfrom the village existed in the imaginations of rural outcaste communitiesin which flaying and begging rights existed. It was labelled the "workplace"(shokuba !fij\;t). Within Lower Wana village, an increasingly complexseries of ways in which land, territory, and belonging were formulatedemerged during the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 25Apart from the dual system of rule discussed above, there was also adifference between residential areas and work areas that increased thepotential for the village to be summoned into relationships with the widercommunity. In fact, the notion of a workplace brought the communityinto contact with other regional eta communities also under the governanceof Danzaemon, particularly into close relationships with those fromneighbouring workplaces.25 For a recent discussion of the Lower Wanavillage shokuba, consult David L. Howell,Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth­Century Japan (Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, 2005), pp.37--B.While there is some disagreement among scholars over certain aspectsof the workplace, they generally agree that it had two aspects. Firstly,it was the legal territory for the disposal of dead cattle and horses. Andsecondly, it was the place where people had the right to beg. When cattleor horses kept by peasants in a particular workplace died, they were takento a place called the animal carcass dumping ground (heigyUba suteba 4-gf@;t) located on the periphery of each village. Nearby hinin patrolledthe area on a daily basis and if they found a carcass they skinned it anddisposed of the body. The economically valuable things went to the etawho had the rights of ownership for that day (called banichi t B). "Workplacerights" were owned on a day-to-day basis by those of eta status. Ifthe day on which a dead cow or horse was discovered was the first day ofthe month then it was the eta with the rights to that day that benefited."Begging rights", on the other hand, were generally owned by eta on avillage basis. They were permitted to collect alms from peasant householdsin that village on auspicious occasions such as the time of the summer/autumn Three Grains (harvests). Hinin belonging to the same villagewere also permitted to roam around these villages begging for alms inspecial periods such as times of great prosperity or famine, New Year,and Obon UEIJ. The right of hinin to beg alms in local villages appearsto have been a relatively recent phenomenon in the eighteenth centuryonethat was also a source of some conflict. The first time a hiningoya(hinin hut) was actually set up in Lower Wana village was 1706. Peasantvillagers throughout Yokomi county had sought after a way of dealingwith the importuning of "wild hinin" (nohinin l!!H A)-unregisteredhinin-and it was decided (by whom is unclear) that a portion of the

92TIMOTHY D. AMOS26 Tsukada, Mihunsei shakai to shiminshakai: kinsei nihon no shakai to hO,pp.248--49.27 Koyanagi-ke monio [Documents of theHouse of Koyanagil (Higashi MatsuyamaToshokan). An index of the Koyanagi-kemonio can be found at the Higashi MatsuyamaMunicipal Library. A microfilm versionof the entire collection of the documents isalso in the possession of the author. Hereafter,documents from this collection arecited as KKM, #_.28 Higashi matsuyama-shi hensanka,"Shomibun to yaku" [Various Statusesand Duties], in Higashi matsuyama norekishi [History of Higashi Matsuyama1, ed.Higashi matsuyama-shi hensanka 2(Higashi Matsuyama: Higashi matsuyamashi,1985), pp.l65-78.29 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke monio, VoU, 591[6551.30 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke monio, VoLl, 209[12281. For another account of this incidentsee SKM, #169.eta begging rights be given away to hinin who would be employed andmade to work in the hinin hut. Hinin were made to perform the aforementionedduties of carcass disposal (bayaku :l:fji:) in exchange forreceiving the right to beg alms. 2 6The workplaces of Matsuyama M LlJ village and Lower Wana villagewere located alongside each other. The villages, in spite of their closeproximity, were located in different counties. Lower Wana village waslocated in Yokomi, and Matsuyama village in Hiki ltlt county. The workplaceboundaries, however, did not follow traditional landholding patternsbased on warrior domains, but cut through both Yo komi and Hiki countydivisions. And although members of these two villages would rarelydeal directly in the everyday business of flaying, tanning, and producingmerchandise through secondary industrial activity or cottage industries,close relationships were forged that predictably resulted in both positiveand negative experiences for the members of both communities.Some of the history of the eta settlement in Matsuyama village maybe found in the The Documents of the House of Koyanagi (Koyanagi-kemonjo /N:YPC:iI) authored by the local eta village head in Matsuyama. 27According to the town history of Higashi Matsuyama *r LlJ, Matsuyamavillage was a postal town along the J6sM -.l1+1 and Chichibu )( roadsthat formed during the Sengoku period. It was a point of intersection forthe various workplaces of Oka [;ll], Matsuyama, Karako T, and Honshuku*m. The map of the Matsuyama workplace, dated 1830, informs usthat it was predominantly based in Matsuyama township, but also includedparts of Yo komi county. One major difference between the workplaces ofLower Wana village and Matsuyama village was the fact that the workplaceof Matsuyama village was not only a space for eta and hinin, but was alsoa "begging ground" (kanjinba ifJ:l:) for a variety of other marginalizedTokugawa groups including oshi 1ftflgjjj (low-ranking shrine attendants),shugen {I (hermit ascetics), kanjin hijiri ifJ (mendicant lay priests),zat6 (blind performers/acupuncturists), goze tf (blind femaleperformers), and onmy6ji gjjj (lay diviners). In other aspects related toeta-hinin relations, taxation, land ownership and the like, there appearsto be little difference between the eta and hinin communities of LowerWana and Matsuyama villages. 28The record of the first encounter between Lower Wana village andMatsuyama village in 1699 is actually a dispute over the territorial boundariesof the workplace. 29 A hinin called Sajibe {;t[)XWJ allegedlyprocured a dead animal carcass from a village "dumping ground" Csutebaf&:l:) that lay near the border of the two separate workplaces of Wanaand Matsuyama. He was subsequently captured and incarcerated byMatsuyama villagers for his action. The village elders from Lower Wanathen attempted to negotiate a boundary between the two workplaces,but when negotiations broke down, they appealed to the magistrate. Asa result, the authorities ruled in favour of Lower Wana village. 3 0

A TOKUGAWA OUTCASTE COMMUNITY93Incidents between Lower Wana village and Matsuyama village regardingworkplace boundaries arose on numerous occasions. In 1823, Jin'emonrequested the Matsuyama village headman Sukezaemon Mft:jP reconfirmthe area of each of the village workplaces (mochiaiba t:,'fiS-t).Sukezaemon replied that it was the area defined in both 1699 and 1749.This indicates that there was at least one prior eighteenth-century disagreementbetween the two villages relating to territorial workplace issues .3131 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke monjo, YoLl, 245[273]. For what appears to be an undatedcopy of a draft complaint concerning the1699 incident, see SKM, #790.32 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke monjo, YoU, 144[646]33 KKM, #48.But not all workplace territorial disputes appear to have been relatedto rights over animal carcasses that died near workplace boundaries. In1758, for example, a Matsuyama village peasant brought a prisoner toLower Wana village and requested that Jin'emon and the hinin hut leaderKakube j take charge of the detainee. Jin'emon, before accepting therequest, solicited additional information concerning the required length ofdetention, but the peasant refused to outline a specific time. Jin'emon subsequentlydeclined to take charge of the convict, sending both the peasantand prisoner back to Matsuyama. Unsurprisingly, Jin'emon was shortlyafter summoned to appear before two local Matsuyama samurai officials.He was admonished for not taking the prisoners into his custody, andordered to do so in the future regardless of circumstances. Eventually, theprisoner was imprisoned in the Lower Wana guardhouse (presumably thehead hinin Kakube's hut), whereupon Jin'emon again requested informationconcerning the length of prisoner detention through official channels.While one day was negligible, he wrote, a week meant having to feedthe prisoner: Jin'emon was deeply concerned about the added burden ofprocuring the prisoner's rations. The Matsuyama hinin who brought theprisoner to Lower Wana village had suggested that Jin'emon procure thenecessary provisions from the officials, an action Jin'emon did eventuallyresort to pleading financial hardship. 3 2 It is unclear whether Jin'emon'srequest was successful, and why the hinin from Matsuyama brought theprisoner to Lower Wana village in the first place when there was a largeguardhouse in Matsuyama. 33 It is clear, though, that over the course of theeighteenth century, prisoner guard duty jurisdiction and responsibilitiesemerged as the dominant issue within struggles over "workplace rights".Another incident which followed in 1767 provides additional evidenceof this phenomenon. In this case, an "unregistered commoner" (mushuku1D Kichisaburo Ef== was murdered by a man called lemon ffl":bjPin the township of Iwadonosan :!6!%hu. The son-in-law of the Matsuyamavillage hinin leader Bangoro Jj E. is mentioned in the prologue to theincident, as is another Matsuyama village resident, Jinshichi If-l::;, who waspresent at the scene and apparently pulled Kichisaburo off the dead victim.The Iwadonosan village elder Seishichi m'-l::; subsequently requested thatJin'emon appoint the Lower Wana village hinin hut leader Kakube asKichisaburo's guard. Jin'emon objected, however, on the grounds that thevictim was born in Matsuyama territory and should therefore be handled

94TIMOTHY D. AMOS34 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke mania, Vol.3, 600[164].35 Ibid., VoU, 1 [2799].36 See Ooms's fascinating description ofthe Lower Wana village resident's participationin this execution in Ooms, TakugawaVillage Practice: Class, Status, Pawer, Law,pp.249-52.37 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke mania, VoU, 141[1281], 147 [121], 149 [2710]by the Matsuyama hinin leader Bangoro. Jin'emon's refusal to assume theguard duties appears to have been linked to an understanding of jurisdictionwhich related to the place in which a particular crime had beenperpetrated. 34There was, therefore, a clear shift in emphasis away from tanning andbegging to poliCing and execution functions of eta and hinin during theearly eighteenth century. The establishment of the hinin hut in LowerWana in 1710, followed by a 1724 circular in which eta and hinin of LowerWana village were ordered to perform duties related to handling prisonersfor most of the major shogunate offices in Edo, probably signalled thebeginnings of this shift. 35 It is uncertain as to whether this was the firsttime the residents of Lower Wana village were ordered to perform suchtasks, but it is clear that it was not the last. Members of Lower Wana villagethroughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were thereafter regularlymobilized to assist in the escorting of prisoners. Part of these dutiesinvolved participating in guard duties related to, or the actual carrying outof, executions. Members of Lower Wana probably began to participate innumerous public executions during the first half of the eighteenth century.The earliest extant record relates to the capital punishment of a criminalnamed Shohe /j\wj in 1743 for stealing. 36 Other notable examples arethe crucifixions of the homeless murderer Yukichi "E in 1816 and thelocal farmer Miyakichi '§"E during the Tenmei xEJ.l§ famine in 1835. 31But as the previous two examples further demonstrate, official duties alsocame to involve the guarding of prisoners charged with the perpetrationof certain crimes.Inter-Community Relations38 Minegishi, Kinsei hisabetsuminshi nakenkyu, p.82. SKM, #1388.3 9 One of the most interesting examplesof extensive community interaction can befound in Nishiki K6ichi's account of a largefestival hosted by Lower Wana village inthe early nineteenth century. "Bushu shimowana no sairei k6gy6," in Buraku naseikatsushi, ed. Buraku mondai kenkyujo(Kyoto: Buraku mondai kenkyujo, 1988),pp.l24--28.40 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke mania, Vol.l,149 [2104]Any notion that eta only mixed with eta, or hinin with hinin, wouldclearly be a misconception. Deep interpersonal relationships existedbetween members of Upper and Lower Wana villages, as illustrated inMinegishi Kentaro's example of the participation of farmers in the marriageceremony of Jin'emon's second son. 3 8 In fact, the Suzuki householddocuments are replete with examples of inter-village relations with localpeasant and town communities. 39 A local pawnbroking family from anearby peasant village that lent ten bags of rice to the Suzuki householdto assist with financial expenses related to execution duties during theTempo x{* famine (arguably the period with some of the strictest legislationon outcaste activity) is another striking example confirming that thiswas the norm. 40Interestingly, however, the investment of a social disciplinary authorityin rural eta and hinin communities ultimately caused friction within thewider community. The aforementioned 1743 execution involving thepunishment of Shohe, first introduced in Anglophone scholarship in

A TOKUGA W A OUTCASTE COMMUNITY 95Herman Ooms' groundbreaking Tokugawa Village Practice, is particularly 4 1 Ibid. , 141 [1281], 142 [561, 143 [11691.interesting. Local peasant officials argued in the lead up to the executionthat there was a custom in country areas to charge eight mon X to watcha crucifixion and 9 mon to look at the decapitated head of a criminal.]in'emon from Lower Wana village responded to this remark, however, bystating that he was unfamiliar with this practice. Charging a toll to passersbyto witness an execution, he added, would mean locals would simplychoose alternate routes to avoid the spectacle, thereby nullifying anydeterrent function the punishment was supposed to produce. This extraordinaryconfrontation between local officials and ]in'emon also spilledover into a debate over the number of people who should be allowed towork as guards during the execution. 4 1 By all accounts, ]in'emon successfullypersuaded the officials to concede to his position, demonstrating thathe actually wielded a considerable amount of authority in relation to localpunitive practices at this time.One of the earliest records of poliCing duties in Lower Wana isactually a 1750 incident involving a murder investigation. A hinin guardin Maegochi 1lUrilJj7;] village (under the jurisdiction of ]in'emon) wasmurdered in bizarre circumstances. The hinin's name was Toshichi jji-t;,a single male in his mid-thirties. Born near Honjo Station *EEm on theNakasendo 9=t{wm Highway, he worked as a minion for another hinin inthe Yoshimi area for two years before being permitted to take on the jobof hinin hut leader in Maegochi. This job he performed for three years.Toshichi became involved in gambling with some men from Nakaarashi9=t)it village, and proceeded to get into a fight, in the course of which hewas tied up and beaten. Gambling was an extremely serious offence inTokugawa Japan, subject to extreme punitive measures particularly fromaround the mid-eighteenth century. Toshichi, however, was shown mercyby members of his village on this occasion and granted a reprieve. Shortlyafter, however, Toshichi began gambling again, this time in Ezuna tIvillage. Toshichi soon became embroiled in another dispute, but this timehe was murdered by a mystery assailant (later records had it that a mannamed Asaemon ;6"flJF was the murderer and had actually let Toshichiescape from the hut before chasing him down and killing him with asword). Toshichi's body was found in a field close to the bridge near thelocal river, and the Maegochi village officials, following the letter of thelaw, came and inspected the body before temporarily burying it (kariume1,&:1:1). Toshichi's assailant, however, failed to be identified, and only thehead hinin in the Yoshimi area, Kakube, along with one other personshowed any interest in solving the case. Kakube decided to instigate hisown undercover investigation. He developed a sudden addiction to kingo fu c." (a form of gambling, also called Camta, derived from Portuguesecards) and tried to gain clues as to the identity of the guilty party by speculatingwith the group leader Taemon EB;6"flJ F from Maegochi village.Kakube played Camta and other betting games with Taemon, gaining his

96TIMOTHY D. AMOS42 Harada Tomohiko, ed., Hennen sabetsushishiryo shusei, (Tokyo: San'ichi shobo,1998), Vol. ll, pp.482-87.43 Tsukada, Kinsei nihon mibunsei nokenkyu., p.22. For definitions of these tem1Srefer to Chapter 8.trust and eventually securing the facts about what had transpired on thatfateful day.When the truth about the incident came to light, Kakube and the etavillage members in Lower Wana village took the matter to the three villageleaders of Okushi 1\

A TOKUGAWA OUTCASTE COMMUNITY97(presumably 216 man days) had been mobilized, but only 2,000 mon wasoffered in payment (the equivalent of a day's wages for approximately fourto six carpenters at that time). Kiheiji's .:sp:* (Suzuki X's) father exhibitedhis disgust at the payment by telling the town elder Seishichi from Iwadonosanto donate the money to the local Kannon ll'!1l (Avalokitesvarabodhisattva or Goddess of Mercy) as he would not accept a payment thatplaced him and his villagers in such a tight position (mizumari Jr).]in'emon possibly feared that accepting such inconsequential reparationfor their labour would only further contribute to the creation of a nastyprecedent within the community and endanger the future livelihood ofmembers of the village.44 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke monjo, YoU, 602[875].About a month and a half later, the same official, Seishichi, offered]in'emon an extra 400 mon above the original figure for having "personallyreceived his assistance." ]in'emon, aware that this was an attemptat silencing him, refused the enticement. Seishichi, indignant at such anattitude, visited the Upper Wana village elders and asked Hanbe *WJto speak with ]in'emon privately about the matter. ]in'emon repeated hisreasons for not accepting the payment, but Hanbe secretly summonedthe other Lower Wana officials Sehe WJ and Hikojiro §t*Jl!, whotook the money and distributed it to the villagers. ]in'emon's accountsuggests that all villagers were aware of ]in'emon's position but followedthrough with their action regardless. ]in'emon subsequently proffered hisresignation as local eta village leader to his fellow official Sehe when theincident of mass village disloyalty was eventually discovered, declaringfushinjo /fJr L (literally "loss of standing"). Another document makes itclear that ]in'emon believed he had lost "all standing in the community"(mibun aitachigataki Jr71-JlH§:v:) through the actions undertaken by hisfellow rulers and fellow villagers. Whatever the case, a large crack hademerged between the Suzuki family and the rest of the Lower Wana villagecommunity. 44The Emergence a/ the Outcaste in Wana VillageThe Documents of the House of Suzuki indicate that the second halfof the eighteenth century was a particularly troubled time for the LowerWana village leaders, particularly in relation to hinin rule. Records indicatethat the vast majority of hinin hut leaders absconded (kakeochi 7:.WD, leaving the greater Wana area without police or guards. It is informativeto look at some of the specific cases of runaway hinin (see Figure6 overleaO. In 1767, the same year as the Iwadonosan murder, ]in'emon(Suzuki IX) lodged an appeal with the local authorities because the localhinin hut leader Kakube had absconded. In this case, Kakube had apparentlyinformed ]in'emon that he had some errands to run at the town

98 TIMOTHY D. AMOSFigure 6History of Kakube (the head of the hinin hut in Lower Wana village in eighteenth-century Yoshimi. Source:SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke monjo: saitama-ken buraku mondai kankei shiryoshu, Vol.], 55 7 [2105i, 608 [2387iYear Name Place of Birth Retirement Age Reason for Hut LocationRetirement1706.4 Kakube Hyakketsu 1710.4 Absconded Ezuna village1710.4 Monbe 1712.4 Absconded Border of Upperand LowerWana1711.8 Hanbe"1712.4 Taken from the 1712.8 "Eta village1712.8 Hanbe and 5 1716others1716 Magoshichi Annyuji village, 1775.9 AbscondedAdachi county"(Under thecontrol of thefarmers)"1767.9 Kakube Absconded Border of Upperand LowerWana1774.4 Tosuke Yono, Musashi 1780 2 Absconded1775-1777 No Hinin hut1777.2 Tosuke 1777.4 Absconded"1780.2 Ichibe (Tosuke's 1781.5 Abscondedson-in-law)1781.8 Kakube Absconded1781.11 Heijiro 1782.9 Officially Border of Upperabsconded but and Lowerin actuality Wana"banished"1782.8 Zenbe Border of Upperand LowerWana1783 Gensuke Sakata Post Town 1783.7 Absconded"1783-1785 no Hinin hut (Ezuna and Maekagochi villages take on duties)1783 Ichibe 1786.1 Absconded"1786.2 Chosuke 1788.1 Banished forGambling1789.2 Ichibe 1790.3 Absconded1791.2 Isaburo 1794.4 Absconded1794.8 Isaburo

A TOKUGA W A OUTCASTE COMMUNI1Y 99market but had not returned. Less than a week later, ]in'emon recordsthat Kakube's wife and children also absconded, leaving the hinin hut45 Ibid., 868 [697].46 Ibid., 870 [707].unoccupied (akegoya I3J3!J\)' As a countermeasure, ]in'emon ordered 47 Ibid., 875 [696].two of the hinin formerly under Kakube's charge to perform his duties 48 Ibid., 557 [10].from within their respective villages located at a distance from Lower Wana 4 9 Ibid., YoU , 93 [282]village. Moreover, he sequestered the help of some of his own eta villagersto assist in performing guard watch duties (hi-no-ban ;.k :tID. 45But the above example proved just the tip of the iceberg for Kiheijiand his father. In 1774, Kiheiji again concluded paperwork on anotherincident. According to this document, Kakube ran away with his wifeand children because he could not afford to repay a loan, presumablyfinanced by ]in'emon or another wealthier village member. 46 In 1782,Kakube again took flight for unspecified reasons, and once more ]in'emonsummoned Kakube's hinin associates from other villages to help shoulderthe burden. 47 In a 1796 record of the hinin hut in Lower Wana village,Kiheiji stated that there had been problems since the 1750s. The hinin hutleader Kakube had ignored the instructions of eta, who had the rights tothe workplace on certain days of the month. Moreover, he had becomerecalcitrant and hard to live with in the village. Examples of his obstinatebehaviour included his demands to only perform official guard duties, andhis obstinate refusal to personally escort prisoners past a certain point onthe road to Edo preferring to make others complete the task for him. 48An ukesho j!f (oath of obedience) drawn up and Signed during Kiheiji'stime as local eta village leader in Lower Wana also revealed a statementto the effect that hinin (read Kakube) were not permitted to flaunt theirauthority to farmers in the area. 49The desertion of hinin from Lower Wana village not only createdproblems within Lower Wana village and headaches for ]in'emon. It alsoheavily impacted Upper Wana and its relationship with Lower Wana.A major incident occurred in the village in 1768 related to this issue.]in'emon, Kiheiji's father, directed an official complaint to the localofficials about an incident that involved Kakube, the local peasants, andthe temple register. Every year in May, ]in'emon submitted the templeregister to the peasant village elders in Upper Wana village. But in 1768,when ]in'emon repeated this established practice, the Upper Wanavillage elder Den'emon fi::ti"WJF suddenly questioned ]in'emon as towhy Kakube's name was not recorded on the register. ]in'emon, at thatpoint in time, was still constructing a separate register of hinin in thevillage, so such an action would have been a glaring omission in the eyesof the peasant officials.]in'emon answered that the Upper Wana officials that Kakube hadrun away with his wife and children the previous year in September, andthat he had followed the official procedures for desertion to their logicalconclusions. He had alerted Danzaemon, searched for Kakube over theappropriate time period, and finally listed him as missing. He was thus

100 TIMOTHY D. AMOSentitled to close the investigation and remove Kakube's name from theofficial temple registers. According to Jin'emon, a debate then ensuedwith Den'emon concerning the duties and privileges of the hinin hutwhere Kakube was meant to live and work. The Upper Wana villagersdemanded to know what was going to be done with the workplace. It wasobvious from this line of questioning that the Upper Wana village officialsrequired nothing less than a hinin hut leader in the village to protect theirwater supply and crops, as well as to guard against vagrants that mightwander into their village. It was manifestly unacceptable for the peasantcommunity not to have a hinin hut leader resident on the border betweenUpper and Lower Wana villages.Jin'emon, however, refused to be pushed on the matter. He repliedto the Upper Wana officials that the duties and privileges of the hut wereones that Jin'emon had ascribed to Kakube: the workplace in the regionsurrounding Lower Wana village belonged to him. Moreover, Jin'emonadded that he could not reasonably be requested to record Kakube'spresence in the village if the hinin hut leader was not in fact residingthere. This defiance by Jin'emon bought the wrath of the Upper Wanavillage officials. They argued that a hinin hut had existed in Lower Wanavillage since antiquity, and the farming village would not accept theruling of Danzaemon on this issue. They essentially disputed the fact thatDanzaemon was permitted to do as he pleased with hinin hut guards intheir village. They continued to argue, moreover, that simply handing overthe duties of the workplace to hinin in other villages was a selfish act onthe part of the eta villagers. They gave the eta villagers a terse ultimatum:decide whether they were under local rule (implying the rule of the localfief authority) or the jurisdiction of Danzaemon.In response, and by way of a quick compromise, a visibly concernedJin'emon wrote down Kakube's name as well that of his family in theregister, but included the date they absconded. The Upper Wanavillage elders refused this attempt at conciliation, however, stating that itwould be just as difficult to accept a register with the name of someonewho had run away as it would be to allow Kakube's name to simply disappearentirely from the page. The implication was that Jin'emon shouldgo and find another hinin hut official who would take on the name ofKakube and perform the duties of the hinin hut leader. Jin'emon's extremereluctance to do this suggests that he was content to have the hinin hutleader resident in another village where they would still perform theirofficial duties for Lower Wana village, but provide him and the villagerswith fewer annoyances through their unpredictable and "selfish" ways.Upper Wana village's ultimatum was nonetheless worrying. Jin'emonand the residents of Lower Wana village would be held accountable toauthorities for not having submitted population registers. Regardless ofwhether the Upper Wana villagers refused to accept the submission ofthe registers, the onus was on Jin'emon to submit official documentation

A TOKUGAWA OUTCASTE COMMUNITY101to the local peasant officials on time, a fear that probably brought abouthis drafting of the legal appeal in which this incident is recorded. To theUpper Wana village ultimatum, ]in'emon formulated a careful response.He replied that he was certainly under the rule of Danzaemon, but thatin matters pertaining to the "earth" (jimen t{hOO) , he was under the ruleof the local rulers. He did not desire to be excluded from receiving futuredirectives from local rulers as was the village custom from antiquity.]in'emon also conveyed to the farmers that the eta were under dividedrule, and they wished to maintain the status quo on this issue. The socialposition (mibun %51-) of Lower Wana residents dictated that they weresubject to Danzaemon, but ]in'emon argued that he and his fellow villageheads were in charge of the hinin in the area deSignated as the "begginggrounds"-this being the case not just for Lower Wana but for all regionaleta villages. 50 ]in'emon was clearly asserting here his right to rule over thehinin in the way that he saw fit: Upper Wana village should not considerLower Wana village a place consisting of a gathering of eta and hinin (thatis, "outcastes") that were subject to their authority.From subsequent accounts we learn that ]in'emon recorded the nameof Kakube in the document and resubmitted the register a few days later. 51This reflects a bowing to the pressure applied to the eta village leader bythe farming village authorities. Kiheiji's father drafted a legal documentsix months later that recorded his official status, reiterating what he hadsaid in the document half a year earlier. The documents spelt out thatboth ]in'emon and his entire village were under the rule of Danzaemon inAsakusa with regards to workplace and status (mibun), but concerning theearth, they were subject to the authority of the Upper Wana village farmers(murakata :.t17J) 52 As the amalgamation of eta and hinin temple registersfrom 1778 indicates, however, the discourse of "commoner-outcaste" wasincreasingly making its presence felt in this community.The tension created here was clearly the result of increasingly welldefinedboundaries that delineated who people were. There was a mountingawareness of a "commoner-outcaste" distinction based upon whatconstituted "normal" practices. Kiheiji's father defined himself in his documentin three ways: in terms of status, work, and the earth (a term bywhich he probably did not just mean land and taxes, but also more broadlyphysical locality). He expressed a sense of belonging that was clearly differentto the local peasants', whose status (= peasant), workplace (= house+ land), and physical location (= village) for the most part all comfortablyoverlapped. These three elements of belonging existed as one for thepeasant: there were no intricate complexities that were difficult for othersto comprehend regarding their work, status, and area of residence. TheLower Wana villagers' social and legal standing, however, was dependanton an authority that existed more than 50 kilometres away in Asakusa, andthe workplace, although local, was inextricably linked to the larger workundertaken by Danzaemon in Edo, cutting across established boundaries50 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke monjo: saitama-kenburaku mondai kankei shiryi5shii, YoU, 869[848], 601 [640].51 Ibid, 600 [164152 Ibid, 549 [1110].

102TIMOTHY D. AMOS53 Saitama-ken, ed., Shinpen saitama-kenshishiryohen, VoLl4, pp.224-25.54 Arai Kojiro, "Sagami-no-kuni ni okerukinsei senmin shakai no kozo," pp.251-52.55 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke manja, VoLl, 10[67Jthat were traditionally used to define rule and legal jurisdiction for the restof the community. The questions of community and belonging were notsomething that could simply be defined in a sentence or two, and neitherwere members of this community required to carefully articulate it beforethis time. But by the third quarter of the eighteenth century, the greaterWana area had reached a historical point where Jin'emon and his fellowvillagers were forced to identify their place in the local community. Theychose an explanation that tried to preserve the ambiguity of their existenceas both "normal" and "different". Their position, taken for granted inearlier periods within the wider Wana community, by the late 1760s hadsuddenly become incomprehensible.Many shogunate laws and legislation directed at the definition anddiscrimination of eta and hinin were promulgated throughout the courseof the eighteenth century in eastern Japan. Even the Danzaemon himselfparticipated in the creation of legislation that assisted in an increaseddefinition of who the late Tokugawa outcaste was. In one 1765 document,for example, an entire village in Musashi appealed for an eta doctor to bepermitted to have his status distinction of eta altered in order to functionmore effectively in his occupation of local doctor. Somewhat ironically,though, the elevation in his status would cause problems for the hininleader in the village. The shogunate consulted with Danzaemon aboutestablished practice, to which he responded with firm reasons why the etain question could not possibly be permitted to become a commoner. 5 3The idea of a "commoner" Cheinin 3f AJ can be detected in Danzaemon'swritings directly after he had incorporated the hinin under his rule in the1720s. He used the expression "normal hinin" Cheihinin) to refer to thenew social pOSition of the four hinin rulers who were sentenced by Danzaemonto life imprisonment. Arai K6jir6, moreover, records the use ofthe expression heikumishita (literally "ordinary under-the-group") withineta villages that referred to the majority of villagers who did not have"workplace rights" in outcaste villages. 5 4 It is evident, therefore, that shogunateand Danzaemon laws and legislation based upon "commoner-outcaste"distinctions also found their way into outcaste community practices.Other examples exist too. In 1778, two laws were issued in Lower Wanavillage in successive months censuring the bad habits of the "outcaste"Ceta-hinin-nado A). The first order castigated them for beinginsolent to farmers and townsmen, being indistinguishable from farmers,entering palanquin bearer's huts Ckagoya) and taverns Csakaya), harbouringcriminals and banding together to commit larceny. The law stated thatfrom that point onwards, outcastes found responsible for these unlawfulactions would be severely punished. 55 The following month, a decree wasalso circulated by the city magistrate regarding "outcaste" Ceta-hinin-nado)misbehaviour, ordering the eta and hinin to conduct themselves properly,to keep the servants of hinin Cteka T) in order, and not to be rude toeta workers from other "workplaces" Cbanushi :!:±J. Interestingly, this

A TOKUGAWA OUTCASTE COMMUNITY 103law also contained a clause forbidding the community members from56 Ibid. , 5 [632J.taking orders directly from the hinin leader Kuruma Zenshichi: legislation 57 Ibid. , YoU , 79 [296].presumably appended to the original shogunate order either by Danza- 58 Ibid., 69 [1029].emon or the local eta village leader. 56The central mechanism used to great effect in the establishment ofsystems of social regulation was "outcaste-ness": an idea that was clearly aderivative of emerging ideas of the commoner during the eighteenth century.An outcaste order could naturally only really exist in a "stable" senseif it was clearly definable: predicated upon a system that could distinguishbetween "non-outcastes" or "commoners". Logically, therefore, the pointat which an outcaste was most dangerous was the point at which theywere able to shed their "outcaste-ness". The 1778 piece of legislation thatcautioned against Lower Wana residents "being indistinguishable fromfarmers" demonstrates that in rural communities in Musashi province inthe latter half of the eighteenth century, the commoner was basically beingunderstood as the peasant. There was little official patience for the inevitableblurring of the official boundaries between outcaste and commoner.Two laws were issued in Lower Wana village in 1778 condemningthe bad habits of the "outcaste" (eta-hinin-nado). Yet commoner-outcastediscourse, in spite of the conflict mentioned in the previous section,does not appear to have been explicitly expressed in Lower Wana villagethrough labels like heinin or shiroto A until the nineteenth century. Ina document presumably dated in the 1820s, a caution was given to etavillagers not to sell the hides, nails and hair from animals to "commoners"(shiroto) or to people outside the local jurisdiction (shihaigai SZ1'lC5'}).57This appears to have been the first use of the official discourse of "commoner-outcaste"in locally produced legislation.From the 1820s, relations between Upper and Lower Wana villageappear to have become dominated by this discourse. An oath dated1825 submitted by Lower Wana villagers to the farmers in Upper Wana(a document in which the word eta is used considerably) reveals theemergence of a stringent set of rules that were to be imposed on LowerWana villagers. Eta were forbidden to use the shade of a tree on farmingland, to ride farmers' horses they borrowed, and to cut and use the grassfrom paddocks set aside for grazing. In the same document, Lower Wanavillagers were also ordered not to cut across rice fields on errands to andfrom the village. Interestingly, farmers in this document were referredto using the highly honorific titles of onbyakushOsama slf* andonjikatasama t{!rnf* (literally having the meaning of "Sir" or "Honourable"),and duties peasants ordered eta villagers to perform had to be completedwithin the new time limit of three days. 58 By the 1820s, therefore, thepeasant community in Upper Wana had carefully delineated acceptablespaces and acceptable practices, and the cordon san ita ire based on adiscourse of "commoner-outcaste" urged in legislative discourse in theprevious century had evidently become more dominant throughout this

104TIMOTHY D. AMOS59 Ibid., 72 [135]60 Based on my analysis of documents authoredby local eta leaders in eastern Japan,it does not appear as if the word heinin wasused by these communities themselves.61 For a technical discussion of the differencesbetween these two kinds of documents inrelation to status consult Sata Shin'ichi, Shinpankomonjogaku nyu. mon (Tokyo: Haseidaigaku shuppankyoku, 1997), pp.162-63.62 SDKK, ed., Suzuki-ke monjo, Yol.1, 111[1127].community. In 1855, a striking law warning members of the eta communitynot to comport themselves in ways that caught the attention of commonersand led to the neglect of workplace duties (shiroto no kiuke ni nazumibayaku wo naozari mata wa mibun wo kazari hyakusho-ke ni tachiiri *AZ'::'1ft!.t 1 7l*lx11t7t7 fr!isj&*'::':lr.AJ was issued. 59It is important to record here, though, that the term shiroto is usedinstead of heinin. This suggests a way in which the meanings of thesetwo terms differed in the eighteenth and nineteenth cent uries, and thatthe discourse of commoner (almost exclusively written as heinin), like thelabel eta, may not have been adopted within Lower Wana village itself. 6 0One may speculate that heinin was, rather, a term used by the shogunate,by domain authorities, and by Danzaemon himself during the eighteenthcentury to define the precarious lives of different people under the onelabel "outcaste" (eta-hinin-nado). It was an official discourse used as amechanism to enable stable rule and unify punitive powers. But local etaand hinin communities themselves did not internalize it. The "other" foreta and hinin was not a heinin }jZ A but a sh iro to: a word that wouldappear to connote a lack of expertise in agriculture rather than an absenceof normality. This is not to say, however, that a "commoner-outcaste"discourse had no impact on the village. Although members of LowerWana village did not overtly appear to internalize a "commoner-outcaste"polarization, considerable attempts at self-definition were made by theSuzuki family head from around the 1770s. While adoption of the officialterminology was rejected, the idea that eta and hinin were in some waydifferent from the rest of the community and therefore a phenomenon thatdemanded historical explanation appears to have been accepted.Eta-hinin relations too may be seen as becoming increasingly influencedby an "outcaste-commoner" binary distinction during this period.Hinin, it may be argued, were also increasingly treated as a kind of outcastewithin Lower Wana village. From around the middle of the eighteenthcentury, for example, oaths of obedience addressed from the hininhut leader Kakube to Jin'emon were written on tategami *iiEf$; paper (asopposed to the oaths of obedience from eta villagers to Jinemon, whichwhere written on yokogami :tJhe; paper), indicating a clear differencein perceived status. 61 Kakube was, moreover, consistently the last namelisted on official documentation that needed to be signed by the entirevillage from around this time. But perhaps the most blatant example ofthe appropriation of the binary logic of "commoner-outcaste" within theLower Wana village community can be glimpsed in a document presumablydated in the 1850s where Jin'emon listed his place of residence as"Wana village" and Kakube's as "Lower Wana village. , ,62 Moreover, in adispute between the residents of Upper and Lower Wana village over landownership and management only a few years later, a resident of UpperWana village planted ushigoroshi 4 or "butcher trees" (Pourthiaea Villosa)in three places along the boundary between his land and Kakube's

A TOKUGAWA OUTCASTE COMMUNITY 105hinin hut. The savage intimation involved in the act was presumably not 63 Ibid., 190 [2399J.lost on members of the community. 63 It also leaves little doubt, moreover,that village hinin like Kakube were increaSingly caught in the middleof such disputes due to their policing and guard functions. By the midnineteenthcentury, the binary logic of the commoner-outcaste definedin legislation throughout the previous century had seemingly pervadedpractices in Lower Wana village as well.Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century SuzukiFamily IdentityCertain documentation, especially maps, provides interesting examplesof a process that might be expressed as positive self-identification. TheSuzuki family heads who authored the documents depicted themselvesas the founding family of Lower Wana village and it is due to their singularefforts that the village is purported to have developed. Within thisconception, the establishment of the village, the foundation of the threegroups, or kumi, that constituted the village, and the application of hardwork, intelligence, and planning guaranteeing the permanent existence ofFigure 7'Original Group ' (m otokumi 5T;#J3.) of Lower Wana Village. Portion of Bushu yokomi-gun shimowana sonchuezumen {Map of Lower Wana village, Yokomi county, Musashi province] (1826) in the possession of Suzuki Mikio.Reproduced with permission

106TIMOTHY D. AMOS64 This is a sentiment that the current headof the Suzuki household was able to recountto the author in relation to a map that featuresin this chapter. Suzuki Mikio *\!j':lit informed me that his father had told himthat the map had been kept in his familyfor generations and must never be partedwith. That is apparently why it had not beendonated to the Saitama Prefectural Archiveswith the other household documents. Foran early use of family decrees to preservedocumentation for future generations seethe 1770 document in ibid., 188 [2255J.65 Refer to the document relating to a certainYaheiji's (Lower Wana resident) land mortgageto jin'emon in 1784. SKM, #1008.the village are all traced back to the Suzuki family. These achievementswere documented for the benefit of future generations through a variety ofcolourful maps and elaborate ledgers that concluded by telling subsequentgenerations of the Suzuki family to preserve the records and to treasurethem forever 64The "pride" that emerges from these documents is also reflected in thestunning colours used in the maps: another clear reflection of the obviouswealth the Suzuki family had accumulated by the early nineteenth century.In some respects, it is accurate to state that the Suzuki family's affluencewas directly attributable to their own accomplishments. However, it isalso true that prosperity was achieved as a result of the hardship of otherswho resided in both Upper and Lower Wana villages. 65 The extinction ofcertain branch family lines, and the misfortunes of others in the villageresulting from famines and floods (but probably also to poor financialmanagement and planning), meant that many local community memberswere forced to mortgage their lands to individuals and households withcapital-like the Suzuki's. And while the Suzuki family also experiencedmany disasters, in some cases to the extent that they too had to pleadwith authorities and local peasants for financial assistance, the head Suzukifamily nonetheless managed to forge a solid existence for itself within thevillage, and within the eastern outcaste order.The process of the settlement of Lower Wana village and the waysubsequent generations of Suzuki family households identified with thisprocess is outlined in the Map of Lower Wana village, Yokomi county,Musashi province (Busha yokomi-gun shimowana soncha ezumen 1'1'1JHtrffDiSH$[gjlij) drafted by Jin'emon (Suzuki Masanori i&1!&:­Suzuki XI, also known as Sensuke) in 1826. This map, in the possessionof the present-day Suzuki family and previously unsighted by Japanesescholars, records the reasons for its creation in the following section:The village boundaries of this place, the origins of our ancestors, theestablishment of dwellings, the branching-off of households, from generationto generation even to the names of the kumi leaders, have beenestablished according to the greater principles. In spite of this, is it nottrue that even if something is written with a fine brush, it is still sometimesdifficult to comprehend? Even though this may be so, there is no realdiscrepancy here in the use of distances handed down to us from old.Therefore, this map is a treasure not only for our family, but also for theentire village. If this map is treated carelessly and improperly, it will notlast for a long time. This explanatory note, written with an aged hand,is the first of its kind. Therefore, our descendants for time immemorialshall diligently preserve it.Lower Wana village, Lower Yoshimi territory, Yokomi CountySuzuki Jin'emon Governor, Masanori (seal)Ninth Year of Bunsei [1826], Year of the Dog, At the time of his 58th yearAn auspicious day in the 6th month

A TOKUGAWA OUTCASTE COMMUNITY107Interestingly, here Jin'emon is not just the village leader but the66 My thanks to Gerald Groemer for pointingout that Y oroku is not recognizable as a"governor" Csoryo /.(€) of Lower Wana village. The following informationfemale name used in the Tokugawa periodis also contained on the map about the history of the Suzuki family:in spite of the fact that the relevant passageOur ancestors of old from Lower Wana village lived in Wana village. on the map states that the person namedY oroku was female and bore three sons.For several generations there were hardships, and after consulting withSubsequently it may be more appropriate tothe officials, they spoke of their desire to move to this place withininterpret this passage as "the wife of Yorokuthe village. With their [Wana village's] consent, the characters Lowerbore three sons". Regardless ofYoroku's gender,however, it is still significant that she isWana village were designated and we were able to settle here. Ourearliest forefathers were called Suzuki Kazuma, Karoku, Jinzaemon, then singled out for attention as the progenitor ofYoroku-three men and one woman. Kyurozaemon, who succeeded the three sons who established the village.this house, had his second son branch off into a separate householdin middle kumi and he, Jinzaemon, became the founding father of themiddle kumi. The third son [of Kyurozaemon], Shirozaemon branched offinto a separate household in eastern kumi, and he became the foundingfather of eastern kumi. Addressing [the village elder with the title] Sehefrom generation to generation originates here. From [the generation of]Mataemon, households gradually broke away one after the other and wenow have everlasting prosperity.Several points of great interest surface in these passages. First, the narrativeof the Lower Wana village origins, as related by Suzuki Masanori,concentrates on the Suzuki family: the village was created, settled, andbrought to prosperity by the solitary efforts of Suzuki household forebears.They were not "outcastes", but former Upper Wana village residents,and the success of Lower Wana was also the story of the opulenceof the Suzuki family. Within this tale, the initial reason for moving to thevillage was "hardship," and the process of settling in Lower Wana villagewas one of "consultation" and eventual "consent," because the land originallylay within the boundaries of Upper Wana village. The documentdoes not explain who chose the characters for Lower Wana village, but it isnevertheless apparent that the Suzuki family perceived their historicalrole in Lower Wana as that of pioneer. Moreover, the initial nuance of theterm "Lower" did not necessarily denote a status-based inferiority to theoriginal Upper Wana village, but was in all probability based upon geographicalor topographical considerations. It is also significant to note,from the perspective of women's history, that women in the Suzukifamily played an important role in the establishment of the village, a factthat holds important ramifications for ideas about the status of womenin early rural Tokugawa society. A female ancestor named Yoroku g/\ became a local eta village leader within Lower Wana, bearing threesons that ensured the family could branch out and establish the kumi,or groups, that were to eventually become the structural foundation forvillage growth. 66

108TIMOTHY D. AMOSConclusionRelations between neighbouring eta and hinin communities changedduring the first half of the eighteenth century. What were formerly disputesbetween eta communities over tanning duties in the previous centuryshifted to conflicts concerning policing jurisdiction. Within this process,the position of eta and hinin within rural Musashi also became ambiguous.On the one hand, they were visibly able to project their will on numerousmatters related to policing and execution in disputes with local peasantsand authorities. But on the other hand, their authority to discipline andpunish criminals was quite distinct from warrior law enforcement thatretained a function of intimidation that was capable of deterring illegalactivities. The refusal of communities to pay for the eta and hinin guardduties clearly demonstrated the tenuity of outcaste claims to this kind ofpunitive power.The discourse of the commoner based on a notion of normalityalso came to significantly impact social practices in within Lower Wanavillage in the second half of the eighteenth century. The head-on collisionbetween Upper and Lower Wana village over the hinin hut in 1768 isperhaps one of the first clear evidences of a clash between these two communitiesbased on such a discourse. Naturally, the ultimatum presentedby the Upper Wana villagers to their Lower Wana counterparts was notnecessarily the result of a firm belief in their "outcaste-ness", but perhapsrather a harsh response to a refusal by Jin'emon to ensure the safety oftheir community through the provision of a policing agency. Nevertheless,just as the Tokugawa shogunate used the discourse of the commoner asa mechanism to facilitate stable rule by a homogenisation of the populationinto obedient masses, so too did Upper Wana village. They ignoredestablished differences between eta and hinin within Lower Wana andmerged them together as an object which they then attempted to govern.This ensured their control over them and therefore the possibility of communalstability.Timothy D. AmosVisiting FellowDepartment of Japanese StudiesThe National University of Singaporejpsatd@nus.edu.sgLower Wana village certainly attempted to reject these attempts bythe Upper Wana community to merge them into a manageable "outcaste"body. But at the same time, there appears to have been an acceptance bythis community of the logic behind claims that Lower Wana communitywas different. Members of the Suzuki household began to articulate thisdistinction in terms of a unique local identity from the late eighteenthcentury. The official discourse of commoner-outcaste continued to bemore pronounced during the early nineteenth century until it appearedas a hegemonic discourse by the 1820s. And it is clear that some etapractices related to hinin governance during this time also containedtraces of marginalization influenced by this discourse.EAST ASIAN HISTORY 32/33 (200612007)