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

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