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

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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
Page 1 and 2: EastAsianHistoryNUMBER 32/33 . DECE
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS1 The Moral Status of the B
Page 5 and 6: West Lake from Wang Villa (Wang Zhu
Page 7: PORTRAIT OF A TOKUGA W A OUTCASTE C
Page 14 and 15: 90 TIMOTHY D. AMOSFigure 5Reproduct
Page 16 and 17: 92TIMOTHY D. AMOS26 Tsukada, Mihuns
Page 18 and 19: 94TIMOTHY D. AMOS34 SDKK, ed., Suzu
Page 20 and 21: 96TIMOTHY D. AMOS42 Harada Tomohiko
Page 24 and 25: 100 TIMOTHY D. AMOSentitled to clos
Page 26 and 27: 102TIMOTHY D. AMOS53 Saitama-ken, e
Page 28 and 29: 104TIMOTHY D. AMOS59 Ibid., 72 [135
Page 30 and 31: 106TIMOTHY D. AMOS64 This is a sent
Page 32: 108TIMOTHY D. AMOSConclusionRelatio

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

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