日本中世武家社会における一族と一門 - 『小早川家文書』を中心に -

Abstract

There are a many studies on ichizoku and ichimon of Japanese samurai society in the middle ages. In these studies, both terms have been unreservedly considered to be synonymous, meaning ‘the clan’. In this research, I analyzed the case of Kobayakawa-ichizoku to evaluate whether they really did possess the same meaning in that age, and to consider the factors behind the formation of a samurai community. The word ichimon is most commonly used in private documents like yuzurijo (documents written for one's children to distribute his or her lands among them). In this case it meant ‘my descendants'. They used the word in the following manner, for example, "if you haven't been blessed with a child, give my inheritance to the ichimon after you". They feared that their property might go to a person other than their direct descendants, even if that person is their kin, such as a brother or sister. This means that they exclude every person except their direct descendants from becoming an heir, and their children will also do the same in turn. So the extent of an ichimon changes according to who is deemed to the starting point of it. People had affection for their ichimon but each person's ichimon is different. Therefore affection for one's ichimon was never a factor in making a community. Next, the word Ichizoku was primarily used in state papers regarding public burdens, for example, drafts and taxes. Those papers are sent to the soryo-ke (the ie＊ leading the ichizoku), who distributes the loads to ichizoku. So we can say Ichizoku is ‘a cooperative unit to fulfill public obligations'. The most significant difference between ichimon and ichizoku is the composition. The former consisted of individual human beings. On the other hand, the latter consisted of ie (households). The ie of the ichizoku are from the soryo-ke. When the master of the soryo-ke (called soryo) distributes his or her land as inheritance to his or her ichimon or someone else, they become the master of the new ie (called shoshi-ke) belonging to the ichizoku. And ichizoku includes various lineages because the soryo might sometimes give the land to someone who is an adopted child, a step-child, a son-in-law, or even a vassal. In mistakingly thinking of ichimon and ichizoku as the clan, it was thought that affection towards kin created strong unity. However, in truth, most people in the age were indifferent to their kin butinstead valued their ichimon, and the ichizoku associated with it. What has been thought to be a kin-community is just a systemized group for burdens to the government. This mutual aid organization was not one that was formed with psychological factors like a kin-consciousness but was formed with an external factor like a social system. Hereafter, it is necessary to consider the meaning of the tax that is the factor to form the unit of ichizoku.