Village “Contracts” in Tokugawa Japan

Fifty Specimens with English Translations and Comments

There are assembled here the Japanese (sorobun) originals and English translations of over fifty private agreements, mostly dating from the 19th century and selected from eighteen different villages scattered about the main island of Japan. Their subject matter has been classified into fifteen categories for convenience: water rights, land sales, boundary lines, commons, loans with or without interest, loans with or without various kinds of security, personal services, agreements concerning family relations (such as dowry, retirement, succession, sale-of-daughter, and prenuptial agreements), agreements concerning the headman’s selection and performance, inter-village agreements, dispute settlement agreements, and apology agreements.

This volume will be of interest to historians, students of Japanese law, culture, and history, anthropologists, as well as anyone interested in Japan in the Edo period.

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