＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
In new residential areas, you often see names like “XX Manor（××荘園）” or “XX Manor Town（××荘園町）.” China and medieval Europe also had manor systems.
By the way, Japan also had a manor system, but few people probably know much about it.
So, in this article, we’d like to explain in an easy-to-understand way why Japan’s manor system was established, how it developed, and why it collapsed. This may be helpful when watching historical dramas such as “Kirin ga Kuru.”
1. What is a “Manor（「荘園（しょうえん）」）”?
A “manor” is “a form of private large-scale land ownership held by central aristocrats, temples, and shrines that existed from the Nara period through the Sengoku period, and also refers to that private land.”
During the Nara period, a plot of land with a storehouse (warehouse) for storing produce at its center and surrounding gardens (fields) was called a “sho,” and this private land came to be called a “manor.”
Manors grew either through private cultivation (manors based on cultivated land) or donations from others (manors based on donated land). After the end of the Kamakura period, they declined due to military encroachment by samurai, and were abolished during the Onin War and the Taiko land survey.
2. Why was the manor system established?
Although the Yamato government (Yamato royal authority) （「大和（やまと）政権（ヤマト王権）」）of ancient Japan was an emperor-centered nation, the power of powerful clans was still strong at the time, and the imperial family and clans each ruled over their own land holdings called “miyake” (storage estates) and “tadokoro” (field estates).
However, with the Taika Reforms of 646, which aimed to curb the power of the clans and establish a centralized state centered on the emperor, the “Edict of Reform” stipulated that “all land became state property” (public land and citizen system).
“Kuni” (provinces) were established in various regions, and “kokushi” (provincial governors) were dispatched from the capital to command local clans as “gunji” (county governors) and run local politics.
The Ritsuryo state system was then completed with the Taiho Code of 701, and “family registers” were created based on this. Registered people aged six or older were then given land called “kubunden” (rice fields) according to their social status, with the land to be returned upon death. This was the “Handen Shujuho” (Law for Allocating Fields). In this way, rice fields were leased to citizens (those with a family register) to cultivate and taxes were collected.
Subsequently, due to population growth and the flight of farmers due to the heavy tax burden, there was a shortage of kubunden and tax revenues decreased. In order to increase tax revenues, the Imperial Court enacted the “Sanze Isshinho” (Law for Three Generations and One Life), which granted “ownership (private ownership) of cultivated land” (limited-term land ownership) to those who newly reclaimed land, as well as their children and grandchildren.
Furthermore, in 743, the “Konden Einen Shizaiho” (Law for Permanent Private Property of Reclaimed Land), allowed “individuals to own (private) land indefinitely” (unlimited land ownership).
As a result, it was the nobility, temples, and shrines that took advantage of this to expand their private land holdings. Even under the public land and public citizen system, the nobility, temples, and shrines were allowed to continue to own their original private land and were exempt from taxes, so they had plenty of leeway.
So they used surrounding peasants and fugitive peasants to carry out large-scale land reclamation, expanding their private landholdings and becoming “large landowners.” This was the beginning of “manors.”
3. How did the manor system develop?
(1) Early Manors
Early manors are called “early manors” (manors based on cultivated land). These are divided into “self-cultivated manors” and “already cultivated manors.” “Self-cultivated manors” were manors developed by aristocrats using their own labor, while “already cultivated manors” were manors acquired from land developed by others.
(2) Donation Manors
Although “early manors” were privately owned, taxes were levied. As a result, some influential nobles, such as the Sekkanke clan, resorted to aggressive tax evasion, claiming, “This is a villa garden, not a field, so I don’t have to pay taxes.”
Since the nobles also had the power to appoint officials, such aggressive tactics were acceptable, but not for ordinary people.
Therefore, people would “donate” their manors to influential nobles, temples, or shrines, change the title, and avoid taxation by paying a lower “title fee.” These were “donated manors.”
For example, in the Kinai region (Yamashiro, Yamato, Settsu, Kawachi, and Izumi), there were many manors owned by regents such as the Kujo family, as well as temples and shrines such as Toji Temple, Chokodo, Kamigamo Shrine, Kofuku-ji Temple, and Todai-ji Temple.
Donated manors gained the privileges of “fuyu no ken,” which allowed them to refuse taxation, and “funyu no ken,” which allowed them to refuse entry by provincial governors. Later, these privileges also came to include the exclusion of police powers by “kebiishi” and “kokuga,” as well as the right of manor lords to exercise police powers (kendan ken).
(3) Political Disorder and Concentration of Manors
By the 10th century, local politics had largely been entrusted to the “kokushi” (provincial governors). Some appointed provincial governors merely sent representatives to their territories to receive income, while others engaged in tyrannical behavior and enriched themselves, leading to political chaos.
This chaos also spread to the central government, leading to rampant bribery of powerful aristocrats and donations of manors, resulting in central government leaders owning vast estates.
(4) Manor and Public Land System
As a measure to increase tax revenue, the Imperial Court decided to effectively utilize abandoned kubunden land by entrusting the ownership and management of such land to kokushi (provincial governors). This land was called koryo (public land) or kokugaryo (provincial government land).
As the land distribution system ceased, Japan’s land was broadly divided into two categories: manors, which were vast privately owned lands owned by the wealthy, and public land, which was directly owned and managed by kokushi (provincial governors). This was the “manor and public land system.”
After 900, the country gradually began to move toward the manor and public land system, which took hold in the late 1000s and continued until the Kamakura period.
(5) Changes in Taxation
From this time on, taxation began to be implemented on a land-by-land basis. Fields were organized into tax collection units called “myoden” or “myo.” Powerful farmers in the region were contracted to cultivate these fields.
These agricultural management experts were called “tato,” and this contracting system was called the “fumyo-taisei.” The better a farmer performed, the more rice they could keep, which motivated them.
(6) Names of Managers
Among the “tato,” who managed farms under the orders of the kokushi, some eventually began to operate large-scale operations known as “daimyo-tato.”
Furious at the kokushi’s tyranny, the daimyo-tato began to donate manors to manage the land.
The nobles, temples, and shrines who received these donations were called “ryoke.” If the kokushi was of a higher rank, he would make donations to someone even higher up, who was called the “honke” (main family).
The lord who directly ruled a manor was the “shoen ryoshu,” and the effective ruler of the ryoke or honke was called the “honjo.”
The daimyo tado continued to develop the manors, becoming “development lords,” and eventually were entrusted with managing the land by the manor lord and became “shokan” (manor officials).
4. Why did the manor system collapse?
(1) Manors in the Kamakura Period
Toward the end of the Heian period, a deterioration in public order led local clans and powerful farmers to arm themselves to protect their lands, leading to the emergence of the “samurai.”
They used their status and military power to promote land development and the donation of manors, and were also tasked with cracking down on crime and collecting taxes in public lands.
By the late 11th century, samurai built manors in manors and public lands and became the center of local society.
After defeating the Taira clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo, under the pretext of capturing his younger brother, Yoshitsune, appointed “shugo” (provincial governors) for each province and “jito” (land stewards) for each manor and public lands.
Samurai became “gokenin” (samurai retainers) serving the Kamakura shogunate, and were appointed “jito,” which guaranteed control over their territories to the shogunate.
As a result, various conflicts arose in the dual-rule lands between the shogunate’s land stewards and the imperial court’s manor lords and provincial governors, but these disputes were adjudicated by the shogunate.
(2) Manors in the Muromachi Period
From the end of the Kamakura period, samurai known as “akuto” (villains) appeared, primarily in the Kinki region, who rebelled against manor lords and seized their annual taxes.
Furthermore, following the fall of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333 and the subsequent chaos leading up to the establishment of the Muromachi shogunate, provincial governors known as “shugo daimyo” emerged, absorbing the authority of the provincial governors and establishing their own independent rule.
Meanwhile, in rural areas, powerful farmers began to unite around each village to form autonomous organizations called “sō.”
As these farmers strengthened their unity, they began to oppose the manor lords and shugo daimyo, and independent villages known as “sōson” even began to negotiate annual taxes.
(3) Manors in the Sengoku Period and the Taiko Land Survey
The Onin War that began in 1467 rendered the Muromachi shogunate meaningless, and with the arrival of the Sengoku period, manors were embezzled by samurai and the manor system effectively collapsed.
Sengoku daimyo exercised even greater control over their regions than shugo daimyo, and disputes over manor ownership were resolved through force.
Deprived of income from manors that were nominally their own, the nobles lost their economic base and fell into decline.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan and carried out the Taiko Land Survey (1582-1598), a review of the land system. As a result, only the rights of the direct cultivator of a piece of land were recognized. In other words, the system of “one land, one farmer” was established, denying multiple levels of intermediary exploitation and various rights.
This led to the complete collapse of the manor system.