Akutō (悪党). “Evil bands” or brigands. This pejorative term describing those who resorted to violence regardless of their social status.
Ashigaru (足軽). A term for foot soldiers, common in the fifteenth century, which in the seventeenth century came to designate low-ranking warrior retainers.
Ashikaga bakufu (足利幕府). Otherwise known as the Muromachi bakufu, Japan’s second warrior government. It was closely linked to the court and lasted from 1338 through 1573.
Azukari dokoro (預所). Name for an estate manager, usually an official who attained the right to manage lands that were originally commended to a central proprietor. They were of a higher rank, more closely connected to the proprietor than gesu (see gesu), and did not necessarily need to reside on the estate.
Bakufu (幕府). Literally meaning “tent government,” this term describes three warrior governments of Japan: the Kamakura (1185–1333), Muromachi or Ashikaga (1338–1573), and Tokugawa (1603–1867) regimes. Each varied in character, with Kamakura being a limited judicial government that governed in tandem with the court, while the Ashikaga governed Japan and fused with the court (although it devolved authority to regional lords). Finally, the Tokugawa governed Japan most successfully and severely constrained the court.
Bōhai (傍輩). “Comrades,” a term used to describe warriors of equal status or rank.
Bonge (凡下). People of low status who did not possess surnames and were incapable of autonomy.
Chinjufu shōgun (鎮守府将軍). “Pacification general.” This office was one that suggested control over the north and was a competing, and less prestigious, office to the more famous “barbarian subduing general” (sei-i-tai shōgun). This office lapsed in the mid-fourteenth century.
Chinzei (鎮西). Another name for Kyushu. Site of the Chinzei tandai, an administrative organ of the Kamakura shogunate, which lasted from the time of the Mongol invasions through 1333.
{310} Chūgen (中間). Low-ranking followers. Those men obligated to serve a lord in battle or perform various menial duties, but lacking a surname.
Da (駄). Unit of weight that constitutes roughly 240 pounds.
Daimyō (大名). A provincial magnate. This autogenic term described powerful warlords from the mid-fourteenth century onward. By the seventeenth century, the term referred to any lord controlling ten thousand or more koku of revenue, with koku constituting the amount of rice one person required in a year. During the Tokugawa era, their lands were known as “domains” (han).
Dōri (道理). A notion “justice” or “reasonableness,” or the idea of following the spirit, rather than the letter, of codified law.
Emishi (蝦夷). “Barbarians,” or those inhabitants of the northern regions of the Japanese archipelago who did not recognize the authority of the Japanese court.
Genin (下人). A member of the “base” orders, lacking a surname and generally unfree, although they could be granted a name and rise in status through their battle service.
Gesu (下司). A local manager, appointed to an estate (shōen), who could be removed from his office by the proprietor. This office was similar in function to a jitō, but the latter was more desirable.
Gesu shiki (下司職). The office of gesu. See above.
Gokenin (御家人). “Honorable housemen,” a social status drawn from the ranks of provincials. An amorphous designation, they could be selected by shugo for the performance of guard duty. The advantages of this status were initially unclear but by mid-thirteenth century, the benefits associated with gokenin status outweighed its burdens. This term continued to be used after the fall of the Kamakura bakufu.
Han (藩). Domains. The territories of a daimyō during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867). Abolished in 1871.
Hanzei (半済). The “half tax” initiated in 1351. It allowed half of a province’s taxes to be used for military provisions by shugo. This enabled shugo to create larger armies and break down the autonomy of provincial warriors. It directly contributed to the rise of regional magnates (daimyō).
Hikan (被官). A retainer, or follower.
Hyakushō (百姓). Literally “the hundred surnames,” originally a generic term for commoners (e.g., those having no court office or rank). As late as the {311} fourteenth century, some were armed and owned horses. The first reference to hyakushō as designating cultivators appears in the late thirteenth century, but even as late as the mid-fifteenth century, one still sees powerful provincials with surnames referring to themselves as hyakushō.
Hyōjō (評定). Council meeting designed to determine policy or adjudicate disputes among either members of the court or one of Japan’s warrior governments.
Ikki (一揆). A verb originally meaning “to be in accord,” this word became used as a noun to designate military units during the fourteenth century. Later in the Tokugawa era the term became associated with peasant uprisings.
Jitō (地頭). A land steward, or one who was invested with this power in the aftermath of the Genpei War (1180–85) by Minamoto no Yoritomo. Possessing powers of taxation and policing and difficult to confiscate by court officials, the post was very desirable. After the destruction of Kamakura, this term lost its original meaning, but it still became associated with powers of local ownership and possession of land.
Kamakura bakufu (鎌倉幕府). The warrior government, nominally of eastern Japan, that was responsible for policing and providing order and adjudicating disputes among jitō.
Kanrei (管領). The post of shogunal chancellor, which superseded the office of shitsuji in 1367. It became the hereditary prerogative of three families: the Hatakeyama, Hosokawa, and Shiba.
Kassen bugyō (合戦奉行). Administrators who inspected the veracity of battle reports.
Kebiishi (検非違使). Capital, or imperial, police, an office dating from the ninth century, whose members were responsible for guarding the capital and adjudicating disputes.
Kenin (家人). Housemen. Any servant or follower in a particular house could use this term. By being a member of the house, they were not expected, or allowed to act autonomously.
Kenmon (権門). A “gate of power.” This term describes institutions with their own house organ of governance, or mandokoro, capable of transmitting orders.
Kessho (闕所). Lands declared “appropriable” by those in authority as a result of “crimes” or “rebellions” by either their proprietor or manager.
Kōgi (公儀). Public affairs or authority. The term could also refer to powerful lords.
Koku (石). The amount of rice one person required in a year. A crucial unit of income in the seventeenth century, which determined warrior status.
{312} Kokujin (国人). “Men of the provinces,” or autonomous warriors. An autogenic and generic designation for warriors appearing in the thirteenth century and becoming more popular from the mid-fourteenth century onward.
Kuni no miyatsuko (国造). A district, or prominent district chieftain during the time of the Yamato court (circa fifth to sixth century).
Mandokoro. (政所). A secretariat of a ranking official or courtier.
Miuchi (御内). Term used to describe all dependent warriors. By contrast, autonomous warriors were known as tozama.
Muromachi bakufu (室町幕府). Japan’s second warrior government, lasting from 1338 until 1573. Also known as the Ashikaga bakufu.
Myōshu (名主). Literally “lord of the myō.” Myō represented a unit of taxation. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, some powerful locals (zaichō kanjin) secured the right to assess taxes. They became known as myōshu. Not all became gokenin or jitō in the Kamakura age. Some became conflated with the higher ranks after the fall of Kamakura.
Nobushi (野伏). Skirmishers.
Rōjū (郎従). A generic term for retainer.
Rokuhara tandai (六波羅探題). Post established after 1221, whereby two Kamakura deputies resided in the capital, overseeing its affairs and engaging in preliminary judicial decisions, primarily for western Japan. Rokuhara was a region located in eastern Kyoto and the former mansion of Taira no Kiyomori. The last tandai were killed in 1333 shortly after they fled the capital.
Rōnin (浪人). “Wave men,” or masterless samurai. A term that came into being only during the Tokugawa era, when samurai became a distinct status that required ties to a lord.
Rōtō (郎等). Term for retainer, follower, or armed servants.
Rōzeki (狼藉). An outrage. Open defiance of authority, frequently resorting to military force after the promulgation of an order to cease and desist.
Ryōke shiki (領家職). Proprietary rights of income, which were granted to temples or ranking members of the nobility. Proprietors with this office could divest gesu and secure a preponderance of shōen income. They could not, however, divest jitō of their rights. Although shiki represented status-based rights to income, this practice started to break down in the fourteenth century, and some provincial figures were invested with this title, something that was inconceivable in earlier ages.
{313} Samurai (侍). Arising originally from the ranks of “commoners” (hyakushō), they possessed surnames and were obligated to a lord, who was generally of zaichō kanjin status. They should be conceived as a warrior’s retainer and possessed considerably greater rights than did “the base” (genin) (i.e., immunity from torture). With the breakdown of warrior autonomy and the reforms of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the 1590s, samurai became a generic term for a sword-wielding social order of warriors.
Samurai dokoro (侍所). An administrative office of the Ashikaga (Muromachi) bakufu, concerned with granting rewards for its warriors.
Sei-i-tai shōgun (征夷大将軍). An eighth-century office, originally designed to quell barbarians. Coveted because of its assumed unilateral ability to engage in military campaigns. Sakanoue no Tamuramaro was first appointed to this office. Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed to this post in 1192, but he passed it to his son so as to ensure succession. After their deaths, Fujiwara Regents and imperial princes staffed this office. With the downfall of the Kamakura bakufu in 1333, Ashikaga Takauji started laying claim to the post again and was appointed as sei-i-tai shōgun in 1338. His descendants continued being appointed to this position until 1573. Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed to the office in 1603 and it was held by his descendants through 1867.
Shiki (職). Status-based rights of income.
Shikken (執権). The chief of the Hōjō family during the Kamakura age. Often this term has been translated as “regent,” due to the ease with which the Hōjō deposed shōgun between the years 1226 and 1333, but adjunct or “shogunal chief of staff” better describes this role. Head of the shogunal administrators staffing his mandokoro.
Shitsuji (執事). A term used to describe the chief of staff for early Ashikaga shōguns. Superseded by the post of kanrei.
Shizoku (士族). A social class created in the aftermath of the abolishment of the samurai order by the Meiji government (1868–1912) of Japan. In contrast to high-ranking warriors (ex-daimyō) who were made into an aristocracy, this class had no particular prerogatives and was functionally the equivalent to that of commoners. It was abolished in 1947.
Shōen (荘園, 庄園). Estates that existed, in principle, from the eighth through the late sixteenth century, although in actuality most survived for relatively short periods of time. Units of governance, territory, and population, they were characterized by distinct boundaries. Crucially, their rights were {314} status based, with the proprietor and members of the capital getting most of the revenue, while managers received less. These status-based rights blurred after the mid-fourteenth century. See also azukari dokoro, gesu, ryōke, and jitō.
Shugo (守護). Provincial constable. Although assumed to have originated in the 1180s, it became a prominent official in the Kamakura bakufu after Yoritomo’s death in 1199. A policing office during the Kamakura age, it became far more powerful after the promulgation of the hanzei edict under Ashikaga rule. This act allowed these figures to secure access to half of a province’s revenue for military provisions. Many shugo had to reside in the capital during the Ashikaga heyday and in the later fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, some were supplanted by their deputies. In time, the more amorphous designation of daimyō came to be preferred by magnates over this appointed office.
Sōjitō (総地頭). An over-jitō. This chief, or over-jitō, was a Kyushu institution and refers to a warrior from the east who was appointed to oversee lands that already had a jitō. Contributed to much tension and litigiousness in this island during the Kamakura age (1185–1333).
Sōtsuibushi (惣追捕使). A policing officer appointed to estates, who often resided on the lands he was responsible for protecting.
Teichū (庭中). Court of Appeals.
Tennō (天皇). The sovereign of Japan, a term used to describe the occupant of the throne from the seventh century onward. At times they could be surpassed by Retired Emperors, who overshadowed these figures on occasion ritually and administratively from the latter eleventh through the fourteenth centuries.
Tokusei (徳政). Literally “virtuous government,” a policy of debt relief that was initially enacted in the 1240s, it ultimately became less binding and more favorable to creditors over time.
Tozama (外様). Literally an “outsider,” this term refers to warriors who were capable of behaving with autonomy, receiving their own petitions for reward, and fighting for whomever they pleased. Later came to designate more powerful daimyō during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867). See also miuchi.
Tsuitōshi (追討使). Envoy to pursue and punish. Warriors from the capital were appointed to this position on an ad hoc basis to conquer rebels or criminals.
Tsukushi (筑紫). Ancient name for the island of Kyushu. See also Chinzei.
{315} Wakatō (若党). Retainers possessing surname, but not exercising any autonomy. They were capable of riding horses, but not submitting their own petitions for reward.
Zaichō kanjin (在庁官人). Prominent local individuals, holding managerial office. Initially they aided provincial governors with the collection of taxes. Few commended their lands into estates. Many zaichō kanjin were appointed to the office of jitō during the Kamakura era. They were the most prominent warriors of the provinces.
Zuryō (受領). A provincial governor who served as a tax farmer from the ninth century onward. Often famed for rapacity. Collected taxes by relying on zaichō kanjin.