| Abstrakt: |
The article discusses the characteristics of a “so” community, Yodo Rokkago, as a fief dedicated to a religious institution, the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine-Temple, from the 13th century when it functioned as a market-place. From the beginning, the community had a close relationship with local priests, and a mid-15th-century document shows that the community claimed independence from the Muromachi shogunate. During the Sengoku period, community members protected themselves by utilizing the Iwashimizu Hachiman shrine’s deed of ownership, and by hiring unemployed warriors, financed by custom duties the community had been authorized, by special privilege, to charge merchants who passed through community territory. After the unification of Japan by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the community’s taxation privileges on land transportation were banned. [ABSTRACT FROM CONTRIBUTOR] |
