<論説>拝領屋敷の利用にみる武士の屋敷観と武家地管理政策の展開 : 城下町米沢を中心として

Abstract

本稿は米沢藩を事例として、武士の屋敷利用の実態を検討した上で、藩の武家地管理政策について考察した。十八世紀初頭、屋敷の需給方法や家屋敷の嫡子相続などが規定された結果、屋敷と拝領者との関係が固定化され、屋敷の資産化を進めることにつながった。家屋が頻繁に売却されたとともに、借金の抵当や縁約金の代替となった例もある。一方で借家経営や疏菜耕作といった居住外利用も展開し、武家地は本来のあり方から逸脱した方向へ進む。これに対して藩は随時、規制と緩和を繰り返すが、藩政改革が開始される十九世紀に入ると武家地を収入源として活用する政策転換を図った。本事例でみられた屋敷利用や藩の管理政策は、外様諸藩および江戸においても類似点が少なくない。これに対し、譜代藩の研究事例と比較すると、屋敷の利用実態や藩の管理政策に差異がみられる。すなわち、移封経験の有無が武士の屋敷観や屋敷利用に差異をもたらしていると予想される。

At the beginning of the Edo period, most han, or feudal clans, constructed castle towns to establish centers of regional government. Castle towns generally consisted of merchants' residential areas, temples and shrines, and significantly, warriors' residential areas. Warriors were obliged to reside in assigned lots, which were considered to be official property. Moreover, warriors were not allowed to move their residences without permission. To date, most castle town studies have focused on the geographic location of warriors' residential areas, and researches on the management and actual use of residential lots have escaped attention. The purpose of this study is to examine warriors' occupation of residential lots as well as the administration of them by the authority, taking the case of Yonezawa, a castle town located in present-day Yamagata Prefecture, as an example. In the beginning of the 17th century, when castle town of Yonezawa was constructed, warriors were provided their residential lots and houses according to their social rank. However, after several years, warriors had to restore their houses at their expense. In the beginning of the 18th century, Yonezawa-han codified regulations concerning warriors' house lots. They had not to be left vacant, and warriors were obliged to build their houses by themselves. The succession of usufructry right of the house lots to their heirs was legalized, because they had been renovating their houses by themselves. In addition, procedures concerning the changes of warriors' residential lots simplified. These regulations gradually brought the changes of warriors' occupation of the residential lots. For example, some of them rented the main houses to the other warriors and cultivated some parts of lots. Moreover some warriors built small houses (called kadoya) in their lots in order to rent to day-laborers and low lank warriors (ashigaru). Similar use of the house lots is found in the other castle towns of tozama hans, such as Kanazawa, Tokushima, Fukuoka and Kumamoto. Tozama hans mean those whose lords sworn fealty to Tokugawa family before and after the decisive (286) Battle of Sekigahara (1600). They were assigned fiefs far from capital city, Edo, just like Yonezawa-han. Through the Edo period, most of them had no transference of their fiefs to the other areas. On the other hand, different types of the management of warriors' residential lots are found in the castle towns of fudai hans, such as Himeji, Ueda and Yamatokoriyama. Feudal lords of fudai hans offered continued allegiance to the Tokugawa shogunate, and were assigned their fiefs mainly in the strategical important areas. Tokugawa shogunate frequently transferred their fiefs to the other areas in order to consolidate its rule. At the time of transfer, new residential plots with houses were distributed to warriors. They were not obliged to renovate their houses at their own expense. When warriors changed their residence, officials made a close inspection of the houses and their fittings, and ordered them to restore the former condition. These two types of management of warriors' residential areas reflect the different frequency of the fiefs transfer between tozama hans and fudai hans. The warriors' residential lots became gradually private asset in the former, whereas officials controlled strictly not only the lots but also the houses in the latter.