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1657: 'Tōzoku-jin sansaku jōjō' - A Government Directive
to Investigate 'Komusō' and Other "Outlaws"
盗賊人穿鑿條々
TŌZOKU-JIN SANSAKU JŌJŌ
"Articles of Inquiries into Bandit Activity"
This text, dated the first month of 1657, was presented by Hosaka Hiro'oki in an academic article of his, published in 1994*, on page 201:
Addressed to the Imperial estates, private estates, temples and shrines in the Kantō Region, in the first month of 1657, Meireki 3, the Bakufu, Shōgunal Government, issued a set of directives regarding the need of investigations into, among other matters, the activities of suspicious and troubling social groups and individuals.
In the fourth paragraph, we see 'komusō', 虚無僧, ranking equal with, for example,
'yamabushi', 山伏, mountain priests,
'suke', 出家, cenobotes, persons who left their families to enter the world of Buddhism,
'heikōjin', 並行人, travellers in pairs or groups,
'kanetataki', 鐘叩き, bell strikers,
'nusubito'/'kōjin', 盗人, thiefs and robbers,
'hinin', 非人, outlaws, criminals, outcasts, un-humans, and
'eta', 穢多, "untouchables", "pollution abundant", traditional Japan's lowest social level.
* Hosaka Hiro'oki: 'Jūshichi seiki ni okeru komusō no seisei: boroboro,
komosō to no idō to 'kou' kōi no arikata.'
Printed in: Mibunteki shūen.
Publ. by Buraku mondai kenkyō shuppan-bu,
pp. 161-216, Kyoto, 1994.
Om Hosaka ...
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