Abstract
Saribumi (_??__??_) is a legal document, which made its appearance around the middle of the Heian Era or the latter half of the 10th Century A. D., when the manor system was about to gain ascendancy in Japan. Law Courts at that time used to order one of the parties disputing over obstruction of the use of land or other properties to submit saribumi, when that party admitted that he obstructed the use of the property in question. The issuer of saribumi used to pledge in that document that he would refrain from such obstruction in the future. In other words, the issuer of saribumi admits he has never had any title on the property. It must be noted that the issuer is not forgoing his right-he cannot give up what he does not possess. Later, however, saribumi acquired a fictitious meaning. When a court considers the judiciary adjudication over a dispute to be practically impossible, the court may attempt a settlement by issuance of a fictitious saribumi, in which the issuer admits that he has no title on the property involved in the dispute. In this fictitious use of saribumi, the transfer of right is effected. The origin of wayo (_??__??_), a compromise procedure frequently used in the warlords' court during the Kamakura Shogunate Era, should be sought in the legal custom which evolved from saribumi.
