Concerning the Separation between Hon-kuji (Main Suits) and Kane-kuji (Money Suits) in the Civil Litigation of the Tokugawa Shogunate

Abstract

In this paper I tried to investigate the process of separating between hon-kuji (main suits) and kane-kuji (money suits) in the civil litigation of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
The subject of the separation between hon-kuji and kane-kuji is, after all, equal to the matter of the formation of kane-kuji. The category of kane-kuji was formed in substance by the late Genroku or the Hoei period (early 18th century), and was recognized formally in 1716 (Sho-toku 6).
It is the widely-accepted notion that hon-kuji was "general suits" and kane-kuji was "exceptional suits". In fact, however, it was not hon-kuji, but kane-kuji that would have been developed to modern civil litigation.