Shobunjo from the perspective of ancient and medieval Japanese inheritance : An analysis of its origin and inherent function

Abstract

The ancient-medieval Japanese document by the name of shobunjo 処分状 has been considered as identical to the document, yuzurijo 譲状, which was prepared at the time when property was transferred. However, the term shobun originally meant "to deal with a pending matter," then the meaning was expanded to include "the distribution of inheritance," from which shobunjo developed. Its relationship to inheritance can be traced back to the Yoro Ryo 養老令 code that allowed persons to freely "distribute" their wealth to their chosen heirs. On the other hand, while shobunjo functioned to clarify the estate, yuzurijo functioned to specifically guarantee the inheritance due to each heir. Since the transferor had the right to decide how his property would be divided among his heirs, his shobunjo would list all of his wealth and all of the heirs to it and would be handed over to the next head of his household (ie 家), while yuzurijo would be handed over to each heir recording his/her share of the total property. Since the intent of shobunjo included the preservation of the ie, it differed from yuzurijo in both purpose and form. Therefore, the origin and function of the two documents becomes clear: Shobunjo not only listing the details of the whole estate, but also designating the next head of the ie, yuzurijo indicating to each individual heir what share of the estate he/she was entitled.