Kunin (公人) in Mediaeval Japan : A Consideration of the Problem of Kunin in Buddhist Temples

Abstract

In mediaeval Japan, kunin was one of the words which denoted the concept of "public". The word kunin was used to indicate the lower ranking functionaries of the Imperial Court (Chotei), the executive officials (bugyonin) in the Kamakura and Muromachi Bakufu, and the zoshiki, which was the lowest class of public officials. Of these three types of kunin, it is the last type -zoshiki- which most often appears in mediaeval documents. This type of kunin was divided into the chugo (中綱), shogo (小綱), dodoshi (堂童子), shicho (仕丁), and shokusho (職掌) in the major temples of Todaiji (東大寺), Kofukuji (興福寺), Toji (東寺) and so on. There were also kotoneri (小舎人) and zoshiki (雑色) of the Samurai-dokoro (侍所), kunin of the Mandokoro (政所) in the Muromachi Bakufu, and kunin of the provincial governments (kokuga). In this study I carefully examined the kunin of Todaiji and Kofukuji. When we take into consideration the kunin of the Imperial Court and the zoshiki, the following common characteristics of the kunin are inferred. (i)They live in urban areas -for example, Kyoto and Nara. They have the organization -za (座) -similar to the craft guilds. Their economic life is based on pay received from the public organization (Imperial Court, Bakufu, kokuga, Todaiji, Kofukuji etc.) to which they belong, according to the work which they completed. (ii)They have the privilege of exemption from taxation. Many of them have jobs in crafts and commerce. (iii)They execute "kendan" (検断) -the exercise of police power in mediaeval Japan. In the actual exercise of police power, they often employ "hinin" (非人). (iv)They do not fall into the category characterized by the relationship between the feudal lord and his retainer. Thus, kunin possessed slaves (actually, similar to indented servants, genin), and there were cases where kunin became genin. In view of these characteristics, we can define kunin as the public functionaries who belong to the public organizations and perform public duties.