In the early modern period, there were women's estates in Saga-Han, which had been continued from the days of Ryuzoji clan. The estate was aptly called Kesho-den or dressing land. Such an estate was usually given by the lord to a female member of his clan. The land then became her exclusive property, and was separated from the family estate, or the land of her husband. Even after the death of her husband when the land was inherited by the heir, her estate was still her own. She could decide to whom her estate would be given after her death, and land was usually divided among her daughters. The estate continued to be Kesho-den in that case. However, by the end of the 17th century (Kanbun-Empo periods), it has become the tendency that wives' estates were inherited by male members of the famliy, and the creation of new Kesho-den became rare. As a result, this institution was rapidly on the decline. The existence of Kesho-den was limited to the upper strata of the samurai society. It was sometimes seen that the land had been given to a daughter when she got married. The land, however, was usually included in the famliy estate, and cannot be called wives' estate. These are examples that the husband gave up the part that his wife had brought with her when they got divorced.
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