The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of the village bylaws in Okinawa in the Meiji era. The form and the number of articles of the village bylaws differed greatly for every district, such as Kunigami, the northern part of Okinawa Island; Nakagami, the central part; Shimajiri, the southern part; the peripheral islands of Okinawa, and the Miyako and the Yaeyama. On the other hand, the bylaws of magiri, the unit of local government in pre-modern and the early stages of modern times, and mura, the small villages under magiri, were almost same in each district. In this study, we examined the village bylaws of the Kunigami, Shimajiri and two peripheral islands such as Kume and Aguni, because of their bylaws had many comparable articles. The following points become clear as a result of this analysis. First, the village bylaws of the Kunigami and Shimajiri were regarded as having been copied from the proclamations of the Ryukyu King's office. Second, the village bylaws of Kume Island were based upon the Kujicho, which was one type of proclamation the others. Aguni's bylaws resembled the bylaws of Kume Island, which were also regarded to be based upon the proclamations. Third, the reasons mentioned above, the village bylaws were considered to have been written by the magiri officials based upon proclamations modified to suit the situation of each area, and had been enacted in each village. Fourth, it was considered that differences of the village bylaws among the districts reflected the economic situation of every district. For example, the fines to those who broke the rule of the bylaws were not only money but also physical punishment in the Kunigami, although the fines were money in the Shimajiri. On Kume Island, the fines were paid by rice. Fifth, however, in regard to the activities in farming, which were done under compulsion and control of the magiri and mum officials. Ultimately, no individual farm management had been formed.
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