Ōtabumi

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Ōtabumi (大田文) were land registers kept by the Kamakura (1185-1333) and Muromachi shogunates (1333-1568) during the associated periods of Japanese history.

Each province was required to supply a record of the domains contained within it, both private estates (荘園, shōen) and public lands (国衙領, kokugaryō). For each province, there were actually two sets of ōtabumi. One was initiated and kept by the shogunate, and included not only the size of the various landholdings and a measure of the cultivated land, but also a detailed description of land ownership history. The second set was collected and kept by the provincial headquarters (国衙, kokuga) and contained only the land areas. These records were used, in part, in determining the amount of tax landholders owed.

Though most ōtabumi are no longer extant, those that do help greatly to display shifting patterns of land ownership and demographic change during this period. From the beginning of the Kamakura period up through the Sengoku period (1467-1603), the warrior class gradually moved into and took over lands previously owned by court nobles (公家, kuge) and temples and shrines.

[edit] Reference

• Hurst, G. Cameron III (1985). "ōtabumi." Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.