下人

下人（げにん）とは日本の近世以前の家内隷属人である奴隷の呼称。

概説

平安中期以降、貴族、寺社、大名田堵らの家内で使役された私的隷属民の呼称として現れる。「下人・所従」と併称されることが多いが、一般的に下人の方が所従よりも家への隷属性が強く、また、所従の称は武家においてよく利用された。「奴婢雑人」などとも称され、売買、譲渡、相続の対象であり^[1]、下人の子孫もまた代々主家に仕えた。その職務は耕作、雑務、馬引きなどであり、合戦にも駆り出された。武家の奉公人は上層を郎従（郎党、郎等）、下層を下人や所従と呼んだが、下人所従は武士身分でないため、戦場において首を取っても手柄になることはなかった。

南北朝時代

南北朝の争乱以降、土地を与えられ自立する下人が現れるなど身分環境に変動が起こってくる。従来譜代であった下人の奉公形態も、年季契約をもって行うものが現れるなど、従来の家内従属性が薄れていった。近世にはいると刀狩りによる名主層の否定など、農地に対する重層支配が否定され、農地の小規模独立経営を推し進める政策が採られていくため、譜代相伝の下人である譜代下人は次第に姿を消していった。替わって年季奉公を中心としたものに変わり、下男（げなん）^[2]^[3]、下女（げじょ）^[4]^[3]^[5]という呼称が定着してくる。

戦国時代

夫が領主によって刑罰をうけたときに、妻子も下人として所有・人身売買されることが頻繁にあったという^[6]。また女性が父親や夫から逃げて領主の屋敷に保護を求めたときに、女性を下人とすることも許容されていた^[7]。1587年にマニラに来航した日本人に日本の奴隷制度について聞いたところ、息子は父親の身分を継承し、娘は母親の身分を継承して主人に所有権が引き継がれるとの律令制の法令と合致する内容だったと記録されている^[8]^[9]。セルケイラはキリシタン大名でない日本の領主の課す重税によって親が子を売るよう強いられていたと述べている^[10]。飢饉や自然災害時に保護と引き換えに労働を申し出た者は下人とみなされた^[11]。

江戸時代

江戸時代にも名主（なぬし）、庄屋、商家、武家において存在し、その多くは出替奉公であったが実質的には譜代であることも多かった。商家では、年季明けなどで下男、下女が奉公先を替えることを出代（でがわり）といい、出代を行う日は、万治・寛文年間までは2月2日、それ以降は3月4日とされていた。^[12]

備考

正月16日には、地獄の釜の蓋が開く日とされ、この日は下男下女が解放され、自由な1日を過ごした^[13]（藪入りも参照）。

脚注

[脚注の使い方]

^ 網野善彦『蒙古襲来（上）』小学館、1992年、P.104頁。
^ 『下男』 - コトバンク
^ ^a ^b 『下男・下女』 - コトバンク
^ 『下女』 - コトバンク
^ 『下女奉公』 - コトバンク
^ Rômulo Ehalt, Geninka and Slavery: Jesuit Casuistry and Tokugawa Legislation on Japanese Bondage (1590s–1620s), Itinerario (2023), 47, 342–356 doi:10.1017/S0165115323000256, pp. 353-354
^ Rômulo Ehalt, Geninka and Slavery: Jesuit Casuistry and Tokugawa Legislation on Japanese Bondage (1590s–1620s), Itinerario (2023), 47, 342–356 doi:10.1017/S0165115323000256, p. 354,"Similar argument was made in the discussion of the case of women who had fled their fathers or husbands and sought shelter in the local lord’s house. While Japanese custom accepted that these women could be trans- formed into genin by the lord, the Goa theologians established that they could be considered enslaved only when they had been accused of and condemned for a crime. Otherwise, missionaries should campaign for their liberation in advising Japanese Christians through confession."
^ University of Santo Tomás, Manila, Archivo de la Provincia del Santo Rosário [hereafter APSR], Consultas 2,Japón 2, Miscelanea, vol. 1, 323v–4, 325.
^ Rômulo Ehalt, Geninka and Slavery: Jesuit Casuistry and Tokugawa Legislation on Japanese Bondage (1590s–1620s), Itinerario (2023), 47, 342–356 doi:10.1017/S0165115323000256, pp. 352-353, "Nevertheless, the authority of the Ritsuryō was always on the minds of early modern Japanese. In 1587, when a group of Japanese visiting Manila was questioned on bondage practices in their country, their response to the fate of genin children replicated the model established by the code.5"
^ Jesuits and the Problem of Slavery in Early Modern Japan, Rômulo da Silva Ehalt, 2017. p. 472, "Cerqueira said that these parents would be led to subject their children to slavery because they could not pay taxes demanded by non-Christian Japanese lords. However, the problem he had in Japan was that gentile rulers were creating this situation...On the other hand, the problem of definition of necessity also permeates this discussion. Cerqueira indicates that some children were sold not out of extreme necessity, but rather of great necessity. The issue here is relativism: given the local living standards, the Japanese were supposedly able to live in conditions that could be deemed extreme in other areas but were rather ordinary in the archipelago"
^ Rômulo Ehalt, Geninka and Slavery: Jesuit Casuistry and Tokugawa Legislation on Japanese Bondage (1590s–1620s), Itinerario (2023), 47, 342–356 doi:10.1017/S0165115323000256, p. 354, "The same suggestion was repeated in other cases. For instance, those who offered themselves to work in exchange for protection during events like famines and natural disasters were often considered genin in Japanese society, but confessors were to admonish penitents that they should free these genin upon the completion of enough labour to pay for the amount of food, clothing, and shelter provided."
^ 江戸の歳事風俗誌（小野武雄著、講談社学術文庫）
^ 網野善彦『海と列島の中世』講談社学術文庫 2003年 pp.236 - 237.

外部リンク

『下人』 - コトバンク

この項目は、日本の歴史に関連した書きかけの項目です。この項目を加筆・訂正などしてくださる協力者を求めています（P:日本/P:歴史/P:歴史学/PJ日本史）。

[1] 網野善彦『蒙古襲来（上）』小学館、1992年、P.104頁。

[2] 『下男』 - コトバンク

[mf-3] 『下男・下女』 - コトバンク

[4] 『下女』 - コトバンク

[5] 『下女奉公』 - コトバンク

[6] Rômulo Ehalt, Geninka and Slavery: Jesuit Casuistry and Tokugawa Legislation on Japanese Bondage (1590s–1620s), Itinerario (2023), 47, 342–356 doi:10.1017/S0165115323000256, pp. 353-354

[7] Rômulo Ehalt, Geninka and Slavery: Jesuit Casuistry and Tokugawa Legislation on Japanese Bondage (1590s–1620s), Itinerario (2023), 47, 342–356 doi:10.1017/S0165115323000256, p. 354,"Similar argument was made in the discussion of the case of women who had fled their fathers or husbands and sought shelter in the local lord’s house. While Japanese custom accepted that these women could be trans- formed into genin by the lord, the Goa theologians established that they could be considered enslaved only when they had been accused of and condemned for a crime. Otherwise, missionaries should campaign for their liberation in advising Japanese Christians through confession."

[8] University of Santo Tomás, Manila, Archivo de la Provincia del Santo Rosário [hereafter APSR], Consultas 2,Japón 2, Miscelanea, vol. 1, 323v–4, 325.

[9] Rômulo Ehalt, Geninka and Slavery: Jesuit Casuistry and Tokugawa Legislation on Japanese Bondage (1590s–1620s), Itinerario (2023), 47, 342–356 doi:10.1017/S0165115323000256, pp. 352-353, "Nevertheless, the authority of the Ritsuryō was always on the minds of early modern Japanese. In 1587, when a group of Japanese visiting Manila was questioned on bondage practices in their country, their response to the fate of genin children replicated the model established by the code.5"

[10] Jesuits and the Problem of Slavery in Early Modern Japan, Rômulo da Silva Ehalt, 2017. p. 472, "Cerqueira said that these parents would be led to subject their children to slavery because they could not pay taxes demanded by non-Christian Japanese lords. However, the problem he had in Japan was that gentile rulers were creating this situation...On the other hand, the problem of definition of necessity also permeates this discussion. Cerqueira indicates that some children were sold not out of extreme necessity, but rather of great necessity. The issue here is relativism: given the local living standards, the Japanese were supposedly able to live in conditions that could be deemed extreme in other areas but were rather ordinary in the archipelago"

[11] Rômulo Ehalt, Geninka and Slavery: Jesuit Casuistry and Tokugawa Legislation on Japanese Bondage (1590s–1620s), Itinerario (2023), 47, 342–356 doi:10.1017/S0165115323000256, p. 354, "The same suggestion was repeated in other cases. For instance, those who offered themselves to work in exchange for protection during events like famines and natural disasters were often considered genin in Japanese society, but confessors were to admonish penitents that they should free these genin upon the completion of enough labour to pay for the amount of food, clothing, and shelter provided."

[12] 江戸の歳事風俗誌（小野武雄著、講談社学術文庫）

[13] 網野善彦『海と列島の中世』講談社学術文庫 2003年 pp.236 - 237.

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下人

目次

概説

南北朝時代

戦国時代

江戸時代

備考

脚注

関連項目

外部リンク