Comparative Study of the Landed-Fief-System of Japan, during the Edo Period.

德川幕府发现自己在近代处于封建统治的顶峰.大名的领地由幕府分得，大名属下的领地则由大名本人从领地中分得。大名由幕府批准，在他的领地内拥有惩罚、管理和征税等独立的权利。然而，对于大名的附庸或随从，人们普遍认为，在大名权力的形成和集权过程中，曾经对其领地行使的各种权利被减少或削弱，最终被限制在征税范围内。但也有一些随从仍然持有并行使行政处罚权的案例被报道。应该研究为什么会有这样的随从群体(我暂称他们为Ky-nin-ryoshu，或附庸-seasal-selineur)，以及他们如何看待自己的分封土地，特别是在大名权力集中和大名贵族权利因此减少的过程中。诸侯对分封土地的权利当然得到了霸主的认可，从某种意义上说，这些权利的使用可以被视为国家对代理统治的执行。如果是这样的话，诸侯国应该像封建官僚一样统治这块领地。但这种统治实质上应该是执政官(大观)和县长(高里武乔)的特权，他们管理着主的私有财产，而不是分封的附庸。然而，应该根据诸侯对农业政策的看法和统治集团的意识来审查分封或赠予的土地及其社会，这是破译德川时代上层(大名)和下级(Kyunin)领地的一般特征的线索。

The Tokugawa shogun found himself at the apex of feudalland own-ership during early modern times. The daimyo's domains were en-feoffed by the shogun and the fief of a daimyo vassal was apportioned by the daimyo himself from among his domain. The daimyo was approved by the shogunate to hold such independent rights as punishing, administering and taxing within his domain. As for the daimyo's vassals or retainers, however, it has been a popular view that various rights once exercised over their fief had been reduced or skeletonized in the process of the formation and centralization of daimyo power and eventually became restricted to taxation.But some cases in which the retainers still held and exercised administrative and punishment rights have been reported. It should be examind why there existed groups of such retainers (whom I tentatively call ky-nin-ryoshu, or vassal-selineurs) and how they perceived their own enfeoffed land, especially in the process of the centralization of daimyo power and the reduction of the rights of the daimyo vasals as a result. The vassals'rights over the enfeofied land were certainly approved by the overlord and in a sense the use of them can be taken as an execution of proxy rule by the state. If so, the vassals should have dominated the fief as if they were feudal bureaucrats. But such domination ought to have been substantially the perquisite of the bailiffs (daikan) and county magistrates (koribugyo) who were administering the lord's demesne, and not of the enfeoffed vassals. Nevertheless, the enfeoffed or bestowed land and its society should be examined in terms of the vassals'views on agraian policy and the consciousness of the ruling group which serve as clues to decipher the characteristics of the upper level (daimyo) and lower level (kyunin) fiefs during the Tokugawa times in general.