著者

高橋 敏

出版者

国立歴史民俗博物館

雑誌

国立歴史民俗博物館研究報告 (ISSN:02867400)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.95, pp.147-164, 2002-03

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近世史研究にあって身分制度については、長く硬直的な理解がつづいた。士農工商の身分制度が厳しく守られ、特に武士と百姓・町人間の身分移動はあり得ないというのが通説であった。しかし、村落史、都市史研究の進展の中から家や家族史研究の深化によって、身分間移動を示す史料の事実が明らかにされつつある。本稿が取り上げる北関東上州の在郷町桐生新町の織屋吉田家に江戸の武家株売買、譲渡に関する数点の文書を見出した。吉田家では武家株を買収して武家身分に上昇することはなかったが、これらは巨大政治都市江戸に生まれていた武家株売買の状況を示す実に貴重な情報史料である。売り物として登場する武家株は、「矢の根とぎ御用達」(蔵前取五九俵)代金六五〇両、打物御用達(三〇人扶持)一二五〇両の二株である。また、何百、何千両の大金が動く売買譲渡の手続きについては詳細な取り決めを定めており、紛争を回避する手段が講じられている。多くは買い手が売り手の家の養子となって継嗣するため、売り手側の借金の有無、扶養家族の有無によって金額、支払い手続きに様々な工夫がなされている。苟も御家人株とはいえ、幕臣の一翼を担い、それなりの由緒を誇りに世襲を原則とする武家が、金銭によって売買、取り引きされていることにまず驚かされる。このような事実をどのように理解すべきなのか、幕藩体制の内実を揺るがす事態ではないのか。先祖伝来の武家身分を株として売っても生計を立てねばならない窮迫せる武士と、経済的な実力を背景に金にものをいわせて由緒ある武家身分を手にいれようとする町人・百姓身分が存在したことは事実である。近世の身分の内実はどうであったのか、幕藩制の総体の理解にかかわって武家株売買の実態は究明されねばならない。In the study of near modern history, the understanding of the class system has long been inflexible. A common view was that there was rigid demarcation among the classes of warriors, farmers, artisans and tradesmen. They considered it impossible to change in social standing, particularly between warriors and farmers/townsmen could occur.However, deeper studies of family history as a result of advanced studies of village history and urban history have gradually clarified the fact from the historical materials that indicate the mobility between different social standings.At the Yoshida family, a weaver in a zaigo-cho Kiryu-shinmachi in Joshu (North Kanto) that the paper considers, the writer found several pieces of documents regarding the stock trades and transfer by samurai families in Edo.Although the Yoshida family did not rise to the status of warriors by acquiring samurai family stocks, these historical materials give us very important information about the real situation of exchanges of samurai family stocks that were already on the market in the political megalopolis Edo.The two following stocks appeared on the market : "Yanonetogi goyo-tashi" (Kuramaedori 59 bags of rice) for the price of 650 ryo and "Orimono goyo-tashi" (a ration for 30 persons) for the price of 1250 ryo. There were detailed arrangements for the procedures of trades and transfer in which a great deal of money was dealt with, and measures to avoid conflicts were devised. In many cases, as buyers would succeed the family of the seller as an adopted son, various means were contrived for the amount and payment procedures, depending whether sellers had debts or not, or whether they had a family to support or not.Furthermore, it is surprising that the title of the samurai family, which played the role of a vassal of the Shogun and continued to exist based upon heredity with a pride of its own lineage, was traded with money. How should we understand the situation like this? Wasn't it the case that shook the foundation of the Tokugawa Shogunate system?The real situation was that two classes existed : the warriors, who suffered from financial difficulties and had to sell their status as samurai inherited for generations in the form of stocks for a living, and townspeople and farmers, who tried to acquire the traditional status of samurai by resorting to their financial power, namely, money.To know about the real conditions of social classes in the early modern times, the real face of the samurai family stock trade should be clarified in relation to the understanding of the Tokugawa Shogunate system as a whole.