Outcastes and Ie: The Case of Two Beggar Boss Associations
Maren Ehlers
Chapter from the book: Berry M. & Yonemoto M. 2019. What Is a Family?: Answers from Early Modern Japan.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Berry M. & Yonemoto M. 2019. What Is a Family?: Answers from Early Modern Japan.
This chapter explores the formation and evolution of households among Tokugawa outcastes by focusing on guilds of beggar bosses (hinin) in Osaka and Ōno (a small castle town in Echizen province). The first part traces the process by which these guilds, which had been formed out of migrant paupers in the early seventeenth century, gradually established households, starting with the guild leadership, and turned begging rights into inheritable household property. The second part addresses attempts to stem the decline in households among guilds of beggar bosses in both towns in the second half of the Tokugawa period, and discusses the implications of this decline for the guilds’ ability to perform duty as patrol- and policemen for the samurai authorities.
Ehlers, M. 2019. Outcastes and Ie: The Case of Two Beggar Boss Associations. In: Berry M. & Yonemoto M (eds.), What Is a Family?. California: University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.77.f
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Published on Sept. 17, 2019