Edo-period village
During the Edo period of Japanese history, {{Nihongo|villages|村|mura}} were self-governing administrative units, led by the {{Nihongo|village headman|庄屋|shōya}}.
Description
The development of mura reflected specific changes that show the transition of the Edo community from medieval agricultural to mature administrative unit.{{Cite book|last1=Hall|first1=John W.|title=The Cambridge History of Japan|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory05jans|url-access=limited|last2=Hall|first2=John Whitney|last3=Brown|first3=Delmer M.|last4=Jansen|first4=Marius B.|last5=McCullough|first5=William H.|last6=Kanai|first6=Madoka|last7=Shively|first7=Donald Howard|last8=Yamamura|first8=Kozo|last9=Duus|first9=Peter|date=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-22357-1|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory05jans/page/n27 16]}} Before the Edo period, samurai administered the villages, but during the sword hunt they were put to a choice: give up their sword and status and remain on the land as a peasant, or live in a {{Nihongo|castle town|城下町|jōkamachi}} as a paid retainer of the local daimyō (lord). Villages were also manufacturing units: In western Japan, cottage industries developed, with each family of the village taking over a one step of the production process.
Villages were taxed as a unit, with the village headman responsible for taxation. Taxes were paid in rice, often 40 to 50% of the harvest. Criminal punishments could also be imposed on the village as a unit.
Prior to the emergence of religious authorities such as the Buddhist establishment, mura - along with the family (ie) - helped establish Japanese cultural practices such as ancestral veneration and funerary rites.{{Cite book|last1=Kornicki|first1=P. F.|title=Religion in Japan: Arrows to Heaven and Earth|last2=McMullen|first2=I. J.|date=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-55028-9|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=121}} Some of the villages served as enclaves or base-villages for the miko or female shamans.{{Cite book|last=Blacker|first=Carmen|title=The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan|date=2004-08-02|publisher=Curzon Press|isbn=978-1-135-31873-4|location=Surrey|pages=104}}
References
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