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*''Other Names'': 名主 ''(nanushi)''
*''Japanese'': 庄屋 ''(shouya)''
*''Japanese'': 庄屋 ''(shouya)''
''Shôya'' were village headmen in the [[Edo period]].
''Shôya'', also known as ''nanushi'', were village headmen in the [[Edo period]].
Their responsibilities often included managing tax and census reports, overseeing tax collection, serving as a representative for the village & intermediary in communicating with higher authorities, and otherwise working for the good of the village and to maintain order. In some regions, headmen were also called outside of their villages to aid in other business, such as assessments of public work projects and the associated burden of corvée labor and material contributions from various villages, or in investigating fires, shipwrecks and the like alongside other officials.
Their responsibilities often included managing tax and census reports, overseeing tax collection, serving as a representative for the village & intermediary in communicating with higher authorities, and otherwise working for the good of the village and to maintain order. Such "census reports" were rarely true censuses, re-counting or re-accounting for the total population of the village, but rather often took the form of reporting specifically on births, deaths, changes of residence, marriages, adoptions, and the like within these small, relatively tight-knit communities.<ref>Kalland, 30.</ref>
The ''shôya'' was often aided by village "elders" known as ''kumigashira'' or ''hyakushô kashira''. Villagers were often grouped into co-responsible groupings known as ''goningumi'' ("five person groups") or ''kumiai'', each of which was then responsible to the ''kumigashira''. In some domains, other levels of official positions existed between these.
In some regions, headmen were also called outside of their villages to aid in other business, such as assessments of public work projects and the associated burden of corvée labor and material contributions from various villages, or in investigating fires, shipwrecks and the like alongside other officials.
The ''shôya'' was often aided by village "elders" known as ''kumigashira'' or ''hyakushô kashira''. Villagers were often grouped into co-responsible groupings known as ''[[goningumi]]'' ("five person groups") or ''kumiai'', each of which was then responsible to the ''kumigashira''. In some domains, other levels of official positions existed between these.
Whether the position of ''shôya'' was hereditary varied from one region or [[han|domain]] to the next; in some regions, such as in [[Fukuoka han]], it was also not uncommon for village headmen to be appointed from other villages.
Whether the position of ''shôya'' was hereditary varied from one region or [[han|domain]] to the next; in some regions, such as in [[Fukuoka han]], it was also not uncommon for village headmen to be appointed from other villages.
Neighborhood headmen, also known as ''nanushi'', claimed a similar or equivalent position, overseeing neighborhoods within the city of [[Edo]]. Around the end of the 18th century, there were some 250-260 ''nanushi'' in Edo, overseeing roughly one thousand neighborhoods. This meant that many headmen were responsible for as many as seven, eight, or even ten neighborhoods each. The ''goningumi'' and guardhouses in each neighborhood answered to the ''nanushi''. The ''nanushi'' in turn reported to the ''[[machidoshiyori]]'' ("town elders"), assistants to the ''[[machi bugyo|Edo machi bugyô]]'' (Edo City Magistrates).<ref>Katô Takashi, "Governing Edo," in James McClain (ed.), ''Edo & Paris'', Cornell University Press (1994), 46, 55.</ref>
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