Kobushingumi

• Japanese: 小普請組 (kobushingumi)

The kobushin-gumi was one of two labor pools set up for low-ranking samurai in the Edo period, the other being the yorigumi, for samurai with fiefs and stipends over 3,000 koku. Those of lower rank (income) than that were grouped into the kobushingumi.

The kobushingumi was further sub-divided into eight units, each overseen by a shihai (commissioner) and kumigashira (asst. commissioner). Four or five clerks, known as sewa-tori-atsukai, administered each of the sub-units. Samurai seeking membership in the group (and thus, employment) reported to meetings (aitai or ôtai) at the house of the commissioner, held on the 6th, 19th, and 24th day of each month, at which time they could also submit requests for marriages, adoptions of heirs, retirements, or other such matters affecting their family and status. Some particularly eager or desperate samurai greeted the commissioner each morning as he left his home, or visited the kumigashira at his home, on the 14th or final day of the month. The commissioner then submitted his recommendations (for employment, as well as for authorization for marriages, adoptions, retirements, etc.) to his superiors.

A metsuke (government inspector) surveyed the skills, finances, personality, and qualifications otherwise of applicants, and played a role in confirming the eligibility of a samurai applicant for government employment. Those whose applications were successful were summoned to the shogun's palace (Edo castle), though this appearance at the castle required the applicant to possess a formal outfit and to bring a certain number of gifts to present to officials; not every applicant could afford this.

Those who were unable to secure appointment often lived rather impoverished lives, sometimes for generations. They settled mainly in certain neighborhoods of Edo, including Honjô, Fukagawa, and Koishikawa, and supplemented their meager samurai stipends by engaging in craft activities, producing and selling toys, umbrellas, or the like.

References

• Craig, Teruko (trans.). Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai. University of Arizona Press, 1988. p.xiii.