Shihai monjo

• Japanese: 紙背文書 (shihai monjo)

Shihai monjo, meaning "writing/documents on the reverse side of paper," is a term used to describe historical documents - particularly diaries, records, and other unofficial content - written on the reverse side of more official documents, in essence using the reverse side as scrap paper.

These documents are often more useful, and more extensive, than official documents in revealing information about commoners who specialized in non-agricultural trades, including merchants, shippers, and artisans, as well as those specializing in the production of raw commodities (e.g. lumber, salt, marine products, iron). "Backside documents" of this sort may include tabulations of expenses, records of amounts shipped where and when, or the like, whereas official documents produced by any level of government, e.g. especially as relating to tax collection, focused disproportionately on land and agricultural production, and do not provide a good picture of commodity production, shipping and trade, or artisanal production.

References

• Amino Yoshihiko, Alan Christy (trans.), Rethinking Japanese History, University of Michigan (2012), 27.