THE FORMATION OF HININ STATUS GROUPS AND THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES

HININ WERE THE other typical discriminated status group of the Edo period. Apart from the Hideninkaito in Osaka, the Hokujūman of Sakai and the Hidenin of Kyoto, it is thought that most residents of hinin communities in the early modern period were unrelated to the hinin of the middle ages and were formed from people who had migrated into cities because of disturbances to their lives caused by war or poverty.

In Edo they were governed from the so-called ‘Four Places’: Kuruma Zenshichi in Asakusa, Matsuzaemon in Shinagawa, Zentarō in Fukagawa and Kyūbei in Yoyogi – the four hinin leaders. Another, Kyūbei of Kinegawa appears briefly in the records as the name of a hinin leader but not necessarily at the same time as those in the other ‘Four Places’. Moreover, not all of the four other hinin leaders were together at the start of the early modern period. The oldest of these leadership positions is Kuruma Zenshichi. According to a statement that Kuruma Sendaimatsu presented in 1839, his ancestor came from Mikawa Atsumi village and he was appointed as a hinin leader by the city shogunal administrator. Matsuzaemon of Shinagawa, according to a petition submitted in 1854, is said to have been appointed in 1660 by the shogunal authorities in the town and ordered to deal with the influx of ‘field hinin’ from the countryside. These four leaders first appear together in the historical records in 1721. From then on, the organization of the hinin gradually developed to create a hierarchy:

The control of Kuruma Zenshichi by Danzaemon grew stronger from around 1652 but Zenshichi continued to resist it submitting a written complaint in the seventh month of 1719. In the second month of the following year Danzaemon filed a suit against Zenshichi. Danzaemon was successful in that law suit in the eleventh month of 1721 and thereafter was able to exercise control over Zenshichi. In other words, Danzaemon's authority over the hinin under Kuruma was officially recognized at this time.