Kanjō Bugyō Fiscal Reforms after the Kanbun Reforms (1673 Land Partition Restriction Order)

Timeline

1. 1664–1672Edo · KantōDuring the era of the fourth shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna, great councilor Sakai Tadakazu and others pushed a shift from martial to civil governance: 1664 land tenure certificates, 1665 abolition of daimyo hostage system and codification of laws, 1671 strengthening of family register investigations; the Kanjō Bugyō managed shogunal domain taxes and fiscal revenues and expenditures.
2. 1673Shogunal direct-control provinces · JapanThe Kanjō Bugyō system, through review by the Hyōjōsho, issued the land partition restriction order: limiting commoners' inheritance by dividing rice fields, requiring named heads to hold over 20 koku and ordinary commoners over 10 koku to partition land, preventing the decline of honbyakusho and the collapse of the tax base, and ensuring a supply of hatamoto retainers.
3. 1673–1713Shogunate domains throughout Japan · JapanThe 1673 order became the starting point for land partition regulation in the Edo period, later repeatedly reaffirmed and tightened in the Shōtoku, Kyōhō, and Hōreki eras. Combined with the Kanjō Bugyō office's tax and litigation functions, it laid a precedent for the separation of kōjikata and kattegata in the 18th-century Kyōhō reforms.