ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that three key elements of the definition of a peasant—self-sufficiency, agriculture, and the village—merit further examination. Anyone trying to write about the medieval Japanese peasantry faces some seemingly intractable difficulties. In fact, the lack of specific features seems to be what identifies the peasant most: he is a simple farmer, someone whose life and livelihood are tied to the land and to agriculture. Some villages appear to have specialized in the manufacture of salt or iron. The state's population registers did not differentiate by occupation or location, thus regarding farmers and merchants, city dwellers and villagers alike as commoners. Each commoner was allotted a certain portion of rice paddy, which was to return to the state after his or her death. In return, commoners owed the state various labor services and taxes assessed on their portion of land.
