Ashikawa Family Documents

The Ashikawa family, located near the Omaru intersection in the Omaru district, possesses 152 ancient documents from the Edo period. These documents include land survey registers, village detail ledgers, village maps, documents related to the Omaru Irrigation Canal, and litigation-related documents. They serve as historical materials that provide insight into the state of Omaru Village during the Edo period and the lives of the farmers who lived there. The documents were created over a span of 197 years, from 1673 to 1870, and were preserved by the Ashikawa family, who served as village officials of Omaru Village during that time. Among these valuable early modern documents, we introduce particularly important basic historical materials. (Additionally, the Ashikawa family also preserves modern historical materials from the Meiji period onward.)

Omaru Village Map (Ashikawa Family Documents 96)

Created in 1836 (the 7th year of Tenpō), it depicts new fields, rivers, roads, forests, and embankment boundaries in different colors. It also reveals the state of the Tamagawa riverbed, the flow of the Omaru Irrigation Canal, the location of the sluices built within the irrigation canal, the appearance of the official notice board in front of Enshoji Temple, and the Haraichi new fields.

Musashi Province Tama District Omaru Village Haraichi New Field Survey Register (Ashikawa Family Documents 2)

This is a land survey record created by Kan'ō Haruaki, the accounting official of the shogunate, during the land survey conducted in the 3rd year of Enkyō (1746). The land survey record includes details for each plot of land such as the name of the location, ranking (upper field, middle field, lower field, etc.), area (size of the plot), and the name of the claimant (cultivator or land rights holder). From this historical document, it is understood that the previously common land of forests and wastelands was developed and divided into privately owned land.

Regarding the Bid for the Construction of the Waterway in Tamagawa (Document from the Ashikawa Family 10)

The Omaru Irrigation Canal, which was created by diverting water from the Tamagawa River in the Omaru area, served as agricultural water to irrigate the rice paddies of nine villages in the basin. A water users' association was organized to maintain and manage it. This document is a record from 1775, when representatives of the nine villages petitioned the water users' association for restoration after the irrigation water intake facilities were destroyed by flooding of the Tamagawa River. It demonstrates that the Omaru Irrigation Canal was indispensable to agriculture at that time.

Kanto Region Enforcement Duty Instructions (Ashikawa Family Documents 133)

After the mid-Edo period, the number of small-scale farmers increased, and more people began to leave the villages. The security in rural areas and cities deteriorated, leading to the establishment of a position called "Kanto Torishimari Deyaku" as a regulatory organization to address this issue. This historical document describes the specific methods and activities of the Kanto Torishimari Deyaku during their rounds in the villages.

Omaru Village Five-Man Group Punishment Record (Ashikawa Family Documents 138)

The five-person group was an organization created by the five households in the neighborhood for the purpose of maintaining public order and collective responsibility for tax collection, and it also had a mutual aid function for village life. This document was created in the second year of the Meiji era (1869) and lists various prohibitions imposed by the lord, requiring the farmers to pledge to strictly adhere to them.

Detailed Register of Omaru Village, Tamagun, Musashi Province (Ashikawa Family Documents 152)

This document was created in the 3rd year of the Meiji era (1870) and provides an overview of Omaru Village. It includes information on land classification, rice yield, land surveys, shrines and temples, irrigation works, number of households, population, and side occupations, giving insight into the village's conditions at that time.