The status of women was indeed high in the Kamakura period(1185-1333)! Why did female land managers, who were not uncommon at first, disappear?
1)
The position of "land steward
The Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates created the "land steward" position to manage and control manors and public lands.
The landlords, who were said to be "unable to win against a crying child or a landlord", were elected by the vassals. They were in charge of military affairs, police, taxation, administration, etc., of the manors and public lands and had powers similar to those of today's mayors and burgomasters.
2)
And here's a surprising tidbit.
When we think of positions in samurai society, we tend to believe that only male vassals could hold them. Still, the landlord position was usually passed down to the eldest son and daughter for generations.
Therefore, it was common for women to become landlords until the middle of the Kamakura period.
3)
Women sometimes headed families:
In the society, the basic rule was to divide and inherit land, and women could inherit land with their brothers. The head of the family would choose a legitimate son and daughter from among his children to take over the role.
In most cases, a man was chosen as the heir, but this did not necessarily have to be a man; women could also become the head of the family.
4)
Even if a woman were the only child, she would naturally be chosen as the legitimate child. For this reason, it was not uncommon for a woman to become a landowner.
5)
In modern society, there are constant calls for women's social status to be improved.
However, many people would be surprised to hear that in the Kamakura period, which was considered a male-dominated society, it was pretty standard for women to inherit a certain level of status and authority.
However, this "female landowner" did not always exist and gradually disappeared. There was a reason for this.
6)
Disadvantages of shared inheritance:
If a man holds the Land Steward position, he is recognised as a vassal of the Shogun. However, if a woman holds the position of land steward as a shogun, the problem is that she will have to serve the shogunate in arms.
In the so-called "Iza Kamakura(Let's go to Kamakura. Let's fight in Kamakura.)", even a woman could not refuse military service if the shogunate ordered it.
7)
However, it was unreasonable for a woman to take up arms and serve in the military. Therefore, her husband or children often served in her place.
This is not discrimination against women but shows that there was a clear division of roles in the home and elsewhere according to physical ability. It may also be that the women did not want to serve in the military.
8)
Later, the disadvantages of divided inheritance became apparent in the mid-Kamakura period.
If you divide your land among your children, the land per person will gradually decrease. For this reason, women have not been given an increasing amount of land.
9)
Then, during the Nanboku-cho period, the rules changed, and sole inheritance by the eldest son became the norm, meaning that women rarely could inherit.
Thus, the inheritance of samurai land became centred on men, and at the same time, female land stewards disappeared.
The status of women was indeed high in the Kamakura period! Why did female land managers, who were not uncommon at first, disappear?
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