Kanjocho (Account Books) (勘定帳)
Kanjosho is a kind of account book prepared for settlement of balances on rice, soy beans, gold, silver and others. Kanjocho were also used by domains, merchants and other citizens, but in a more limited sense they mean a variety of account books prepared by local governors dispatched from the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) for reports to be submitted to kanjosho (financial offices).
Those adopted by the bakufu are roughly classified into the following three:
Local account books used to record revenue and expenditure, as well as settlements after payments in full, for land taxes, miscellaneous taxes, public levies imposed on workers, license fees, etc. Treasure house account books used to record non-tax revenue and expenditure for administrative expenses, allowances, borrowings, etc. Land tax account books used between village officers and local governors for calculating the balance of payments by allocating the land tax imposed on the village to independent farmers.
The format of these account books was prescribed as dual page binding using thick Japanese paper called 'Hodomora-shi' with edges being wrapped by paper; the size had to be 53.2 cm in length, 28.88 cm in width and 2.66 cm in stitching margin. For the final settlement of accounts, local account books had to be submitted to the Shimo kanjosho (financial office) by October in the following year or within three years under special circumstances for auditing and general local accounting, where the balance of payments was reported by the local governor in front of higher officers such as roju, wakadoshiyori, kanjo ginmiyaku, kanjo bugyo, kanjo kumigashira, and the account books were returned to the local governor with postscripts by kanjo ginmiyaku, kanjo bugyo and kanjo kumigashira attached, certified seals were affixed by the roju and wakadoshiyori in charge of finance, and a stitching seal and a verification seal were affixed by the roju in charge of finance.