Koden kanmotsu ritsuho (公田官物率法)

Koden kanmotsu ritsuho was the law (ritsuho) fixing the tax rate of kanmotsu (tribute) of Koden (fields administered directly by a ruler) in the middle of the Heian period. This was determined by dan (unit) for each ryoseikoku (province) by Daijokanpu (official documents issued by Daijokan, Grand Council of State) or Senji (imperial decree). Sometimes called simply Kanmotsu ritsuho.

After the Ritsuryo system (a system of centralized government based on the ritsuryo code) declined in the middle of the Heian period, the previous tax system deteriorated. Yo, Cho (from Ritsuryo system), and Suiko (government loans), which were formerly a per-capita tax, became a property tax (including parts of Zoyo, or irregular corvee) like So. These property taxes were collectively called Kanmotsu. The initial Kanmotsu collection did not have any standards and Kanmotsu ritsuho was customarily decided and taxed in each province, but arbitrary taxation (Kanbutsu kacho) by Kokushi (officiers of the local government) occurred and resistance by farmers against this was strong. Therefore, in the middle of the eleventh century at the latest, a basic foundation was established based on Jishi (land rent) of Koden that was leased and determined "Genmai" of 3 to per dan (Dan betsu san to) as the basic tax instead of So, and on top of that, a property tax instead of Yo, Cho, Suiko, or Zoyo called "Junmai" that was collected in kind (some included manufactured items such as silk, cloth, oil). Part of this was considered Kyokono and sent to Kyoto to supplement the court's finances. This made it possible for the court to obtain a stable income instead of Soyocho and also prevent arbitrary taxation by Kokushi.

This system became the basis of the taxation system from the court government to the early military government, and was also used as the taxation standard for Ikkoku heikinyaku (taxes and labor uniformly imposed on shoen and kokugaryoi (provincial land) in a province.

[Original Japanese]