Kujisen (公事銭)

Kujisen was money paid in place of taxes in kind (including labor) as daisenno (paying dues in cash instead of in kind; commutation) for kuji (public duties) during Medieval Japan. It was also referred to as Koyosen and Kuji yakusen.

It was widespread, as money became circulating more rapidly due to agricultural production increase, and development of commerce, industry, and transportation; and in the Muromachi period, this name was also applied to kuji which was decided to be paid by money from the beginning. Kujisen was virtually collected for each title; therefore, for the city residents, taxes were collected by the titles of munebetsu sen (household tax), jishi sen (land tax), and mabechi sen (building and land tax), and for the market, taxes were collected by ichiba sen (marketplace tax), and zayaku sen (guild tax).

[Original Japanese]