Ofuregaki Shusei (The collection of laws and regulations compiled by the shogunate) (御触書集成)
Ofuregaki shusei indicates a collection of laws and regulations issued by the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun). It was compiled on four occasions during the Edo period. However, at that time there was no official name for the collection, and the name "Ofuregaki-shusei" was given by Ryosuke ISHII and Shinzo TAKAYANAGI when they published the documents in 1934 from Iwanami Shoten (a publisher).
It originated from the fact, in August 1742, Norisato MATSUDAIRA ordered Ometsuke (chief inspector of the Tokugawa shogunate), Metsuke (inspector of foot soldiers), and Omote-yuhitsu kumigashira (chief of the external secretariat) to submit excerpts of ofuregaki (laws and regulations) since the foundation of the Edo bakufu to Hyojosho Osadamegaki Goyogakari (the office actually editing Kujigata-osadamegaki [the law of Edo bakufu]). In response to this, 3,550 articles of ojomoku (itemized codes), takafuda (notices on boards), and ofuregaki issued over the 129 years from 1615, when the law system of the bakufu was established, to 1743, were sorted and catalogued by subject to be complied in December 1744, and revised partially in the following year. Later in 1760, some 2,060 documents for the 17 years from 1744 up to 1760 were also catalogued in the same manner. These documents were submitted to the Osadamegaki Goyogakari in Hyojosho (conference chamber), and one complete collection was provided in the office and in Hyojosho. Therefore, it is considered that the collection was used complementarily for compiling the Kujigata-osadamegaki.
After that, in 1787, 3,020 articles for the 27 years from 1761 to 1787 were added, and in 1841, some 6,607 more were added for the 50 years from 1788 to 1837. Further, in 1854, efforts to edit documents after 1838 were made, but ended without being completed. These three collections were made when the new Seii taishogun (literally, "great general who was to subdue the barbarians") started his reign, and it is thought that the editing work was conducted to in line with the new reign began.
Later, as mentioned previously, the entire collections came to be called "Ofuregaki shusei," and each of the four edited portions was known as the "Kanpo shusei" (collection in Kanpo era), "Horeki shusei" (collection in Horeki era), "Tenmei shusei" (collection in Tenmei era) and "Tenpo shusei" (collection in Tenpo era), respectively, according to the period when the compilation started. After the war, Ryosuke ISHII and Koji FUKUFUJI collected the laws and regulations issued in 1838 and later published "Bakumatsu Ofuregaki shusei" (Ofuregaki shusei in the end of the Edo bakufu).