Omote-daka (face value of kokudaka assessed by the feudal government) (表高)

Omotedaka refers to kokudaka (yield) on face value of shoryo (territory) that was given by seii taishogun (literally, "great general who subdues the barbarians") to daimyo (feudal lords) or hatamoto (direct retainers) in the Edo period.

Omotedaka refers to, in many cases, the face value of kokudaka figured out from land survey certified by the Edo bakufu, and it was written, along with the name of the territory, in shuinjo (a vermillion seal letter) of shoryo ando (act of providing authorization for land ownership and guaranteeing feudal tenure) issued by the shogun, who was also lord, to a new owner every replacement. Also, it served as estimation standard to determine social status of daimyo and hatamoto, or military service to be borne such as tetsudai-fushin (construction service which the cost was borne by each domain) or sankinkotai.

Against Omotedaka, kokudaka that was actually used to estimate nengu imposed to ryomin (people of the domain) was called uchidaka (real value of the yield).

Omotedaka was, most of the time, being used without change from the early Edo period when it had been fixed, so many domains actually held larger uchidaka than omotedaka due to development of new rice fields.

[Original Japanese]