Zaike-Yaku (The Tax And The Labor Imposed In Medieval Japan) (在家役)
"Zaike-yaku" refers to the tax and the labor that were imposed per "zaike" in medieval Japan.
And "zaike" refers to an unit of taxation and labor-enforcement, which was made up of a house and its premises, the nearby paddy and field, and the inhabitants, all of which existed in both "shoen" (a manor, or a private estate) and "koryo" (public land). In the later Heian period, the system of "nengu" (land tax), "kuji" (public duties/temporary taxes), and "bueki" (compulsory service) was established, and their imposition was done per "myoden" (the farming land that served as the unit of taxation and labor-enforcement in those days). However, the myoden system could not catch hold of some areas, nor could it catch hold of some people, such as "kugonin" (privileged people who contributed provisions to the emperor) and "jinin" (associates of Shinto shrines), so instead, zaike was newly introduced as the unit of taxation and labor enforcement in order to seize those areas and people. In addition, in the 12th century, there existed some farmers who tried to evade the tax from "kokuga" (provincial government offices) by disguising themselves as "shokan" (people living in a manor, who were exempt from the tax), although in reality they lived in koryo. One of the purposes of introducing the zaike system was to make sure of those farmers' tax payment, and similar tax imposition was begun in the shoen.
In most cases, zaike-yaku was imposed in the form of bueki, or in the form of the tax on crops grown in fields, such as mulberry, Boehmeria nipononivea (a fiber material for clothing), silk, and lacquer. Meanwhile, in areas that were scarce in paddies and fields - such as mountainous districts, riverside areas, coastal areas, and merchant districts - "jishi" (a kind of rent, called "zaike-jishi") was imposed on a house and its premises, and people were also obliged to provide non-agricultural products, such as sweetfish, firewood, and charcoal. The owner of a shoen who lived far away from it wanted the shoen residents to bring money or other light freight that was easy to transport. In contrast, the owner of a shoen who lived nearby it tended to want the shoen residents to offer bueki or a huge amount of bulky goods and the like. From the period of the Northern and Southern Courts, zaike-yaku became a kind of a rent just like zaike-jishi, so it became common for zaike-yaku to be paid in cash.