tomobe

Each unit of the population either was a member of an uji or belonged to the tomobe of an uji, and each uji was governed by its own omi or muraji, while all the uji of the Kwobetsu class were under the o-omi and all those of the Shimbetsu class, under the o-muraji. Finally, it was through the o-omi and the o-muraji alone that the Emperor communicated his will.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

The Daika reforms had aimed at converting everyone in the empire into a veritable unit of the nation, not a mere member of an uji or a tomobe. To these their old status had to be left. The Emperor Temmu died in 686, and the throne remained nominally unoccupied until 690.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

Hence they received treatment different from that given to ordinary tomobe, some of them being allowed to assume the title and enjoy the privilege of uji, distinguished, however, as uji of the Bambetsu.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

For it is to be observed that the sovereign himself was an o-uji no Kami, and all tomobe created for nashiro purposes or to discharge some other functions in connexion with the Court were attached to the Imperial uji. Another kind of be consisted of aliens who had been naturalized in Japan or presented to the Japanese Throne by foreign potentates.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

By degrees, when various kinds of productive operations came to be engaged in as hereditary pursuits, the tomobe were grouped according to the specialty of the uji to which they wore attached, and we hear of Kanuchibe, or the corporation of blacksmiths; Yumibe, or the corporation of bow-makers; Oribe, or the corporation of weavers, and so on.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

If a great uji was threatened with extinction through lack of heir, the proper Kami of a small uji succeeded to the vacant place. As for the kakibe or tomobe, they were spoken of as "so and so of such and such an uji:" they had no uji of their own.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

It is plain, however, that they accepted a subordinate position without active protest, for nothing like a revolt on their part is alluded to, directly or indirectly, in the Records or the Chronicles. The term for all subjects was tomobe. The palace of the sovereign called miya or odono corresponded in appearance and construction with the shrines of the deities.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

One name was tomobe, signifying bound to a place, or district; another was yakabe, signifying bound to a family; a third was kakibe, signifying bound to a close, or estate; yet another and more general term was tami, which anciently signified "dependants," but is now used in the meaning of the English word "folk." ... There is little doubt that the bulk of the people were in a condition of servitude, and that there were many forms of servitude.

Lafcadio Hearn - Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation

Hence when it is said that the Emperor Nintoku remitted all taxes for the space of three years until the people's burdens were lightened, reference is made only to the be and tomobe belonging to the Throne itself.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

It is not to be supposed, however, that all the tomobe were thus organized as special classes. Such was the case only when the uji to which they belonged pursued some definite branch of productive work.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era