nntsuzu/KFTT huggingface dataset:
English: In this period, myoshu rights were already recognized as rights that could be inherited or sold, and as rural society became more and more homogenized the position and rights of myoshu were split into smaller elements.
Japanese: 当時、名主職は相伝や譲与できる権利と認識されており、農村社会内部の均質化によって、名主の地位や権利は徐々に分割されていった。
English: In other words, myoshu rights, which had been inalienable and hereditary, were now regarded as being transferable or non-hereditary rights, whose ownership changed from one generation to the next.
Japanese: それまでは、名主職は代々相続される権利と認識されていたが、この頃から人々の間を移り変わる権利、すなわち遷代の職と認識されていったのである。
English: Myoshu farmers, whose rights were divided up and became non-hereditary, nevertheless became more and more independent of territorial governors and manorial lords during this period.
Japanese: 名主は、分割化・遷代化の度合いを強める一方で、国司・荘園領主からの独立志向も強めていった。
English: As the farming class improved its economic status and became more homogenized, peasants learned to act together led by myoshu farmers.
Japanese: 荘園・公領内部で、百姓階層の経済力向上と均質化が進んだことで、百姓階層は名主を中心に団結するようになった。
English: It is generally accepted that self-governing village communities were formed within manors and government territories in Japan from the late 13th to the early 14th century.
Japanese: 荘園・公領に村落が発生したのは、13世紀後期から14世紀にかけての時期とされている。
English: Against the background of the increasing solidarity among farmers, some myoshu farmers even refused to obey their rulers.
Japanese: 百姓層の団結を背景として、国司・荘園領主に必ずしも従わない名主も現れた。
English: It is believed that those who were called villains during this period may have included some of these disobedient myoshu farmers.
Japanese: 当時、悪党と呼ばれた者の中には、こうした名主も含まれていたと考えられている。
English: Around the middle of the 14th century, villages within manors and government territories increased their autonomy and grew into self-governing communities, which were called soson in Kinai and western regions and goson in eastern regions and Kyushu.
Japanese: 14世紀中期頃には、荘園・公領内の村落が自治性を高めるようになり、畿内や西国では惣村、東国や九州では郷村とよばれる自治村落へと成長していった。
English: As a result, the relative status of myoshu declined, causing myoshu farmers to assume roles as leaders (with such titles as otona) in these village communities.
Japanese: そうなると名主の地位は相対的に低下することとなったが、名主は惣村・郷村の中で指導的な立場（乙名など）を務めるようになった。
English: During the Muromachi period, manorial lords lost much of their control in eastern regions, causing myoshu rights to deteriorate considerably.
Japanese: 室町時代、東国では荘園領主の権限がかなり小さくなっていたため、名主職の形骸化が激しく進んだ。
English: However, manorial lords maintained their control in western regions and continued to impose taxes based on the myoden system, thereby allowing myoshu to maintain their status.
Japanese: しかし西国ではまだ荘園領主の権限が機能しており、名田単位による賦課が行われたため、名主の地位は残存し続けた。
English: During the Muromachi period, shugo (military governors of provinces) gradually established control over different regions (known as shugo ryogoku system), thereby weakening the authority of myoshu.
Japanese: 室町期には守護による一円支配（守護領国制）が強まっていき、名主の権限は弱まっていった。
English: During the Sengoku Period (Period of Warring States), daimyo (Japanese territorial lords) established absolute control over their regions (known as daimyo ryogoku system), causing a further weakening of the authority of myoshu.
Japanese: 戦国時代(日本)に入ると、戦国大名による強固な領国支配（大名領国制）が布かれるようになり、一層、名主の権限は薄まっていった。
English: And finally the land survey conducted by Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI resulted in the elimination of the position and authority of myoshu.
Japanese: そして、太閤検地によって名主という地位・権限は実質的に消滅することとなる。
English: Nevertheless, due partly to the fact that self-government had already taken root in village communities, the Edo bakufu government and feudal lords chose to place villages under civil administration, allowing them a certain degree of self-government.
Japanese: しかし、室町期以来、村落自治が根付いていたこともあって、江戸幕府及び諸大名は、村落にある程度の自治を付与する民政を選択した。
English: Villages were given administrative leaders during the Edo period, called murayakunin (village officers) or shoya (the village head), and these positions were often assumed by former myoshu.
Japanese: 村落には指導的な立場として村役人・庄屋がおかれ、旧名主層がその役に就くことも多かった。
English: In many eastern regions, the custom of calling village heads myoshu persisted and the chief village officer was called nanushi in many of these regions.
Japanese: 特に東日本では村落の指導的立場を名主と称する習わしが残り、多くの地域で村役人の筆頭が名主（なぬし）と呼ばれた。
English: Gunchujo were documents that proved participation in battles and other military exploits in medieval Japan.
Japanese: 軍忠状（ぐんちゅうじょう）とは、中世日本において、参陣や軍功などを証する書類。
English: The relationship between lord and vassal in medieval Japan was based on favor and service.
Japanese: 中世日本において武士同士の主従関係は、御恩と奉公により成り立っていた。
English: When vassals participated in military action initiated by their lord with their own soldiers or showed their military exploits on the battlefield (contributing service), the lords were in return required to recognize 'participation' and 'military exploits' of the vassals not for their own private battle or war but for a legitimate 'official battle' in order that they be granted favor and compensated for their service, or receive new territory as a reward (the granting of favor and compensation for service).
Japanese: 主人の軍事行動に当たり家来が手勢を引き連れ参陣し、又は戦場において軍功を挙げた場合（奉公）、主人はこれに対し、その「参陣」「軍功」が単なる私闘・私戦ではなく正当性のある「公戦」におけるものだと認定し、御恩と奉公御恩したり、新領地を恩賞として与えたり（御恩と奉公御恩）すべきものとされていた。
English: Such documents were written according to the following format; the vassal's name came first and then details regarding the facts of the vassal's superior military valor were stated (often with the words: 'I report our superior military valor.')
Japanese: 文書の様式は、まず文書先頭に自分の名前を書き、以下に軍忠の具体的事実を書くことを宣言する（「誰々申軍忠事」という文言になることが多い）。
English: Next came further details about the war or battle in which the vassal served, what damage was afflicted on the enemy, and what damage its own forces suffered.
Japanese: 次に軍忠の具体的事実、例えば合戦への従軍・敵に与えた損害・自軍の損害といったことを書く。
English: It also listed the busho (Japanese military commanders) with whom the vassal fought on the battlefield, in order to prove his superior military valor (the name of busho were sometimes not listed).
Japanese: さらに同所で戦った武将の名前を挙げて、自身の軍忠の証明とする（具体的に名前を出さない場合もあり）。
English: At the end the words 'I would like my superior military valor to be recognized as evidence for future (rewards)' were written, although the wording differs slightly from document to document.
Japanese: そして最後に「軍忠認定の証判を賜り、後日（の恩賞の）証拠としたい」といった旨の文言（文言は各文書で微妙に異なる）を記した。
English: When the Gunchujo was submitted to the administrator of the troops and certified to be true, the document took effect with the addition of the approval mark of the administrator (Kao [written seal mark]) at the end of the document (or the head in some cases) and with words along the lines of 'I looked through the above and agree that it does not differ from the facts.'
Japanese: こうして軍勢の統括者に提出された軍忠状は、内容に問題が無ければ、文書末尾（先頭の場合もあり）にその統括者の証判（花押）と文書を一読し承諾した旨（「一見了」「承了」「無相違」などの文言）が書かれて効力が発生する。
English: It appears that some lords may have prepared and issued similar documents themselves.
Japanese: これとは異なり、主人側にて書類を起案・交付するケースもあるようである。
English: Engi, Tenryaku no chi is the magnificent imperial reign name for the reigns of Emperor Daigo and Emperor Murakami in the mid Heian Period (the 10th century).
Japanese: 延喜・天暦の治（えんぎ・てんりゃくのち）とは、平安時代中期（10世紀）の醍醐天皇・村上天皇両天皇の治世を聖代視した呼称。
English: In both reigns the emperor ruled directly and this era has been considered by succeeding generations as the golden age of government and culture under the dynasty.
Japanese: 両治世は天皇親政が行われ、王朝政治・王朝文化の最盛期となった理想の時代として後世の人々に観念された。
English: This elevated view became apparent as early as the late 10th century and it became prevalent in all parts of noble society in around the first half to the middle of the 11th century.
Japanese: 両治世を聖代視する考えは、早くも10世紀後半には現れており、11世紀前葉～中葉ごろの貴族社会に広く浸透した。
English: At that time, the regency government that Sekkan-ke (the families which produced the Regent and the Chief Adviser to the Emperor) monopolized the highest level of political power was developed and the forming social standing and fixing family business and trade were undergoing so the nobility in the middle lower class only inherited a specific government post and could not ask any more promotion.
Japanese: 当時は摂関家が政治の上層を独占する摂関政治が展開し、中流・下流貴族は特定の官職を世襲してそれ以上の昇進が望めない、といった家職の固定化が進んでいた。
English: In these situation, the idea that viewed the Engi and Tenryaku eras as ideal reigns when even the middle class of noblemen could be promoted to higher level to some extent became popular among the middle lower class noblemen.
Japanese: そうした中で、中流貴族も上層へある程度昇進していた延喜・天暦期を理想の治世とする考えが中下流貴族の間に広まったのである。
English: Actually, the eras of Engi and Tenryaku fell upon the transitional period to the dynasty state from the Ritsuryo system (a system of centralized government based on the ritsuryo code) and the period when various reforms were carried out and these reforms were supported by not the direct rule by emperors but Sekkan governments which had been gradually formed.
Japanese: 実際には、延喜・天暦期は律令制体制から王朝国家体制へ移行する過渡期に当たっており、様々な改革が展開した時期であり、それらの改革は天皇親政というよりも、徐々に形成しつつあった摂関政治によって支えられていた。
English: However, the Engi and Tenryaku eras were consciously trumpeted by people of succeeding generations and they were firmly fixed as an ideal politic symbol in the latter half of the Heian period.
Japanese: しかし、後世の人々によって、延喜・天暦期の聖代視は意識的に喧伝されていき、平安後期には理想の政治像として定着した。
English: Emperor Godaigo also acknowledged the Engi and Tenryaku eras as the ideal reigns when the direct rule by emperors was carried out and he rejected a samurai government and conducted the Kenmu Restoration.
Japanese: 後醍醐天皇も延喜・天暦期を天皇親政が行われた理想の時代と認識し、武家政治を排して建武の新政を展開した。
English: Also toward the end of the Edo period, the idealization of the Engi and Tenryaku eras became one of the drivers for the Meiji Restoration and this thought carried over into Kokoku Shikan (emperor-centered historiography which is based on state Shinto) after the Meiji period.
Japanese: 江戸末期にも延喜・天暦の治を理想視する思想が明治維新の原動力の一つとなり、そうした考えは明治以降の皇国史観にも引き継がれた。
English: As further research was done after World War II, it became apparent that the eras were overrated by people in the literary nobility in the middle and lower classes who were potentially frustrated at the system of rule at the time, and the actual policies of that time were merely an extension of the ones by the Emperor Uda era and under Insei (rule by the retired emperor) of consecutive reign by Retired Emperor Uda.
Japanese: 第二次世界大戦後に研究が進むと、潜在的に不満を抱いていた中下流の文人貴族層による過大な評価であることが明らかとなり、またその時期の実際の政策も宇多天皇期及びその後の宇多上皇による事実上の院政下で行われたものの延長でしかないことが明らかになった。
English: It was also revealed that, the assumption of a regency government, Sessho Kanpaku (regent and chief adviser to the Emperor), was only a temporary post in the Engi and Tenryaku eras.
Japanese: また、摂関政治の前提である摂政・関白自体が延喜・天暦期には臨時の職に過ぎなかったことも明らかにされた。
English: Following this reappraisal, the view that the period from the 9th century to the 11th century was a transition period from the Japanese nation under the ritsuryo codes to a dynastic state system became commonly accepted, without focusing on the Engi and Tenryaku eras too much.
Japanese: これによって、延喜・天暦期を特別に重視することなく、9世紀から11世紀までの期間を律令国家期から王朝国家期への移行期としてとらえる見解が通説となっている。
English: The Gangyo War, which occurred in the Heian period, was a rebellion by the Ifu, or less assimilated Emishi (unassimilated northerners) under the rule of the Imperial Court.
Japanese: 元慶の乱（がんぎょうのらん）は平安時代に起きた俘囚（蝦夷）の反乱である。
English: The imperial forces faced an uphill battle and had difficulty subduing the rebels, but FUJIWARA no Yasunori pacified the rebels and ended the rebellion through the use of kansei (sympathetic policies).
Japanese: 官軍は苦戦して鎮圧は難航したが、藤原保則が寛政によって鎮撫して終息した。
English: Early in the first year of the Gangyo era, drought caused famine nationwide, and consequently the fudoso (emergency grain storage) in many parts of the country was opened in order for the Imperial Court to provide food to the poor.
Japanese: 元慶年間の初頭、干ばつにより全国的に飢饉に襲われ、各地で不動倉が開かれ、賑給が実施された。
English: It is believed, although there is no written record of this, that the Tohoku region was not spared the effects of the disaster.
Japanese: 直接記録に残ってはいないが、東北地方も例外ではなかったと考えられている。
English: In April the Imperial Court, which had received an emergency messenger from Dewa no Kami, ordered Shimotsuke and Kozuke provinces to each deploy 1,000 soldiers.
Japanese: 4月、出羽守よりの急使を受けた朝廷は、下野国と上野国にそれぞれ1000ずつの徴兵を命じた。
English: In May the Imperial Court appointed FUJIWARA no Kajinaga to Oryoshi (military officer to subdue a rebellion) and deployed 1,000 soldiers on horseback and 2,000 foot soldiers from Mutsu Province in order to suppress the rebellion.
Japanese: 5月、朝廷は藤原梶長を押領使に任じて陸奥国より騎兵1000、歩兵2000を派遣して鎮圧に向かわせた。
English: 2,000 soldiers of the Dewa army led by FUJIWARA no Muneyuki, who was Dewa no Jo, or the third-ranking official of the kokushi (provincial governors) in Dewa Province, along with FUNYA no Arifusa and ONO no Haruizumi, joined the forces.
Japanese: 出羽掾藤原宗行、文室有房、小野春泉の出羽兵2000もこれに合流する。
English: In June the Ifu's forces attacked Akita-jo Castle again in droves and completely defeated the imperial forces, causing FUJIWARA no Kajinaga to flee to Mutsu Province.
Japanese: 6月、夷俘の軍勢が大挙して再度秋田城を襲い、官軍は大敗を喫して、藤原梶長も陸奥国へ逃げ帰ってしまう。
English: The Ifu seized 300 coats of armor, 700 goku (unit of crop yield) of rice, 100 fusuma (Japanese-style bedding) and 1,500 horses, all of which had been left in the castle.
Japanese: 城中の甲冑300領、米700石、衾（寝具）100条、馬1500匹が夷俘の有に帰した。
English: The rebellion spread, and the 12 villages near Akita-jo Castle (Kazuno, Hinai, Sugibuchi, Noshiro, Kawakita, Wakimoto, Katakuchi, Okawa, Tsutsumi, Aneto, Katagami and Yakeoka) were occupied by the Ifu; in northern Dewa only the Fushu (assimilated Emishi) in the three villages of Soekawa, Habetsu and Sukekawa belonged to Dewa Province.
Japanese: 反乱は拡大して秋田城下の12村（上津野、火内、榲淵、野代、河北、腋本、方口、大河、堤、姉刀、方上、焼岡）が夷俘の支配に落ち、出羽北部ではわずか3村（添河、覇別、助川）の俘囚だけが出羽国に属していた。
English: In May the Imperial Court appointed Sachuben (Middle Controller of the Left) FUJIWARA no Yasunori to Dewa no Gon no Kami (Provincial Governor of Dewa Province) in order to subdue the rebellion.
Japanese: 5月、朝廷は左中弁藤原保則を出羽権守に任じて討伐にあたらせることとした。
English: At that point three Ifu visited the base of the imperial forces and demanded that the regions to the north of the Omono-gawa River be out of the direct influence from the Imperial Court and be called 'kochi (己地).'
Japanese: この時点で俘囚3人が陣営に来て、雄物川以北を朝廷の直接支配が及ばない「己地」となすことを要求した。
English: Yasunori ordered FUNYA no Arifusa and MINABUCHI no Akisato, Oryoshi of Kozuke Province, to prepare for the Ifu with 600 soldiers of Kozuke Province and 300 Fushu.
Japanese: 保則は文室有房、上野国押領使南淵秋郷に命じて上野国兵600人と俘囚300人をもって夷俘に備えさせた。
English: After preparing military measures, he supplied the Imperial Court's fudokoku (crops stored for emergency) to the poor Ifu in the regions as a means to appease them.
Japanese: これら軍事的措置をすませたうえで、朝廷の不動穀を賑給して懐柔にあたった。
English: Subsequently, Yasunori requested the deployment of 2,000 soldiers from Hitachi and Musashi provinces because the soldiers under him were outnumbered.
Japanese: また、保則の手持ちの兵力が寡兵であるため常陸国、武蔵国の兵2000を動員する許可を朝廷に求めている。
English: Yasunori accepted the Ifu's surrender, but in January of the third year of the Gangyo era (879) the Imperial Court ordered him to suppress the Ifu.
Japanese: 保則は来降を許したが、元慶3年（879年）1月、朝廷は討伐の強行を命じてきた。
English: In response he reported on the status of Dewa Province and stated the opinion that it would be better to adopt a sympathetic policy to urge the Ifu, who had fled from their homes due to misrule, to return to their homes.
Japanese: これに対して保則は出羽国の現状を報告して、寛大な政策をおこなって苛政によって逃亡した夷俘の還住を促すことこそ上策であると意見した。
English: Some people have disputed the idea that appeasement policy of the imperial side toward the Emishi led to their surrender in the Gangyo War.
Japanese: 元慶の乱は朝廷側の蝦夷に対する懐柔政策が功を奏して、蝦夷は降伏したとするが、これに異を唱える人もいる。
English: First, although there must have been rebellion ringleaders who had united the widely dispersed Emishi and presented a written petition to the Imperial Court, their names weren't clearly recorded on the long list of casualties (more than 500 people were killed or captured in the battle of Mt. Yake-yama alone).
Japanese: まず、広範囲の蝦夷をまとめて、自分たちの要求を朝廷側に文書にして提出するなど、反乱を指導した人物がいるはずであるが、この人物が朝廷側の多数の犠牲者(焼山での戦いだけで500人以上が死亡あるいは捕虜になったという)にもかかわらず彼らの名前が明確に記録されていないなかった。
English: Some people also indicate that in such an incident with a large number of victims as this, written records should have always been left, as in the case of Aterui.
Japanese: これだけの被害なら、アテルイのように必ず文書に残っているはずという主張もある。)
English: Additionally, the eruption of the volcano in Lake Towada-ko (the largest disaster in two millennia) occurred in the northern Tohoku region in 915, but nothing about the eruption or a series of natural disasters after it had been documented.
Japanese: また915年北東北に2000年来最大の自然災害である十和田湖火山の大噴火が起きるが、この噴火あるいはそれに続く広範囲の自然災害が全く文書で記述されていないこと。
English: For these reasons, some even assume that in the Gangyo War the request of the Emishi side was practically granted, and that the Emishi took over the reins of the region to the north of the Omono-gawa River, which even the Imperial Court could no longer touch.
Japanese: などから、この元慶の乱は事実上蝦夷側の要求が通り、雄物川以北は蝦夷側の支配する地区となり、朝廷が手を出せなくなってしまったのではないかとする人もいる。
English: Another theory maintains that there has been no record of facilities at the site of the Hotta no saku (fort in Hotta), though they had constructed an extremely large fort, because officials sent from the central government to monitor the region were entertained in those facilities.
Japanese: 同時期に仙北郡で極めて大規模な城柵として使わたのにも関わらず、記録が全く残っていない払田柵跡にあった施設で中央から監視しに来た人を接待したのではないかとする説もある。
English: In either case, the presence of the Hotta no saku without any record indicates that people in the region at that time were able to act with relative freedom, irrespective of the control of the central government.
Japanese: いずれにせよ、全く記録に残っていない払田柵の存在は当時のこの地区の人が中央の管理とは別に比較的自由に行動できたことを示す。
English: Immediately before the Gangyo War, the increase in the cost of Akita-jo Castle to appease the Emishi in Hokkaido had become a problem, to the extent that the finances of Dewa Province were put under pressure.
Japanese: 元慶の乱が始まる直前に、秋田城の対北海道蝦夷の饗給の増大は、出羽国の財政を圧迫するまでに問題化していたという。
English: Moreover, once the rebellion was over the Akita Junibayashi kama kiln and the Aomori Goshogawara kama kiln were built in succession from the end of the ninth century to the tenth century in the regions where people fought against the central government.
Japanese: また乱の収束後、元慶の乱時に国家側と対立した地域には、9世紀末から10世紀にかけて秋田十二林窯、青森五所川原窯などが相次いで出現した。
English: According to some, this shows that trade with the Emishi in Hokkaido, which Akita-jo Castle had monopolized, was taken over by the emerging class of people in these regions.
Japanese: これらは秋田城が独占していた対北海道蝦夷貿易がこの地区の新興階層の手に移行したことを示唆しているとする人もいる。
English: The settlement specializing in iron products was found in Odate City from the settlements that had escaped the flood caused by the eruption of the volcano in Lake Towada-ko, thus demonstrating that the Emishi didn't need to obtain even iron from the Imperial Court.
Japanese: 十和田湖火山噴火に伴う洪水から高台に逃げ出した集落からは、専門に鉄製品を作っていた集落も発掘されており(大館市)蝦夷は鉄を朝廷側から得る必要も無かった。
English: This, however, showed that the weakened Imperial Court could no longer forcibly subdue the Ifu as it could in the days of SAKANOUE no Tamuramaro.
Japanese: 一方でこれは、朝廷の力が低下して坂上田村麻呂の時代のように武力によって夷俘を制圧できなくなっていたことも意味していた。
English: It is believed that although they had surrendered, the Ifu accomplished their mission to some degree by ending the misrule by the Imperial Court and demonstrating their power.
Japanese: 夷俘は降伏したが朝廷による苛政をくつがえし、力を示したことで一定の成功を収めたと考えられる。
English: The position of Suke, Deputy Governor of the kokushi in Dewa Province, was promoted to that of Zuryo (Provincial Governor), and the position was permanently stationed at Akita-jo Castle, enhancing its military capabilities.
Japanese: 出羽国司次官である介が受領官に格上げされると共に、秋田城常駐となり軍事機能も強化された。
English: In 2005 it was announced that one of the wooden tablets unearthed from the Kurumidate site in 1967 is inscribed with the words 'Getsuryo-kyushutsubutsu-meicho' (月料給出物名張), which basically means a monthly supply ledger.
Japanese: 北秋田市の胡桃舘遺跡から1967年発掘されていた木簡に「月料給出物名張」とされるものがあると2005年発表された。
English: According to the announcement, the tablet is also inscribed with names such as 'TAMATSUKURI no Maro,' each accompanied by quantities such as 'Kome Sango' (six ounces of rice).
Japanese: これによると、この木簡には「玉造麻呂」などの名前が記されており、それぞれに「米三合」などの数量が書かれていた。
English: Tamatsukuri is a family name of the Emishi who had sided with the Imperial government during the Gangyo War, and accordingly it is pointed out that the family might have connected with the site buried by the eruption of the volcano in Lake Towada-ko in 915.
Japanese: 玉造は元慶の乱の時に、政府側についた蝦夷の名字であるため、この915年十和田火山の噴火によって埋没した遺跡との関係があるのではないかと指摘された。
English: Buke hokonin literally means a person who served a samurai family.
Japanese: 武家奉公人（ぶけほうこうにん）とは、文字通り、武家に奉公する者を言う。
English: Buke hokonin also refers to a wakato (foot-man), chugen (the rank below common soldier), or komono, but these cannot be clearly discerned because their meaning varied by region, clan, or samurai family.
Japanese: 武家奉公人は若党、中間、小者などの呼称があるが、地域、藩、各武家によっても意味合いに差があり、厳密な区別はできるものではない。
English: Therefore, the following description dividing them into wakato, chugen, and komono should be read only as a guide.
Japanese: したがって下記にある若党、中間、小者に分けた解説はあくまで参考程度の内容である。
English: At the end of the Edo period, the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) and its domains were forced to eliminate their 'matchlock infantry' armed with matchlocks and to form a 'musket infantry' or 'musket unit' armed with Western style firearms, however, the number of ashigaru (common foot soldiers) was sometimes not enough to form these infantries or units and, in these cases, new members were recruited to create a musket infantry similar to the ashigaru troops in the Sengoku Period (Period of Warring States).
Japanese: 幕末になって江戸幕府及び諸藩は、火縄銃装備の「鉄砲組」を廃止し、洋式銃装備の「歩兵隊」や「銃隊」を作る必要に迫られたが、従来の足軽身分のものだけでは不十分なケースが多々見られ、こうした場合、新たに人員を募集し戦国時代の足軽隊に似た歩兵部隊を創設することがあった。
English: Generally, it is little different from komono, but in the Edo period the word was sometimes used to refer to vassals who served hatamoto (direct vassals of the shogun) or vassals of the castle keeper of the Daimyo (Japanese feudal lord), and in these cases the name refers to people of samurai status.
Japanese: 一般的には小者と大差がないイメージだが、江戸期、旗本に使えている家臣(大名であれば藩士)を指す場合や城代家老の家臣などに、若党の呼称を用いることがあり、その場合は、武士身分の人物を指すわけだから、注意すべきである。
English: In the Meiji period, it was believed that if a baishin (indirect vassal) was ranked as being of the warrior class affairs of state would begin to worsen, so they were treated as heimin (commoners) even though they had been 'samurai' in the Edo period.
Japanese: 江戸時代は「侍」でも明治時代には陪臣までも士族に加えると国政が悪化することから、平民とされた。
English: However, vassals of the Inada clan, the keepers of Sumoto-jo Castle, who were known for the Kogo incident (also known as Inada uproar), were exceptionally promoted to the warrior class under strict conditions such as their migration to Hokkaido.
Japanese: ただし庚午事変（稲田騒動）で有名な洲本城代の稲田氏の家臣は、北海道移住など過酷な条件の元、例外的に士族に取り立てられた。
English: In the Edo period, chugen were servants under articles of apprenticeship or were recruited from an on a temporary basis only when needed.
Japanese: 江戸期になると、年季契約や、必要な時のみ口入れ屋から雇い入れるということがしばしば行われた。
English: Those who served as chugen were the second-oldest sons or younger brothers of peasants, but in big cities such as Edo, many were recruited as professional servants such as watari-chugen who served from residence to residence.
Japanese: 多くは百姓の次男以下などが奉公したが、江戸など大都市では渡り中間のような屋敷を渡り歩く専門の奉公人を雇うことも多かった。
English: Widely and generally known chugen were as mentioned above, but this special type of chugen refers to those from families who served domains by heredity and had the right to bear a surname and to wear a sword during the Edo period, or those who were formally employed by domains or recruited for special occasions at the end of Edo period.
Japanese: 広く一般的に知られる中間は上記どおりだが、藩に正式に採用されてる家(世襲で藩に仕え、苗字帯刀が許されてるもの)や幕末に特殊な事例に用いて採用されたりした物を指す。
English: The class of Aritomo YAMAGATA and Hirobumi ITO of the Choshu Domain is given as ashigaru in historical sources because the term special chugen would have been likely to be misleading and easily mixed up with widely and generally known chugen.
Japanese: 長州藩の山縣有朋や伊藤博文が資料などの記述で、足軽扱いされるのは本来の広く一般的に知られる中間と紛らわしいためであろう。