Page:Nihongi by Aston volume 2.djvu/215

208 population, books of account and a system of the receipt and re-granting of distribution-land.

Let every fifty houses be reckoned a township, and in every township let there be one alderman who shall be charged with the superintendence of the population, the direction of the sowing of crops and the cultivation of mulberry trees, the prevention and examination of offences, and the enforcement of the payment of taxes and of forced labour.

For rice-land, thirty paces in length by twelve paces in breadth shall be reckoned a tan. Ten tan make one chō. For each tan the tax is two sheaves and two bundles (such as can be grasped in the hand) of rice; for each chō the tax is twenty-two sheaves of rice. On mountains or in valleys where the land is precipitous, or in remote places where the population is scanty, such arrangements are to be made as may be convenient.

IV. The old taxes and forced labour are abolished, and a system of commuted taxes instituted. These shall consist of fine silks, coarse silks, raw silk, and floss silk, all in accordance with what is produced in the locality. For each chō of rice-land the rate is one rod of fine silk, or for four chō one piece forty feet in length by two and a half feet in width. For coarse silk the rate is two rods (per chō), or one piece for every two chō of the same length and width as the fine silk. For cloth