J.R. Goodwin
The structure and control of outcast groups
Groups such as hinin formed their own mini- societies that interacted in various ways with the
larger social system. How were these groups structured and by whom were they controlled?
Research on these issues has led to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of outcast society.
Perhaps the best- documented hinin groups in medieval times were those who lived in special
lodgings called shuku. Ōyama Kyōhei has examined these structures in detail. There were two
main shuku in the Kinai region: Kiyomizuzaka on the outskirts of Kyoto and Narazaka outside
of Nara, both under the control of powerful religious institutions. Each shuku supervised a
network of affiliates located along transportation routes in the Kinai region. The Kiyomizuzaka
and Narazaka shuku quarreled over the control of branch shuku throughout the Kinai, in a dispute
that lasted more than twenty years and often erupted into armed conflict.^36 Shuku residents and
affiliates were organized into three tiers: bosses and their immediate subordinates, beggars and
the disabled, and lepers—the stratified society visually depicted by Ippen shōnin ekotoba.^37 Shuku
bosses oversaw territories specifically marked off for begging,^38 and it seems that beggars and
lepers who did not reside in the shuku could be placed nonetheless under the bosses’ control.
A close look at shuku hinin and their activities is provided by the writings of and about the
Shingon Ritsu monk Eison (1201–1290), which have been examined by Japanese scholars such as
Ōyama and Matsuo Kenji, and in English by David Quinter and Abé Ryūichi.^39 The 2015 mono-
graph by Quinter examines Eison’s outreach to hinin in the context of Shingon Ritsu practices
and beliefs, particularly the veneration of the bodhisattva Monju (Skt: Mañjuśrī).^40
Beginning in 1240, Eison and his associate Ninshō (1217–1303) initiated religious services and
charitable work on behalf of hinin, a project that stretched over several decades. In Kongōbusshi
Eison kanshin gakushōki, Eison describes his efforts to bring religious salvation and material help to
outcasts and beggars. In 1267 and 1269, he conducted dedication services for the restoration of
the temple Hannyaji outside of Nara, and the installation there of an image of Monju. Hannyaji
was located between a graveyard and a leprosarium, and Monju was often identified with hinin
by Ritsu monks such as Eison and his followers.^41 On the occasion of the dedication of the image,
Eison’s disciple Shinkū claimed that Monju had actually manifested himself as a gigantic leper
who beat lazy monks.^42
At the dedication ceremony for the image, Eison distributed alms to hinin from various shuku.
Two thousand hinin gathered, and each received rice, bowls, and items helpful for begging such
as a straw mat to sit on and a parasol as protection from the sun.^43 Then in 1275, at the request of
Kiyomizuzaka hinin, Eison conducted services at that shuku, and asked that hinin sign a four- part
oath. The oath specified that, on the occasion of a burial, if the clothing and implements of the
dead were not left to the hinin as was the custom, they would not gather at the house of the
deceased to complain; that they would not demand more alms than “the appropriate amount” at
Buddhist services; that they would not force lepers to leave their homes and lodge in a leprosar-
ium at the shuku; and that they would not abuse seriously ill hinin outside the shuku who begged
for food in the city.
The oath reveals that hinin who assisted at funerals or burials had the right to take the clothing
and implements of the deceased, as well as the right to ask for donations at Buddhist services. The
third provision of the oath indicates the limits of shuku control over lepers; and the fourth provi-
sion, that there were beggars outside the shuku whom the shuku hinin were prone to harass. A
similar oath, extracted in 1282 from the hinin of the Torosu shuku in Izumi province, notes that
certain places were set aside as “begging grounds” recognized as such by the Kamakura shogu-
nate, with which Eison had close ties. In some cases begging grounds were under the control of
one of the main shuku, but there were also places where unaffiliated beggars were permitted to