Kanmotsu (官物)

Kanmotsu are the tithes that were collected by the imperial court and Ryoseikoku (province) as tax such as Soyocho under the Ritsuryo system (a system of centralized government based on the ritsuryo code). In some cases it is a term restricted to So. After the Ritsuryo system deteriorated in the middle of the Heian Period, it was the term to describe the tithes from public fields such as Koden (field administered directly by a ruler).
The Japanese reading is 'Ohoyakemono.'

Originally Kanmotsu is thought to have been the term for Denso (rice field tax), a property tax, but after the Ritsuryo system was established, 'Kanmotsu' became the term to describe tithes such as Soyocho and suiko (government loans), shozei (the rice tax stored in a provincial office's warehouse) and its use and accumulated products.

With the deterioration of the Soyocho system, per capita taxes such as yo and cho were not enforced. Instead, a property tax-like Kanmotsu consisting of Denso and Jishimai (rice paid as rent), and per capita tax, Zatsueki (and a variation, temporary Zatsueki) were collected. Eventually, Zatsueki became like a property tax as well. However, in the tenth century, the collection standards for Kanmotsu were still decided by the Kokurei (provincial law) in each Ritsuryo province and it was collected in the form of rice grain (kanto [rice grain owned by the government]) and rice (kanmai [rice owned by the government]), silk, and cloth, but in actuality was decided by each Kokushi (officer in local government). However, as a result, Kanmotsu more than that decided in the Kokurei was collected. This was called Kanmotsu kacho and the rice collected by this system was called Kacho-mai. However, conflicts between Kokushi and the local farmers over Kacho became serious, and in the middle of the eleventh century, Kanmotsu and Zatsumotsu were collected following a certain standard (Kanmotsu rippo) and other temporary taxation was called Rinjizatsumotsu.

In the twelfth century, in place of the previous Kanmotsu rippo, public taxes called Ikkoku heikinyaku (taxes and labor uniformly imposed on shoen manors and provincial lands) and Gokeninnyaku (odd-jobs for vassals) were collected from not only Kokuga owned public fields but also Shoen, and the tithes from these taxes were also called Kanmotsu and this term was used until the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan).

[Original Japanese]