Kajishi (加地子)
The term Kajishi (加地子) means rice (sakutokumai) delivered as a tax to a resident land-owner like myoshu (owner of rice fields) in the Japanese medieval period on top of nengu (customs)/jishi (land tax) for the lord of shoen (manor)/kokuga (provincial government officials) (kokushi (provincial governor)). It was called Kajishi because it was imposed as a surcharge on honnengu/honjishi (normal nengu/jishi). It was also called Kajishi (加持子), katoku or Katako.
Summary
After kokugaryo (rice fields governed by provincial government office) and shoen became myoden (land held by non-resident owners), wealthy farmers (Tato) were in charge of on site management as myoshu/shokan (officer governing shoen). Myoshu/shokan were obliged to collect kanmotsu (tribute goods paid as taxes)/nengu imposed on myoden and deliver them to kokuga/lord of shoen (ryoke). Under such arrangement, myoshu/shokan were also entitled to their own share, which was imposed on top of nengu/jishi, and this was called Kajishi. Kajishi was the principal source of income for myoshu/shokan and it was not uncommon to see cases where the amount of Kajishi exceeded that of normal nengu/jishi by several times.
Originally, cultivators delivered the total Kajishi and honnengu to myoshu/shokan. Myoshu/shokan deducted their share and delivered the balance to kokuga/ryoke. However, Kajishi for myoshu/shokan and honnengu for kokuga/ryoke had been delivered separately since the Kamakura period. The above indicates the fact that sakunin, cultivator, obtained the status as a direct bearer of the burden of nengu while the status of myoshu/shokan declined to the one only gaining Kajishi. In the meantime, myoshu, who only gained Kajishi, was called Kajishi myoshushiki. Over time, the right to gain Kajishi was divided and became the object of sale or donation.
In the early-modern times, namely during the Edo period, the nature of Kajishi changed into kosakuryo (rent paid by tenant farmers).