Wayojo (和与状)
Wayojo is an agreement signed by the parties in question who make compromises.
Summary
Wayo (compromise) is an action of transferring such rights as properties, territories, and positions between the parties in question based on their agreement. Specifically speaking, there are two kinds of compromise: one is a comprise in the sense of 'donation' that one person donates to the other for free (in which it is possible to divide it into two actions: one is to donate to one's heir while they are still living and the other is to donate to the third party and temples and shrines [Taninwayo]) and the other is a compromise in the sense of 'reconciliation' that the parties in a suit end the suit by making a compromise (in which, incidentally, one's rights are unconditionally transferred to the other or one is forced to abandon their rights). Though Wayojo was composed in either case, there were other forms of documents for a compromise in the sense of 'donation', such as a leave notice (eviction notice) and the Kamakura Shogunate reinforced the right to annul the transfer of property rights and banned Taninwayo in order to control shogunal retainers' careless decentralization of territories, so there are not many Wayojo existing. Many of the existing Wayojo are documents exchanged between the parties in a suit for a compromise in the sense of 'reconciliation' which became common after the Kamakura period.
Wayojo for the reconciliation in a suit
In the case of Wayojo for a suit in the Kamakura Shogunate, Wayojo was composed when the parties in question agreed to make a compromise with the intervention of the magistrate who was in charge of the suit or the third party called "Chunin." The document starts with 'Wayo', followed by the conditions of the compromise, and ends with 'therefore, the document of the compromise is as written above'. In each case, two Wayojo were composed, and each party in the suit received a Wayojo signed by the other or each received a Wayojo signed by both. On the backs of the two Wayojo, two magistrates added their signatures after adding the sentence, 'for later evidence signatures of the magistrates are added'. This is called 'back seal'. Further, a suit was ended by issuing a Saikyojo (wayo saikyojo) that in the name of the legal institution the contents of the Wayojo were accepted as the judgment (sentence). This process made the Wayo legally effective. Wayojo was composed in suits within regions and suits concerning court nobles, temples and shrines, and private estates which were little affiliated with the Shogunate. Certainly, it was possible to make compromises by a Wayojo without reporting to any legal institution (private compromise), but private compromises were invalidated when judgments and compromises were sorted out by legal institutions, so their judgments guaranteed that the contents of the Wayojo would be carried out.
Since prolongation of a suit increased the economic and emotional loads for the parties in a suit and the magistrates in charge, it was desirable to end a suit early with a compromise, so legal institutions worked to make possible more and more compromises.