Nanushi

Nanushi (Japanese: 名主) were officials in Japan who administered villages (mura) under a district magistrate (gun-dai) in the Edo period.

The most powerful nanushi, the ōjōya (大庄屋), administered up to several dozen villages, and were sometimes allowed privileges traditionally associated with the samurai class.

The term nanushi was used in Kantō, while the official was called shōya (庄屋) in Kansai and kimoiri (肝煎) in Tōhoku and Hokuriku.

[2] The post was typically monopolized by one or more powerful peasant families, the gōnō, through hereditary succession, though nominally appointed by the territorial lord who paid salary to the nanushi.

In the Middle Ages, nanushi (名主) was read as myōshu and referred to feudal lords of territorial fields (myōden) who were divided into petty lords (shōmyō) and magnates (daimyō), and shōya (庄屋) referred to the manor building of a manorial estate.