The word "Amaribe" means the surplus number of families. It was; fixed after the Taika Restoration (645) that fifty families should form a Sato under the newly established village system. As it was only a formal method of allocation, there remained some number of families which were not included in the Sato 里. These families were called "Amaribe" or surplus families. There is no question about the. Amaribe system itself. The question is how and under what circumstances it was established. In this respect, there have been various opinions among our historians. However, no authentic study of actual conditions of the system has been introduced until now. This was because reliable material was scarce and because the Ryo (Code) 令, which was the basic law of the period in question lacked the provisions con- cerning the Amaribe. Many of our historians accepted the description of the "Ryo-no-Gige" or the Interpretation of the Code, promulgated in 834, that in the case of a large village consisting of more than 60 families, more than 10 families out of the whole number of the families in the village formed an Amaribe. However, the writer of this article could hardly support such as opinion in theory and in practice. The writer, after inquiring into the number of the Amaribe and the places where the Amaribe were established, found the fact that even in a Kori 郡 (a county under the administrative section of those days) there was only one Amaribe and that where Amaribe were established were the county limits, seaside districts and remote places in the mountains. From the aforesaid facts, the writer has attempted to prove that when the families were allocated according to the system under which it was fixed that 50 families in a Kori should form a Sato, the odd number formed an Amaribe. Furthermore, the writer has attempted to comment on the actual condition of the Amaribe to prove that it was by no means a medley of families and that in some cases an Amaribe included some organized villages.
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