{"id":134,"date":"2026-10-04T08:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?p=134"},"modified":"2026-10-08T07:47:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T22:47:53","slug":"room-hunting-then-and-now-edo-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?p=134","title":{"rendered":"Did Edo Japan Have Guarantee Companies? | Room Hunting, Then and Now: Edo \u2461"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/then-and-now-02-title-en-768x960.jpg\" alt=\"Did Edo Japan have guarantee companies? Title image with a hand writing with a brush and a red seal\" class=\"wp-image-132\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/then-and-now-02-title-en-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/then-and-now-02-title-en-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/then-and-now-02-title-en-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/then-and-now-02-title-en.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo: Niketh Vellanki \/ Unsplash (for illustration). The red seal, which reads \u8acb (\u201cguarantee\u201d), is an illustration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This is the English edition of our Japanese series \u300c\u304a\u90e8\u5c4b\u63a2\u3057\u4eca\u3080\u304b\u3057\u300d (Room Hunting, Then and Now). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?p=111\">\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u7248\u306f\u3053\u3061\u3089<\/a> \uff0f <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?page_id=136\">All English articles<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last time I wrote that to rent a home in Edo (today\u2019s Tokyo) you needed a guarantor called a <em>tanaukenin<\/em>, and that it was often a relative or someone from your hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So what did people do when they had no one to ask?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Less a guarantor than a personal sponsor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tanaukenin took on more than the rent. According to an encyclopedia, they vouched for things like these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Where the tenant came from (their identity)<\/li>\n\n<li>That the tenant was not carrying debts<\/li>\n\n<li>Payment of the rent<\/li>\n\n<li>Taking the tenant back if they caused trouble<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not only covering unpaid rent, but taking the person off the landlord\u2019s hands if anything went wrong. In today\u2019s terms, it is like being a joint guarantor and a personal sponsor at the same time. Not a favor anyone would be eager to accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Documents survive too. A rental guarantee deed (<em>shakuya ukej\u014d<\/em>) written in 1717 in Onomichi, in today\u2019s Hiroshima Prefecture, sets out the rent and how it is to be paid, and states that the guarantor will guarantee payment without fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-02-mukashi-wahon-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"An old Japanese book written with a brush, lying open\" class=\"wp-image-114\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-02-mukashi-wahon-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-02-mukashi-wahon-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-02-mukashi-wahon-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-02-mukashi-wahon.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Then: an old Japanese book written with a brush (Photo: Dr. C.K. Huang \/ Unsplash). For illustration; this is not the deed described in the article.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">No one to ask. So a business was born<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a city, some people have no relatives nearby to rely on. Something had to fill that gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From around the middle of the Edo period, people appeared who would act as a guarantor for a fee, even for someone they had no ties with. Little by little, this became normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A guarantee went from something you ask for to something you buy. The idea behind today\u2019s guarantee company sprouted here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In Osaka, it got the magistrate\u2019s seal of approval<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The place where this business took clear shape was Osaka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Osaka, the number of <em>ieukenin<\/em>, people who guaranteed tenants as a business, kept growing. At the same time, lawsuits over the eviction of tenants were increasing at the town magistrate\u2019s office. So the ieukenin asked the magistrate\u2019s office to officially recognize their group. In 1732, 53 of them were designated as the <em>ieukenin nakama<\/em>, an association of house guarantors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vouching for a tenant\u2019s identity was not their only job. They collected overdue rent. They made tenants move out promptly when the landlord needed the house. They are also thought to have introduced people to houses for rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A guarantee company plus a brokerage, with rent collection on top. Today those jobs are split among separate companies. For someone like me who works in real estate, they are my seniors by about 300 years. I can only bow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cNo guarantor required\u201d was not a new invention<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Japanese property ads you see phrases like \u201cno guarantor required\u201d or \u201cguarantee company accepted.\u201d They look like recent services, but the idea itself has been around for about 300 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some people feel the guarantee fee is money wasted. But think of it as the price of not having to bow to your relatives, and it looks a little different. People in Edo may have been doing the same math.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the way, I have not yet found out how much a guarantee cost back then. More homework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-02-ima-sign-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"A hand signing a document with a pen\" class=\"wp-image-115\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-02-ima-sign-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-02-ima-sign-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-02-ima-sign-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ima-mukashi-02-ima-sign.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Now: contracts with pen and paper (Photo: Scott Graham \/ Unsplash).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next time: tenant screening in Edo. How do you think they checked that someone had no debts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Looking for a home in Sapporo?<\/strong><br>Message us on LINE: <a href=\"https:\/\/line.me\/ti\/p\/u2qP4VZ5ZU\">https:\/\/line.me\/ti\/p\/u2qP4VZ5ZU<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Please note:<\/strong> Lease contracts and the legally required explanation of important matters (<em>j\u016by\u014d jik\u014d setsumei<\/em>) are provided in Japanese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No one to act as your guarantor? In Edo Japan, you could pay for one. A 300-year-old idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions\/144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}