{"id":135,"date":"2026-10-05T08:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?p=135"},"modified":"2026-10-08T07:47:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T22:47:52","slug":"room-hunting-then-and-now-edo-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/?p=135","title":{"rendered":"Would You Pass Tenant Screening in Edo? | Room Hunting, Then and Now: Edo \u2462"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Would
Photo: Yanagi-k\u014dji, Kyoto (ayumi kubo \/ Unsplash). For illustration. The red stamp, which reads \u5be9\u67fb\u4e2d (\u201cunder screening\u201d), is also an illustration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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). \u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u7248\u306f\u3053\u3061\u3089<\/a> \uff0f All English articles<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last time I wrote that the guarantor even vouched that the tenant was \u201cnot carrying debts.\u201d After writing it, I started to wonder. How on earth did anyone check that? There were no credit bureaus and no internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The landlord goes asking around your old neighborhood<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Okitsu Kaname\u2019s book \u014cedo Nagaya-banashi<\/em>, an Edo landlord questioned not only the applicant but the whole family in detail: their backgrounds, character, conduct, even their health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It did not stop there. The landlord went to the neighborhood of the applicant\u2019s previous home to look into things, and turned the applicant down if anything seemed suspicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s terms: you hand in your application, and the landlord goes door to door around your old apartment. Practically a detective. The idea of personal information did not exist yet, not even a shadow of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Then: Narai-juku in Nagano Prefecture, which keeps the look of an Edo-period post town (Photo: Andy Arbeit \/ Unsplash). For illustration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAsk the previous landlord\u201d was the government\u2019s rule<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This was not the landlord\u2019s hobby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Edo town ordinance of 1730 contains a rule to the effect that you should check with the previous landlord, and may rent to the person if there is no problem. It also says to confirm where a new tenant comes from. Going further back, an ordinance of 1650 orders that guarantors be examined carefully and that a reliable person be put forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asking around was an officially approved procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the tenant runs, the landlord\u2019s wallet hurts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The reason they went that far is clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a tenant disappeared leaving debts behind, the principle was that the landlord and the guarantor would cover those debts (Katakura Hisako, Edo J\u016btaku Jij\u014d<\/em>). Lax screening came back to your own wallet. Of course they were thorough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The detailed screening by today\u2019s guarantee companies follows the same logic. They are the ones who pay if things go wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The methods changed. What they look at did not<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Edo: interviews, the neighbors\u2019 opinion, the previous landlord, the guarantor. Today: the application form, proof of income, credit information, the guarantee company. The tools have been completely replaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what they want to know has not changed. \u201cWill this person keep paying the rent?\u201d That is all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being asked for a pile of documents can feel like being doubted, and it is not pleasant. Still, it is a good deal gentler than having someone go asking your neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hands
Now: screening on paper (Photo: Dimitri Karastelev \/ Unsplash).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A note on sources: for this article, I confirmed passages from books about life in Edo through a research blog that quotes them. If I get to check the original books, I will report back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next time, finally, inside the nagaya<\/em>, the row-house tenements of Edo. How many tatami mats\u2019 worth of space do you think one had?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking for a home in Sapporo?<\/strong>
Message us on LINE: https:\/\/line.me\/ti\/p\/u2qP4VZ5ZU<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please note:<\/strong> Lease contracts and the legally required explanation of important matters (j\u016by\u014d jik\u014d setsumei<\/em>) are provided in Japanese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No credit bureaus, no internet. Edo landlords went asking around your old neighborhood instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135","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\/135","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=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iiie-r5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}