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The Shrine Lands Edict (上知令) was an edict passed in the later part of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period that allowed the government to confiscate shrine lands. It was also sometimes written as 上地令.

Edict in the later part of the Edo period
Mizuno Tadakuni, who was the head of the rōjū during the Tenpō reforms, knew of China's loss in the Opium Wars, and feared that foreign ships that showed up in the waters around Japan were coming to attack the country. Importance was placed on emergency management, particularly around Edo and Osaka, the government and economic centers at the time.

Until that time, the shogun- and daimyo-controlled fiefdoms around Edo and Osaka had become complicated. The daimyo and vassals were forced to relinquish their lands to the bakufu, and orders came for them to exchange lands with each other. This was done so the bakufu could centralize control over the lands. In 1843, the lands edict was passed. In Tsuruoka Domain, Nagaoka Domain] and [[Kawagoe Domain, a link between the three domains was considered and they were forced to rotate lands.

However, the fiefdoms of Edo and Osaka who held land became opposed to the edicts.

For example, Doi Toshitsura, one of Tadakuni's associates, originally had Koga Domain as his original fief, but also held Kawachi Province, a separate area. The Doi family had loaned to the farmers in Kawachi and Settsu, and since the farmers feared that they would not be able to pay due to the land edict, the Doi family repeatedly petitioned against the land grab. The three branches of the Tokugawa clan also opposed.

反対派は土井利位を盟主に担いで上知令撤回と、水野忠邦の老中免職に動き出し、水野忠邦の主だった腹心達（町奉行鳥居耀蔵、勘定奉行榊原忠職）らも土井派に寝返り、鳥居に至っては忠邦の機密資料を残らず土井に流すという徹底ぶりであった.

結局閏9月7日、忠邦が欠席のまま土井利位から上知令撤回の幕命が出され、閏9月13日、忠邦は老中免職となり、上知令ともども天保の改革は終焉した.

Edict in the first part of the Meiji period
江戸時代に認められていた寺院と神社の領地（寺社領）が1871年（明治4年）と1875年（明治8年）の2回の上知令により没収された. この背景には廃藩置県に伴い、寺社領を与える主体であった領主権力が消滅したために寺社領の法的根拠も失われたこと、地租改正によって全ての土地に地租を賦課する原則を打ち立てるために寺社領を含めた全ての土地に対する免税特権を破棄することを目的としていた. なお、同様の趣旨をもってえた・非人とされた人々の所有地である「穢地」の免税特権破棄も解放令と同時に行われている.

More info
The Shrine Lands Act eliminated most external income to the monasteries. The Meiji government did this to enforce state control over traditional religions.

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