Suito (Shoen) (出納 (荘園))

"Suito" is a position set up for the lower-lanked officers in the Shoen manor in medieval Japan. They were in charge of accounting work, such as tax collection, keeping financial records, and computation of land tax, under the instruction of geshi/gesu (local officials in charge of a manor) and kumon (local shoen officials below the geshi in rank).

According to the record in "Todaiji Yoroku" (the record of Todai-ji Temple), the treasurer was set up in the Toyoinosho in Yamato Province and Omotosho in Kii Province, where Todai-ji Temple had its Shoen manors. According to "Zatsuji Yoroku" (the record of miscellaneous things), which records the financial affairs of the Konoe family in the Muromachi Period, it is recorded that in the Obanryo parcel set up within the territory of the Sessho Kanpaku (regent and chief advisor to the Emperor) family, there was a post of treasurer to collect rice for a land tax called Oban-mai, and among the officers in charge of it, there were those who did business as wholesale merchants.

[Original Japanese]