During the Edo period of Japanese history, were self-governing administrative units, led by the .
The development of mura reflected specific changes that show the transition of the Edo community from medieval agricultural to mature administrative unit.[1] Before the Edo period, samurai administered the villages, but during the sword hunt they were put to a choice: give up their sword and status and remain on the land as a peasant, or live in a as a paid retainer of the local daimyō (lord). Villages were also manufacturing units: In western Japan, cottage industries developed, with each family of the village taking over a one step of the production process.
Villages were taxed as a unit, with the village headman responsible for taxation. Taxes were paid in rice, often 40 to 50% of the harvest. Criminal punishments could also be imposed on the village as a unit.
Prior to the emergence of religious authorities such as the Buddhist establishment, mura - along with the family (ie) - helped establish Japanese cultural practices such as ancestral veneration and funerary rites.[2] Some of the villages served as enclaves or base-villages for the miko or female shamans.[3]