What gōshi means
Gōshi were men of the Edo period who lived in the countryside rather than in a castle town yet were recognised as samurai. Samurai were in principle required to live in castle towns, but in many domains there were also men who lived and farmed in villages while holding samurai status and duties. Their origins and treatment varied greatly from domain to domain; the gōshi of Tosa and Satsuma are the best known.
Gōshi generally ranked a step below regular samurai but above farmers, and they sometimes played a central role in governing their villages. Their houses often combine a farmhouse's earth floor and work spaces with samurai-style reception rooms, Zashiki, and formal entrances, Shikidai.
Reading the records
Records use the word to indicate a house's background. The main house of the Iwamura family, formerly the Kuroiwa family, in Aki, Kochi, stands at the centre of the Maejima settlement, ringed by irrigation channels. Its entrance is at the centre of the south lean-to with inner verandas to either side, and the six-mat room east of the entrance has an alcove. The record describes the building as conveying the character of a gōshi house of the late Edo period.
When writing that a house belonged to gōshi, check under which domain's system and how the record or family papers describe its background, since the status differed from domain to domain and is hard to generalise.
References
- 岩村家住宅（旧黒岩家住宅）主屋｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00015095
Last verified: 2026.09.26