also: とうさん
noun
mass flight; fleeing in all directions
Primarily a historical term referring to farmers abandoning their land and fleeing to escape heavy taxation, especially in pre-modern Japan. In modern contexts, it can be used metaphorically for a mass exodus.
江戸時代には、重税から逃れるために農民の逃散が相次いだ。
During the Edo period, there were successive cases of farmers fleeing their villages to escape heavy taxation.
その村では逃散が起こり、田畑が荒れ果てた。
In that village, a mass flight occurred, and the fields fell into ruin.
逃亡 is a general term for flight or escape, often implying fleeing from authorities or danger, while 逃散 specifically refers to a mass dispersal, historically of peasants abandoning their land.
離散 means dispersal or scattering of a group, often due to war or disaster, without the specific historical tax-evasion nuance of 逃散.
Compound of 逃 (escape) and 散 (scatter). The term became fixed in Japanese historical discourse to describe the phenomenon of peasant flight during periods of heavy taxation.