indentured servant; articled apprentice
Historical term for a person bound by a fixed-term service contract, common in the Edo period. Refers to both domestic servants and apprentices learning a trade.
In the Edo period, indentured servants worked at merchant houses while learning the trade.
I heard his great-grandfather trained as a carpenter as an articled apprentice.
Standard kanji spelling for this historical term.
Variant spelling using 期 instead of 季; both are encountered in historical contexts.
Compound of 年季 (fixed term) + 奉公 (service) + 人 (person). The term reflects the historical practice of binding labor for a set number of years.