also: ぶえき · ぶやく
compulsory labor; forced labor; corvée
Historical term for labor imposed by authorities, such as corvée or statute labor, often in pre-modern contexts. Not used for modern forced labor in a criminal sense.
In the Edo period, compulsory labor was sometimes imposed on farmers.
In this region, people were made to maintain roads as forced labor in the past.
Standard kanji spelling for the reading ふえき, referring to historical compulsory labor.
Alternate spelling with reading ぶえき; less common than 賦役.
Rare reading ぶやく for the 夫役 spelling.
Composed of 賦 (allotment, levy) and 役 (service, duty), referring to labor allocated by authorities. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the term has been used since pre-modern times to denote compulsory service.