Your last book:
You dont read books at this site.
Total books on site: 11 280
You can read and download its for free!
In
Kamakura, an adulterer was stripped of half of his fief if he held
one; and if he had none, he was banished. For an adulteress the
punishment was no severer, except that if she possessed a fief, the
whole of it was confiscated. A good many sections of the code deal
with legal procedure and the conduct and duty of magistrates, the
great objects being to make the administration of justice simple,
prompt, and pure, while repressing everything in the shape of
pettifogging or factious litigation.
"The penalties were neither cruel nor ferocious. Death for the worst
offences--among which theft is specially mentioned--confiscation of
fief, and banishment, these exhaust the list. The only other
punishment mentioned is that of branding on the face, inflicted on a
commoner for the crime of forgery, a bushi's punishment in this case
being banishment, or simply confiscation of his fief, if possessed of
one.
"Bakufu vassals were strictly forbidden directly to solicit the
Imperial Court for rank or office; they must be provided with a
special recommendation from Kamakura. But once invested with Court
rank, they might be promoted in grade without any further
recommendation, while they were free to accept the position of
hebiishi. Analogous restrictions were placed on the Kwanto clergy,
who were to be summarily removed from their benefices if found
appealing to Kyoto for promotion, the only exception being in favour
of Zen-shu priests. In their case the erring brother guilty of such
an offence got off comparatively lightly--'an influential member of
the same sect will be directed to administer a gentle admonition.'
The clergy within the Bakufu domains were to be kept strictly in
hand; if they squandered the revenues of their incumbency and
neglected the fabric and the established services therein, they were
to be displaced. As regards the monasteries and priests outside the
Bakufu domain, the case was entirely different; they were virtually
independent, and Kamakura interfered there only when instructed to do
so by Imperial decree."*
*Murdoch's History of Japan.
FURTHER LEGISLATION
It is not to be supposed that the Joei Shikimoku represents the whole
outcome of Kamakura legislation. Many additions were made to the code
during the fourteenth century, but they were all in the nature of
amplifications or modifications. Kyoto also was busy with enactments
in those times--busier, indeed, than Kamakura, but with smaller
practical results.
FALL OF THE MIURA
Yasutoki died in 1242, having held the regency (shikken) for eighteen
years. His two sons had preceded him to the grave, and therefore his
grandson, Tsune-toki, became shikken. Tsunetoki resembled his
grandfather in many respects, but, as he died in 1246, he had little
opportunity of distinguishing himself. Nevertheless, during his brief
tenure of power, he took a step which had momentous consequences. It
will be remembered that after the murder of Minamoto Sanetomo by his
nephew Kugyo, in 1219, some difficulty was experienced in persuading
the Imperial Court to appoint a successor to the shogunate, and
finally the choice fell upon Fujiwara Yoritsune, then a child of two,
who was not actually nominated shogun until 1226. This noble, when
(1244) in the twenty-seventh year of his age and the eighteenth of
his shogunate, was induced by the regent, Tsunetoki, to resign, the
alleged reason being portents in the sky, and a successor was found
for him in his son, Yoritsugu.
Now, for many years past the Miura family had ranked next to the Hojo
in power and above it in wealth, but the two had always been loyal
friends. Some umbrage was given to the Miura at this time, however,
owing to the favours enjoyed at the regency by the Adachi family, one
of whose ladies was the mother of the two shikken, Tsunetoki and
Tokiyori. The situation thus created had its issue in a plot to kill
Tokiyori, and to replace him by an uncle unconnected with the Adachi.
Whether the Miura family were really involved in this plot, history
gives no definite indication; but certainly the ex-shogun, Yoritsune,
was involved, and his very marked friendship with Miura Mitsumura
could scarcely fail to bring the latter under suspicion. In the end,
the Miura mansion was suddenly invested by a Hojo force. Mitsumura
and his elder brother, Yasumura, escaped to a temple where, after a
stubborn resistance, they and 270 of their vassals committed suicide.
No mercy was shown. The Miura were hunted and slaughtered everywhere,
their wide, landed estates being confiscated and divided among the
Bakufu, the fanes, and the courtiers at Kyoto.
The terribly drastic sequel of this affair illustrates the vast power
wielded by the Hojo throughout the empire in the thirteenth century.
Yoritomo's system of high constables and land-stewards brought almost
every part of the country under the effective sway of Kamakura. It is
not to be supposed, however, that these high constables and
land-stewards were suffered to subject the people within their
jurisdiction to arbitrary or extortionate treatment. Not only could
complaints of any such abuses count on a fair hearing and prompt
redress at the hands of the Bakufu, but also inspectors were
despatched, periodically or at uncertain dates, to scrutinize with
the utmost vigilance the conduct of the shugo and jito, who, in their
turn, had a staff of specially trained men to examine the land survey
and adjust the assessment and incidence of taxation.
ENGRAVING: HOJO TOKIYORI
HOJO TOKIYORI
Tokiyori, younger brother of Tsunetoki, held the post of shikken at
the time of the Miura tragedy. He had succeeded to the position, in
1246, on the death of Tsunetoki, and he nominally abdicated in 1256,
when, in the sequel of a severe illness, he took the tonsure. A
zealous believer, from his youth upwards, in the doctrines of the Zen
sect of Buddhism, he built a temple called Saimyo-ji among the hills
of Kamakura, and retired thither to tend his health--entrusting the
office of shikken to a relative, Nagatoki, as his own son, Tokimune,
was still of tender age--but continuing himself to administer
military and judicial affairs, especially when any criminal or civil
case of a complicated or difficult nature occurred. Thus, there was a
cloistered regent at Kamakura, just as there had so often been a
cloistered Emperor in Kyoto. Tradition has busied itself much with
Tokiyori's life. He carried to extreme lengths the virtue of economy
so greatly extolled by his grandfather, Yasutoki. Such was the
frugality of his mode of life that we read of him searching for
fragments of food among the remnants of a meal, so that he might
serve them to a friend, and we read, also, of his mother repairing
with her own hands the paper covering of a shoji in expectation of a
visit from him. He is further said to have disguised himself as an
itinerent bonze and to have travelled about the provinces, observing
the state of the people and learning their complaints. His
experiences, on this pilgrimage read like a romance. Lodging at one
time with an aged widow, he learns that she has been robbed of her
estate and reduced to painful poverty, a wrong which Tokiyori hastens
to redress; at another time his host is an old samurai whose loyal
record comes thus to the knowledge of the shikken and is subsequently
recognized.
But it must be confessed that these tales rest on very slender
evidence. Better attested is the story of Aoto Fujitsuna, which
illustrates at once the character of Tokiyori and the customs of the
time. This Fujitsuna was a man of humble origin but considerable
learning. One year, the country being visited by drought, Tokiyori
gave rice and money to priests for religious services, and himself
worshipped at the shrine of Mishima. These measures were vehemently
criticized by Fujitsuna, who described them as enriching the wealthy
to help the impoverished. When informed of this, Tokiyori, instead of
resenting it, sent for Fujitsuna and nominated him a member of the
Court of Recorders,* where he earned the reputation of being one of
Japan's greatest judges.** It is related of him that he devoted his
whole fortune to objects of charity, and that when Tokiyori, claiming
a revelation from heaven, proposed to increase his endowments, his
answer was, "Supposing heaven revealed to you that you should put me
to death, would you obey?" ***
*The Hikitsuke-shii, a body of men who kept the archives of the
Man-dokoro and conducted preliminary judicial investigations. It was
organized in Tokiyori's, time and from its members the Hyojoshu was
recruited.
**The other was Ooka Tadasuke of the Tokugawa period.
***It is related of this Aoto Fujitsuna that, having dropped a few
cash into the Namera River at night, he expended many times the
amount in paying torch-bearers to recover the lost coins, his
argument being that the money thus expended was merely put into
circulation, whereas the dropped money would have been irrevocably
lost.
Tokiyori, as already related, though he nominally resigned and
entered religion in 1256, really held the reins of power until his
death, in 1263. Thus the Insei (camera administration) came into
being in Kamakura, as it had done previously in Kyoto. There were
altogether nine of the Hojo regents, as shown below:
(1) Tokimasa 1203-1205
(2) Yoshitoki 1205-1224
(3) Yasutoki 1224-1242
(4) Tsunetoki 1242-1246
(5) Tokiyori 1246-1256 Retired in 1256, but ruled in camera till
1263
(6) Tokimune 1256-1284
(7) Sadatoki 1284-1301 Retired in 1301, but ruled in camera till
1311
(8) Morotoki 1301-1311
(9) Takatoki 1311-1333
The first six of these were men of genius, but neither Tokimasa nor
Yoshitoki can be called really great administrators, if in the
science of administration its moral aspects be included. The next
four, however, from Yasutoki down to Tokimune, are distinctly
entitled to a high place in the pages of history. Throughout the
sixty years of their sway (1224-1284), the Japanese nation was
governed with justice* and clemency rarely found in the records of
any medieval State, and it is a strange fact that Japan's debt to
these Hojo rulers remained unrecognized until modern times.
*It is recorded that the first half of every month in Kamakura was
devoted to judicial proceedings, and that at the gate of the Record
Office there was hung a bell, by striking which a suitor or
petitioner could count on immediate attention.
THE SHOGUNS IN KAMAKURA
In the Minamoto's original scheme of government the office of shogun
was an administrative reality.
Kamakura, an adulterer was stripped of half of his fief if he held
one; and if he had none, he was banished. For an adulteress the
punishment was no severer, except that if she possessed a fief, the
whole of it was confiscated. A good many sections of the code deal
with legal procedure and the conduct and duty of magistrates, the
great objects being to make the administration of justice simple,
prompt, and pure, while repressing everything in the shape of
pettifogging or factious litigation.
"The penalties were neither cruel nor ferocious. Death for the worst
offences--among which theft is specially mentioned--confiscation of
fief, and banishment, these exhaust the list. The only other
punishment mentioned is that of branding on the face, inflicted on a
commoner for the crime of forgery, a bushi's punishment in this case
being banishment, or simply confiscation of his fief, if possessed of
one.
"Bakufu vassals were strictly forbidden directly to solicit the
Imperial Court for rank or office; they must be provided with a
special recommendation from Kamakura. But once invested with Court
rank, they might be promoted in grade without any further
recommendation, while they were free to accept the position of
hebiishi. Analogous restrictions were placed on the Kwanto clergy,
who were to be summarily removed from their benefices if found
appealing to Kyoto for promotion, the only exception being in favour
of Zen-shu priests. In their case the erring brother guilty of such
an offence got off comparatively lightly--'an influential member of
the same sect will be directed to administer a gentle admonition.'
The clergy within the Bakufu domains were to be kept strictly in
hand; if they squandered the revenues of their incumbency and
neglected the fabric and the established services therein, they were
to be displaced. As regards the monasteries and priests outside the
Bakufu domain, the case was entirely different; they were virtually
independent, and Kamakura interfered there only when instructed to do
so by Imperial decree."*
*Murdoch's History of Japan.
FURTHER LEGISLATION
It is not to be supposed that the Joei Shikimoku represents the whole
outcome of Kamakura legislation. Many additions were made to the code
during the fourteenth century, but they were all in the nature of
amplifications or modifications. Kyoto also was busy with enactments
in those times--busier, indeed, than Kamakura, but with smaller
practical results.
FALL OF THE MIURA
Yasutoki died in 1242, having held the regency (shikken) for eighteen
years. His two sons had preceded him to the grave, and therefore his
grandson, Tsune-toki, became shikken. Tsunetoki resembled his
grandfather in many respects, but, as he died in 1246, he had little
opportunity of distinguishing himself. Nevertheless, during his brief
tenure of power, he took a step which had momentous consequences. It
will be remembered that after the murder of Minamoto Sanetomo by his
nephew Kugyo, in 1219, some difficulty was experienced in persuading
the Imperial Court to appoint a successor to the shogunate, and
finally the choice fell upon Fujiwara Yoritsune, then a child of two,
who was not actually nominated shogun until 1226. This noble, when
(1244) in the twenty-seventh year of his age and the eighteenth of
his shogunate, was induced by the regent, Tsunetoki, to resign, the
alleged reason being portents in the sky, and a successor was found
for him in his son, Yoritsugu.
Now, for many years past the Miura family had ranked next to the Hojo
in power and above it in wealth, but the two had always been loyal
friends. Some umbrage was given to the Miura at this time, however,
owing to the favours enjoyed at the regency by the Adachi family, one
of whose ladies was the mother of the two shikken, Tsunetoki and
Tokiyori. The situation thus created had its issue in a plot to kill
Tokiyori, and to replace him by an uncle unconnected with the Adachi.
Whether the Miura family were really involved in this plot, history
gives no definite indication; but certainly the ex-shogun, Yoritsune,
was involved, and his very marked friendship with Miura Mitsumura
could scarcely fail to bring the latter under suspicion. In the end,
the Miura mansion was suddenly invested by a Hojo force. Mitsumura
and his elder brother, Yasumura, escaped to a temple where, after a
stubborn resistance, they and 270 of their vassals committed suicide.
No mercy was shown. The Miura were hunted and slaughtered everywhere,
their wide, landed estates being confiscated and divided among the
Bakufu, the fanes, and the courtiers at Kyoto.
The terribly drastic sequel of this affair illustrates the vast power
wielded by the Hojo throughout the empire in the thirteenth century.
Yoritomo's system of high constables and land-stewards brought almost
every part of the country under the effective sway of Kamakura. It is
not to be supposed, however, that these high constables and
land-stewards were suffered to subject the people within their
jurisdiction to arbitrary or extortionate treatment. Not only could
complaints of any such abuses count on a fair hearing and prompt
redress at the hands of the Bakufu, but also inspectors were
despatched, periodically or at uncertain dates, to scrutinize with
the utmost vigilance the conduct of the shugo and jito, who, in their
turn, had a staff of specially trained men to examine the land survey
and adjust the assessment and incidence of taxation.
ENGRAVING: HOJO TOKIYORI
HOJO TOKIYORI
Tokiyori, younger brother of Tsunetoki, held the post of shikken at
the time of the Miura tragedy. He had succeeded to the position, in
1246, on the death of Tsunetoki, and he nominally abdicated in 1256,
when, in the sequel of a severe illness, he took the tonsure. A
zealous believer, from his youth upwards, in the doctrines of the Zen
sect of Buddhism, he built a temple called Saimyo-ji among the hills
of Kamakura, and retired thither to tend his health--entrusting the
office of shikken to a relative, Nagatoki, as his own son, Tokimune,
was still of tender age--but continuing himself to administer
military and judicial affairs, especially when any criminal or civil
case of a complicated or difficult nature occurred. Thus, there was a
cloistered regent at Kamakura, just as there had so often been a
cloistered Emperor in Kyoto. Tradition has busied itself much with
Tokiyori's life. He carried to extreme lengths the virtue of economy
so greatly extolled by his grandfather, Yasutoki. Such was the
frugality of his mode of life that we read of him searching for
fragments of food among the remnants of a meal, so that he might
serve them to a friend, and we read, also, of his mother repairing
with her own hands the paper covering of a shoji in expectation of a
visit from him. He is further said to have disguised himself as an
itinerent bonze and to have travelled about the provinces, observing
the state of the people and learning their complaints. His
experiences, on this pilgrimage read like a romance. Lodging at one
time with an aged widow, he learns that she has been robbed of her
estate and reduced to painful poverty, a wrong which Tokiyori hastens
to redress; at another time his host is an old samurai whose loyal
record comes thus to the knowledge of the shikken and is subsequently
recognized.
But it must be confessed that these tales rest on very slender
evidence. Better attested is the story of Aoto Fujitsuna, which
illustrates at once the character of Tokiyori and the customs of the
time. This Fujitsuna was a man of humble origin but considerable
learning. One year, the country being visited by drought, Tokiyori
gave rice and money to priests for religious services, and himself
worshipped at the shrine of Mishima. These measures were vehemently
criticized by Fujitsuna, who described them as enriching the wealthy
to help the impoverished. When informed of this, Tokiyori, instead of
resenting it, sent for Fujitsuna and nominated him a member of the
Court of Recorders,* where he earned the reputation of being one of
Japan's greatest judges.** It is related of him that he devoted his
whole fortune to objects of charity, and that when Tokiyori, claiming
a revelation from heaven, proposed to increase his endowments, his
answer was, "Supposing heaven revealed to you that you should put me
to death, would you obey?" ***
*The Hikitsuke-shii, a body of men who kept the archives of the
Man-dokoro and conducted preliminary judicial investigations. It was
organized in Tokiyori's, time and from its members the Hyojoshu was
recruited.
**The other was Ooka Tadasuke of the Tokugawa period.
***It is related of this Aoto Fujitsuna that, having dropped a few
cash into the Namera River at night, he expended many times the
amount in paying torch-bearers to recover the lost coins, his
argument being that the money thus expended was merely put into
circulation, whereas the dropped money would have been irrevocably
lost.
Tokiyori, as already related, though he nominally resigned and
entered religion in 1256, really held the reins of power until his
death, in 1263. Thus the Insei (camera administration) came into
being in Kamakura, as it had done previously in Kyoto. There were
altogether nine of the Hojo regents, as shown below:
(1) Tokimasa 1203-1205
(2) Yoshitoki 1205-1224
(3) Yasutoki 1224-1242
(4) Tsunetoki 1242-1246
(5) Tokiyori 1246-1256 Retired in 1256, but ruled in camera till
1263
(6) Tokimune 1256-1284
(7) Sadatoki 1284-1301 Retired in 1301, but ruled in camera till
1311
(8) Morotoki 1301-1311
(9) Takatoki 1311-1333
The first six of these were men of genius, but neither Tokimasa nor
Yoshitoki can be called really great administrators, if in the
science of administration its moral aspects be included. The next
four, however, from Yasutoki down to Tokimune, are distinctly
entitled to a high place in the pages of history. Throughout the
sixty years of their sway (1224-1284), the Japanese nation was
governed with justice* and clemency rarely found in the records of
any medieval State, and it is a strange fact that Japan's debt to
these Hojo rulers remained unrecognized until modern times.
*It is recorded that the first half of every month in Kamakura was
devoted to judicial proceedings, and that at the gate of the Record
Office there was hung a bell, by striking which a suitor or
petitioner could count on immediate attention.
THE SHOGUNS IN KAMAKURA
In the Minamoto's original scheme of government the office of shogun
was an administrative reality.
Pages: | Prev | | 1 | | 2 | | 3 | | 4 | | 5 | | 6 | | 7 | | 8 | | 9 | | 10 | | 11 | | 12 | | 13 | | 14 | | 15 | | 16 | | 17 | | 18 | | 19 | | 20 | | 21 | | 22 | | 23 | | 24 | | 25 | | 26 | | 27 | | 28 | | 29 | | 30 | | 31 | | 32 | | 33 | | 34 | | 35 | | 36 | | 37 | | 38 | | 39 | | 40 | | 41 | | 42 | | 43 | | 44 | | 45 | | 46 | | 47 | | 48 | | 49 | | 50 | | 51 | | 52 | | 53 | | 54 | | 55 | | 56 | | 57 | | 58 | | 59 | | 60 | | 61 | | 62 | | 63 | | 64 | | 65 | | 66 | | 67 | | 68 | | 69 | | 70 | | 71 | | 72 | | 73 | | 74 | | 75 | | 76 | | 77 | | 78 | | 79 | | 80 | | 81 | | 82 | | 83 | | 84 | | 85 | | 86 | | 87 | | 88 | | 89 | | 90 | | 91 | | 92 | | 93 | | 94 | | 95 | | 96 | | 97 | | 98 | | 99 | | 100 | | 101 | | 102 | | 103 | | 104 | | 105 | | 106 | | 107 | | 108 | | 109 | | 110 | | 111 | | 112 | | 113 | | 114 | | 115 | | 116 | | 117 | | 118 | | 119 | | 120 | | 121 | | 122 | | 123 | | 124 | | 125 | | 126 | | 127 | | 128 | | 129 | | 130 | | 131 | | 132 | | 133 | | 134 | | 135 | | 136 | | 137 | | 138 | | 139 | | 140 | | 141 | | 142 | | 143 | | 144 | | 145 | | 146 | | 147 | | 148 | | 149 | | 150 | | 151 | | 152 | | 153 | | 154 | | 155 | | 156 | | 157 | | 158 | | 159 | | 160 | | 161 | | 162 | | 163 | | 164 | | 165 | | 166 | | 167 | | 168 | | 169 | | 170 | | 171 | | 172 | | 173 | | 174 | | 175 | | 176 | | 177 | | 178 | | 179 | | 180 | | 181 | | 182 | | 183 | | 184 | | 185 | | 186 | | 187 | | 188 | | 189 | | 190 | | 191 | | 192 | | 193 | | 194 | | 195 | | 196 | | 197 | | 198 | | 199 | | 200 | | 201 | | 202 | | 203 | | 204 | | 205 | | 206 | | 207 | | 208 | | 209 | | 210 | | 211 | | 212 | | 213 | | 214 | | 215 | | 216 | | 217 | | 218 | | 219 | | 220 | | 221 | | 222 | | 223 | | 224 | | 225 | | 226 | | 227 | | 228 | | 229 | | 230 | | 231 | | 232 | | 233 | | 234 | | 235 | | 236 | | 237 | | 238 | | 239 | | 240 | | 241 | | 242 | | 243 | | 244 | | 245 | | 246 | | 247 | | 248 | | 249 | | 250 | | 251 | | 252 | | 253 | | 254 | | 255 | | 256 | | 257 | | 258 | | 259 | | 260 | | 261 | | 262 | | 263 | | 264 | | Next |