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Oye no Masafusa was overheard remarking that Yoshiiye had
some high qualities but was unfortunately ignorant of strategy. This
being repeated to Yoshiiye, he showed no resentment but begged to
become Masafusa's pupil. Yet he was already conqueror of the Abe and
governor of Dewa.

THE GO-SANNEN CAMPAIGN

Thereafter the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa were again the scene of
another fierce struggle which, since it began in the third year
(1089) of the Kwanji era and ended in the fifth year (1091), was
called the "After Three-years War." With regard to the nature of this
commotion, no enumeration of names is necessary. It was a family
quarrel between the scions of Kiyowara Takenori, a magnate of Mutsu
who had rendered conclusive assistance to Yoshiiye in the Nine-years'
War; and as a great landowner of Dewa, Kimiko Hidetake, took part,
the whole north of Japan may be said to have been involved. It fell
to Yoshiiye, as governor of Mutsu, to quell the disturbance, and very
difficult the task proved, so difficult that the issue might have
been different had not Fujiwara Kiyohira--who will be presently
spoken of--espoused the Minamoto cause.

When news of the struggle reached Kyoto, Yoshiiye's younger brother,
Yoshimitsu, who held the much coveted post of kebiishi, applied for
permission to proceed at once to his brother's assistance. The Court
refused his application, whereupon he resigned his office and, like a
true bushi, hastened to the war. Yoshimitsu was a skilled performer
upon a musical instrument called the sho. He had studied under a
celebrated master, Toyohara Tokimoto, now no more, and, on setting
out for the field of battle in the far north, he became apprehensive
lest the secrets imparted to him by his teacher should die with him.
He therefore invited Tokimoto's son, Tokiaki, to bear him company
during the first part of his journey, and to him he conveyed all the
knowledge he possessed. The spectacle of this renowned soldier giving
instruction in the art of music to the son of his deceased teacher on
moonlit nights as he travelled towards the battlefield, has always
appealed strongly to Japanese conception of a perfect samurai, and
has been the motive of many a picture.

This Go-sannen struggle furnished also another topic for frequent
pictorial representation. When about to attack the fortress of
Kanazawa, to which the approaches were very difficult, Yoshiiye
observed a flock of geese rising in confusion, and rightly inferred
an ambuscade of the enemy. His comment was, "Had not Oye Masafusa
taught me strategy, many brave men had been killed to-night." Yet one
more typical bushi may be mentioned in connexion with this war.
Kamakura Gongoro, a youth of sixteen, always fought in the van of
Yoshiiye's forces and did great execution. A general on the enemy's
side succeeded in discharging a shaft which entered the boy's eye.
Gongoro, breaking the arrow, rode straight at the archer and cut him
down. A shrine in Kamakura was erected to the memory of this intrepid
lad.

When Yoshiiye reported to the Throne the issue of this sanguinary
struggle, Kyoto replied that the war had been a private feud and that
no reward or distinctions would be conferred. Yoshiiye therefore
devoted the greater part of his own manors to recompensing those that
had followed his standard. He thus won universal respect throughout
the Kwanto. Men competed to place their sons and younger brothers as
kenin (retainers) in his service and the name of Hachiman-ko was on
all lips. But Yoshiiye died (1108) in a comparatively low rank. It is
easy to comprehend that in the Kwanto it became a common saying,
"Better serve the Minamoto than the sovereign."

THE FUJIWARA OF THE NORTH

Fujiwara Kiyohira, who is mentioned above as having espoused the
cause of the Minamoto in the Go-sannen, was descended from Hidesato,
the conqueror of Masakado. After the Go-sannen outbreak he succeeded
to the six districts of Mutsu which had been held by the insurgent
chiefs. This vast domain descended to his son Motohira, and to the
latter's son, Hidehira, whose name we shall presently find in large
letters on a page of Japanese history.

The Mutsu branch of the Fujiwara wielded paramount sway in the north
for several generations. Near Hiraizumi, in the province of Rikuchu,
may still be seen four buildings forming the monastery Chuson-ji. In
one of these edifices repose the remains of Kiyohira, Motohira, and
Hidehira. The ceiling, floor and four walls of this Konjiki-do
(golden hall) were originally covered with powdered gold, and its
interior pillars are inlaid with mother-of-pearl on which are traced
the outlines of twelve Arhats. In the days of Kiyohira the monastery
consisted of forty buildings and was inhabited by three hundred
priests.

ENGRAVING: A CONJUROR

ENGRAVING: SIDE VIEW OF THE "KOHO-AN" OF DAITOKU-JI, AT KYOTO



CHAPTER XXII

RECOVERY OF ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY BY THE THRONE

The 69th Sovereign, the Emperor Go-Shujaku A.D. 1037-1045

70th " " Go-Reizei 1046-1068

71st " " Go-Sanjo 1069-1072

72nd " " Shirakawa 1073-1086

73rd " " Horikawa 1087-1107

74th " " Toba 1108-1123

75th " " Sutoku 1124-1141

76th " " Konoe 1142-1155

77th " " Go-Shirakawa 1156-1158

DECADENCE OF FUJIWARA AUTOCRACY

During two centuries the administrative power remained in the hands
of the Fujiwara. They lost it by their own timidity rather than
through the machinations of their enemies. When the Emperor
Go-Shujaku was mortally ill, he appointed his eldest son, Go-Reizei,
to be his successor, and signified his desire that the latter's
half-brother, Takahito, should be nominated Crown Prince. Fujiwara
Yorimichi was then regent (kwampaku). To him, also, the dying
sovereign made known his wishes. Now Takahito had not been born of a
Fujiwara mother. The regent, therefore, while complying at once in
Go-Reizei's case, said that the matter of the Crown Prince might be
deferred, his purpose being to wait until a Fujiwara lady should bear
a son to Go-Reizei.

In thus acting, Yorimichi obeyed the policy from which his family had
never swerved through many generations, and which had now become an
unwritten law of the State. But his brother, Yoshinobu, read the
signs of the times in a sinister light. He argued that the real power
had passed to the military magnates, and that by attempting to stem
the current the Fujiwara might be swept away altogether. He therefore
repaired to the palace, and simulating ignorance of what had passed
between the late sovereign and the kwampaku, inquired whether it was
intended that Prince Takahito should enter a monastery. Go-Reizei
replied emphatically in the negative and related the facts, whereupon
Yoshinobu declared that the prince should be nominated forthwith. It
was done, and thus for the first time in a long series of years a
successor to the throne was proclaimed who had not the qualification
of a Fujiwara mother.

There remained to the kwampaku only one way of expressing his
dissent. During many years it had been customary that the Prince
Imperial, on his nomination, should receive from the Fujiwara regent
a famous sword called Tsubo-kiri (Jar-cutter). Yorimichi declined to
make the presentation in the case of Prince Takahito on the ground
that he was not of Fujiwara lineage. The prince--afterwards
Go-Sanjo--had the courage to deride this omission. "Of what service
is the sword to me?" he said. "I have no need of it."

Such an attitude was very significant of the changing times. During
more than twenty years of probation as Crown Prince, this sovereign,
Go-Sanjo, had ample opportunity of observing the arbitrary conduct of
the Fujiwara, and when he held the sceptre he neglected no means of
asserting the authority of the Crown, one conspicuous step being to
take a daughter of Go-Ichijo into the palace as chugu, a position
created for a Fujiwara and never previously occupied by any save a
Fujiwara.

Altogether, Go-Sanjo stands an imposing figure in the annals of his
country. Erudition he possessed in no small degree, and it was
supplemented by diligence, high moral courage and a sincere love of
justice. He also set to his people an example of frugality. It is
related that, observing as he passed through the streets one day, an
ox-carriage with gold mountings, he stopped his cortege and caused
the gold to be stripped off. Side by side with this record may be
placed his solicitude about the system of measures, which had fallen
into disorder. With his own hands he fashioned a standard which was
known to later generations as the senshi-masu of the Enkyu era
(1069-1074). The question of tax-free manors (shoen) also received
much attention. During the reign of Go-Shujaku, decrees were
frequently issued forbidding the creation of these estates. The
Fujiwara shoen were conspicuous. Michinaga possessed wide manors
everywhere, and Yorimichi, his son, was not less insatiable. Neither
Go-Shujaku nor Go-Reizei could check the abuse. But Go-Sanjo resorted
to a really practical measure. He established a legislative office
where all titles to shoen had to be examined and recorded, the Daiho
system of State ownership being restored, so that all rights of
private property required official sanction, the Court also becoming
the judge in all disputes as to validity of tenure.

These orders came like a clap of thunder in a blue sky. Many great
personages had acquired vast manorial tracts by processes that could
not endure the scrutiny of the Kiroku-jo (registrar's office).
Yorimichi, the kwampaku, was a conspicuous example. On receipt of the
order to register, he could only reply that he had succeeded to his
estates as they stood and that no documentary evidence was available.
Nevertheless, he frankly added that, if his titles were found
invalid, he was prepared to surrender his estates, since the position
he occupied required him to be an administrator of law, not an
obstacle to its administration.