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#126
    126. GRANT OF DOMAINS TO SHIBUYA SHIGEYORI, 1400
                          (Iriki-in docs.; also KK, III.)
BY the end of May 1397, Shimadzu Korehisa and Motohisa had through their proxies established an
amicable relation with the tan-dai. Assured of a goodwill in that quarter, and determined to crush
the Shibuya at this favorable opportunity, the Shimadzu lords concentrated their energy upon the
reduction of this enemy, and organized their third campaign against him on a great scale. Motohisa at
the head of five thousand knights from Hiuga and Osumi met Korehisa with two thousand Satsuma
warriors, early in May, and established their headquarters at a place called No-kubi, probably in To-
no-hara, a half mile to the northwest of the enemy's stronghold at Kiyoshiki. A detachment under
Honda Tadachika encamped at Madeno, in the same mura; and another led by Niiro Sanehisa,
upon a hill directly facing the fortress across the river; while a third took its position a mile to
the southeast. The besieged offered gallant defense. But they were closely invested by overwhelming
forces; no succor came from the Sagara, in Higo, to whom the Shibuya had appealed, while their
supplies were being exhausted. Finally they surrendered, after how long a siege and under what
terms are unknown. Iriki-in Sigeyori, the chief defender, fled with his men, and the fortress was
given in custody by the conquerors to Izhuin Yorihisa.1
  Thus it came about that, of all the Shibuya families which were established in Satsuma in 1247,
the Iriki-in was the first to lose its ancestral home and domain, (see the preface to No. 145). Who
could foresee in 1397, when Shigeyori capitulated at Kiyoshiki, that, as will be seen in the following
document, he would soon retake the lost domain without meeting opposition from his recent con-
querors;2 and that his successors would not only complete their rule, for the first time, practically
over the whole of Iriki in, (see the preface to No. 136), but also expand beyond its boundaries and
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annex a great territory to the west ? About 1540 the family had raised the glory of the Shibuya to 
a height which none of their branches had ever attained, (see the preface to No. 141). The fact is
that the Iriki-in lord, in spite of his defeat in 1397, did not become a vassal of the Shibuya baron,
but continued to be a sort of an ally, of uncertain fidelity, till 1418, (see No. 132); then, through
military service as a vassal and taking advantage of the political situation in the early 16th century,
gathered the vast domain to which we have referred.
  Returning to the end of the 14th century, we find Iriki-in Shigeyori temporarily ousted from
the historic fortress of Kiyoshiki. Apparently with a view to assuaging his grief and to securing his
loyalty, Shimadzu Korehisa made  to Shigeyori the temporary grants in south Satsuma contained
in the following document. These were important domains, both originally yose-gori of Shimadzu
sho, Kiire containing 40 and Taniyama 200 cho of rice-land3 already in 1197. The tenure of the
grants is not stated. In 1410, the Iriki-in seem already to have lost them, for Shimadzu Hisatoyo
held them in that year.4

    "ONE-HALF of Taniyama kori, in Satsuma kuni, and of kiire in, the same kuni:
-The aforesaid are given in trust(adzuke-oku) as places of support(ryo-sho). You
shall administer them in accordance with precedents. Ordered thus.
  "O-ei 7 y. 12 m. 13 d. [28 December 1400].   Kyu-Tetsu,5 (monogram).
"Shibuya dan-zho sho-hitsu6 dono."




  1Shimadzu koku-shi, viii, 8; an account in KK, III; Yamada sho-yei z. k. It is said that, since
the former vassals of the Iriki-in lord were still loyal to him and rebelled against Yorihisa, the new
lord who had been imposed upon them, he was compelled to desert Kiyoshiki; soon Iriki-in Shige-
yori and his son Shigenaga returned and re-installed themselves in their old domain. Yamada Sho-
Yei zhi-ki would have us believe that this event occurred in 1411, (cf. Shimadzu koku-shi, Viii, 20),
but we may perhaps date it earlier, (cf. Nos. 127A, 128, 129, and 130 preface).
  2See Nos 128 and 129. Cf. The preceding note.
  3The land report of 1197; see No. 9       4Shimadzu koku-shi, Viii, 17.
  5Korehisa's later Buddhist name.         6Iriki-in Shigeyori.