#47
               47. GIFT OF A BEN-ZAI SHI SHIKI AT IRIKI, 1292
                                 (SK, VII, from the Taki documents, at Oguchi.)
IT should always be borne in mind that, in Iriki, as at other places in Satsuma and elsewhere, there
were, besides the ji-to shiki, also the ben-zai shi, the myo-shu, and other shiki, of the same land;
and that all shiki continually tended to be divided among successive heirs and transferred to others
by gift and other modes of conveyance; each fragment of a shiki preserving as long as was prac-
ticable its own institutional character. It is only by grasping this state of things firmly in mind, that
one may seek to trace with any degree of success how, in later ages, out of the debris of historic
shiki arose fiefs, single and complete, which were possessed by men organized in a feudal hierarchy.
     The ben-zai shi shiki of Iriki in, which is seen in this document to have been split and to be on
the point of being further parcelled, had been held by the Tomo family, (cf. No. 2). Later the
shiki, which covered 55 cho of yose-gori, had passed, by marriage, into the hands of Okura Tane-
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akira, who held several other important shiki in various parts of Satsuma, (cf. Nos. 5 and 9). The
Tanezoe mentioned in this document must have been a descendant of Tane-akira; the former gave
a fifth of the shiki to Morokazu, the author of this letter of gift. Now, Morokazu was of the Take-
mitsu branch of the Tomo family, and therefore related distantly to Tanezoe. The Takemitsu were
strongly established in Taki kori, and had come in occasional collision with the branch of the
Shibuya which had settled there as ji-to.1
   It will be recalled that Tomo were the myo-shu of To-no-hara, Iriki, (cf. Nos. 15 and 16).
"RESPECTIFULLY to contribute2
   The ben-zai shi shiki of ta and hata, mura sono,3 mountains and rivers, in Iriki in,
   Satsuma kuni.
"The said shiki of the aforementioned places have, by its former holder4 Tanezoe,
divlding one-fifth of this in, been given for all time to Morokazu. Now, Morokazu,
dividing again one -twentieth4a of his share, and adding his signature on the reverse
side5 of the transcribed copy of Tanezoe's letter of gift, respectfully contributes2 [the
shiki] for all time to Ko-Han, the Reader.6 As for the various annual dues, [it is re-
quested that] they be rendered as may befit the share. It that is done, [Ko-Han] shall
hold [the shiki] for future ages in succession without molestation.
   "Sho-o 5 y. 3 m. 14 d. [2 April 1292].                 Tomo Morokazu, (monogram)."


1SK, VII, contains a judicial decision by the sho-gun's government in 1252 of a dispute between Shibuya Shigehide and Takemitsu Moronaga. 2The original word,yudzuru, is the same for giving and for devising. 3For sono, see No. 45, n. 9. Why to this word is affixed mura, meaning a peasant community, is hard to see; the character mura might possibly be a mistake. If not, mura-sono may possibly mean a field cultivated for a purpose which was common to the whole hamlet; or may even be a mere proper name. 4Hon-shu, literally, original master. 4aOne-twentieth of a fifth of the original 55 cho makes one-hundredth, or, 5.5 tan. 5When a shiki is transferred, the conveyor might briefly state his act and put his monogram on the reverse side of the main document by means of which he came into possession of the shiki. This process was called ura-han, "monogram on the reverse side," and constituted an informal procedure of conveyance. Cf. No. 68, n.7. 6Doku-shi, an official Buddhist priest attached to the Koku-bun shi, provincial church. See sig- natures at the end of No. 25.