#61
                 61. TERAO KORESHIGE'S LETTER, c. 1322
                         (A copy in Terao docs.; also KK, VIII.)
WITH this letter we again enter a controversy in the Terao family concerning To-no-hara.It is
singularly fortunate for the student that contentions relative to this place arose so often, for noth-
ing reveals the institutional life of a society so clearly as documents of legal disputes: each side
would strive to present its own case in the most favorable and that of its opponent in the most
unfavorable light possible, and, in the process of mutual attack and refutation, all the circum-
stances, some of which would never be recorded but for the controversy, would be thrashed out.
The very number of the documents, however, and the increasingly complicated situation which
they present, constituting as they do their great value, require that their study should be painstak-
ing and intensive. All the circumstances should be carefully tr2ced and well controlled.
   It should, first of all, be remembered that the ben-zai shi shiki of To-no-hara was held by the
P209
Tomo family, and its ji-to shiki by the Terao branch of the Iriki-in; and that each was pursuing
its own intricate lines of division and transmission. In this and the immediately following docu-
ments, we have to do only with the ji-to shiki and the Terao. We have already seen (Nos. 19-21)
that, in 1251 and 1253, Jo-Shin, the first lord of Iriki, devised this shiki to his son Jo-Butsu, and
that the latter likewise willed it, in 1277 (Nos. 28 and 34), to his younger son Shigemichi. Of
Shigemichi's transmission of the shiki to his sons Koreshige and Shigesada, no letters of devise
have been preserved.

"\ズハショウリャク\"

  Koreshige wrote the following letter, it may be inferred, about 1322 shortly before his death,
though the date of neither event can be established with certainty. The original copy of this letter
is the most difficult to read of all the documents of the Iriki-in family and its branches. It is clear,
however, that Koreshige here refered to the devise of the heir-general's shiki of To-no-hara which
he had made to his grandson Betto-zhiro-Maru. The latter, according to No. 63, had lived with
his late mother's father, the Shibuya lord, at Taki. This letter was later used by Betto's side in
his dispute with Shigena, in support of a claim to To-no-hara (No. 64), but the editor can hardly
vouch for the authenticity of the document.

"KORESHIGE has said to Betto1 go-zen2 of Taki that he has given to him, though
regrettably inadequate, the successive documents of the heir-generel's3 [shiki] of the
estate [that would be] left by [Koreshige]. He has reported this matter to O-kata
dono,4 of Taki. May the gods bear witness. For a certain reason, [Koreshige] will se-
cure [for Betto go-zen] a confirmation5 at Kamakura for this. . . .6 With high
respect.
  "6th month 1st day.                                          Taira no Koreshige, monogram.
"Respectfully addressed to Shimo-osa dono.7
    "Postscript. Be so good as to inform Kawachi dono8 also.
                                                                           "(The rest is abridged.9)
"As regards Betto1 go-zen, [Koreshige] went to Taki the day he left Satsuma,10 and
told O-kata dono about the matter. But he would be grateful if you would also speak
to him. [Koreshige] would be grateful if [O-kata dono] heard and understood that
To-no-hara, of Satsuma, it being [Koreshige's] domain, [had been devised to Betto].11
With high respect." 


1Betto is written Bento in the original, following the local pronunciation. 2Go-zen is an honorific generally applied to a lady, but is here used for a boy. 3So-ryo, heir-general; see No. 28, n. 2, and No. 55, n. 2. 4Apparently Togo Shigefuji, Betto's mother's father. P210 5An-do; see No. 12, n. 15, and preface to No. 21. 6Obscure in the original. 7Not identifiable; he is referred to as Shimo-osa gon no kami in No. 64. 8Probably Kawachi no gon no kami Shigesato, the third lord of Taki, (see preface to No. 45), grandfather of Betto's mother. He may have been away from Taki at this time. 9The copyist's note. 10Probably on his way to the domain in Ise; see No. 63. 11This is a likely construction, itself clumsy, of this awkward sentence.