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#138
         138.IRIKI-IN SHIGETOYO'S DEVISE TO SHIGETOSHI,1490
                     (Iriki-in docs.; also KK, IV and SK, XXX.)
"To devise
         To the son Mata-goro Shigetoshi1
"The mura, houses, ta and  hata, even unto mountains and wilds, without a single
exception, in Iriki in, Satsuma kuni, are hereby devised. Formerly, since service was
called by the sho-gun2 directly from Kyoto, relatives also were, accorrding to their
loyal servises, supported3 with private domains;4 but as in this age the shu-go calls
[upon the lord] for service from all the lands in the in without exception, there is no
longer any need of private domains4 as in the past, but all [holdings] are the same as
grants.5 Though there be many sons, or though there be relatives who have rendered
different loyal services, nothing shall be assigned to them as private domains.4 If there
be any who makes a devise contrariwise to this sense, the heir-general shall, in ac-
cordance with that letter of devise, hold [the domain devised thereby].
  "One place, Nagatoshi myo and Yamada mura,in Satsuma kori;
    one place, Kusawara myo ,ditto;
    one place, Tazaki mura, ditto;
    one place, Amatatsu mura, ditto;
    one place, Hashima mura,ditto;
    one place, Hiramatsu mura, Kamo, Osumi;
    one place, the Moriyama kado5 and the Maebara kado,.6 in Mochida, same;

"\ズハショウリャク\"

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    "The ji-to shiki, ta and hata, in each of aforesaid, without a single excep-
tion, are devised.
      "Likewise, according to presedents,
    one place, Chiku-zen kuni: the wet field and homestead at Kashiwara;
    one place, Chiku-go kuni: the Naga-buchi homestead and the Minaki homestead;
    one place,Kai kuni: house, ta and hata, at Ashi-iri, in Nishi-zhima;
    one place, Mimasaka kuni: Shimo-mori, Kami-yama, and Oashi, in Kawae go;
    one place, Sagami kuni: the homestead and wooded and at Fuji-gokoro, in Zo-shi
        go, Shibuya.
     "The aforesaid domains are Shigetoyo's hereditay possessions. Therefore, they
are, together with the documents of succession and letters of transmission, devised for
all time to Shigetoshi.1 As for the obligations (ku-zhi), they shall be performed accord-
ing to precedents. Next, after [the death of] Shigetoyo, though there be several
brothers, the heir-general shall be [appointed] according to ability(ki-yo), and all the
domains without a single exception shall be devised to him alone. If there be any who,
contrariwise to this sence, divided the domains among his sons, he should not be con-
sidered as Shigetoyo's descendant. Since it is ruled thus, if perchance the domains were
devised in parts, the heir- general should, in accordance with the tenor of this letter,
of devise is [written] thus.
"Ei-den7 1 y. 8 m. 21 d. [12 September 1490].
                             Shimostuke no kami  Shigetoyo (monogram)."




  1 The Japanese text printed in this volume Shigetsuna, which is an error for Shigetoshi, the
eleventh Iriki-in lord.
  2 The word used is ko, for which see No. 142, n. 2.
  3 Kaku-go, to support.
  4 Shi-ryo, private holding, hereditable and subinfeudable.
  5 Kyu-bun, or simply kyu, grants of land made, not by the sho-gun to local chieftains, but by
the latter to their relations and followers. Formerly, under the system of go ke-nin (direct vassals
of the sho-gun), there was an essential difference between the shi-ryo of the principal members of
the lord's family and the kyu granted to his minor members and vassals: the shi-ryo, as the term
was employed here,were held directly of the sho-gun, but the kyu-bun were subgrants privately 
given out of the shi-ryo by their holders. Now the difference between the two had practically ceased
to exist, since the chief of the Iriki-in family was responsible to the local shu-go for the service
which was due to the latter from the former's entire fief. In this age of practical anarchy, the sho-
gun as suzerain had been eclipsed by the shu-go; the direct vassalage of the Iriki-in lord's relatives
under the sho-gun, which characterized the Kamakura period (cf. The preface to No.13), had gradu-
ally been converted into their indirect allegiance to the shu-go under the lordship of their family-
head; the shu-go had attained local suzerainty, not so much because he was a shu-go, as because
he had at length succeeded in reducing other provincial lords to feudal subjection. A local feudal
hierarchy with the former shu-go at its apex had come into being, which comprised many lesser
hierarchies under the chiefs of warrior-families. Cf. No. 136, n. 3, and 144.
  6 Kado, literally, gate; it usually meant in South Kyu-shu, in the Tokugawa period, an agricul-
tural estate consisting of the peasant-holder's house and land, (cf. No. 104, n. 22). At the time of
this devise, as is seen here, a warrior also, held kado.. Nor is it unlikely that a kado was sometimes
more inclusive than in the later ages, comprising more than one homestead and forming a little
hamlet; this is, however, a conjecture. The literal sence of the word seem at any rete to sug-
gest the origin of the institution as a family estate, in which the residence of the holder formed an
integral part.
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  7 This year-perod, Ei-den, was not official. Its first year corresponded to the second year of
En-toku, A.D. 1490.