THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL INSTITUTE THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO



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                  2. PETITION OF TOMO NOBUFUSA, AND MARGINAL SANCTION
                              OF THE DOMANIAL LORD,¹ 1147
                          (Nagatoshi docs.; also KK, XI, and SK, I.)
TOMO NOBUFUSA, the author of this petition, was of the illustrious family that traced its ancestry
back to a "heavenly deity" who is said to have accompanied Ninigi, the progenitor of the imperial
house, when he descended upon Japan in the mythical age. The successors of the former for a long
period served the court as chiefs of guardsmen and councillors of state, but in the ninth century
were ousted from their high place by the Fujiwara, who gradually gained control over nearly all
the important posts in the central government. Members of the Tomo family then scattered in
remote parts of the country, where they, like men of other old families from Kyoto, served as minor
provincial officials. Their descendants multiplied in an increasing number of branch families, and
maintained their local prominence with more or less success.² Their presence on the basin of the
lower Sendai is revealed in this document and many others following.
  It will be seen that, at the time of his writing this petition, Tomo Nobufusa was an agent of a
sho, being its financial commissioner (ben-zai shi) for the lands it held in Iriki in and its administra-
tive official (ji-to) of its lands in neighboring districts in Satuma and Taki kori. That sho was
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Shimadzu, the origin and character of which were described in our Introduction. In the cadastral
survey of the kuni of 1197 (No.9), we note that the sho held yose-gori, that is, districts the taxes
from which were divided between itself and the kuni government, in both Iriki in and Satsuma kori,
and it is assumed that a similar condition existed fifty years before, at the time of this document.
It was, then, in one of the yose-gori in Satsuma kori of Shimadzu shothat Nobufusa had been and
now wished to continue to be the ji-to.
  It is one of the most important events in the institutional history of Japan that, early in 1186,
Yoritomo, the first suzerain of Kamakura, was authorized to appoint from among his own vassals
ji-to in a majority of the districts, public and private, in Japan. It has, however, been known that
before that date there had been occasional instances of agents in sho designated by this title; and,
therefore, it is of special interest that we here meet a ji-to forty years before Yoritomo, in a district
in far Satsuma which was half public and half private in its financial status. His function as a local
agent probably consisted largely in receiving and forwarding the taxes that were due to the
domanial lord of the sho.
  As ji-to of Yamada mura, Nobufusa was responsible to the domanial lord of the sho, who was
at Kyoto; as be-zai shi of Iriki in, he was presumably accountable to the kuni government of
Satsuma, whose offices were located half a mile northwest of the Niita temple. Another district,
Kuruma-uchi in Taki kori, over which also he had been granted jito-ship was, however, adminis-
tered at present by the deputy of the domanial lord. Such diversity of control was not unnatural,
when we consider that a yose-gori was, in its financial obligation, neither wholly public as part of
the kuni nor wholly private as part of the sho.
  It will be noted that for his jito-ship Nobufusa owed to the domanial lord a "fee for appoint-
ment."

"TOMO NOBUFUSA, betto,³ the ben-zai shi⁴ of Iriki in, petitions, appealing for decision
by the man-dokoro⁵ of the sho,⁶
  "That, in accordance with the repeated orders, a renewed marginal sanction⁷ be
  granted him, concerning [the office of] ji-to of Yamada mura,⁸ of Satsuma kori.
"On respectfully examining the records,⁹ [it is found that] Nobufusa, though person-
ally poor and incapable, has, with utmost effort and to the fullest capacity, rendered to
Kyoto his fees for appointment,¹⁰ and received orders appointing him ji-to of Yamada
mura and Kuruma-uchi. As for Kuruma-uchi, it is at present controlled by the
deputy,¹¹ and is therefore beyond [Nobufusa's] power. It is petitioned that, as regards
Yamada mura, a marginal sanction that [his ji-to office thereof] is assured, be granted
him, so that [the document] may be preserved as testimony for all time. Thus does
he respectfully petition.
  "Kyu-an 3y. 2m. 9d. [12, March 1147]. Tomo Nobufusa, petitioning."

[Marginal order]:¹²

  "Following precedents, [the petitioner] shall be [the holder of] the ji-to shiki;¹³ so
  ordered.
                                     "Nakahara,¹⁴ u e-mon no zho,¹⁵ (monogram¹⁶)."




  ¹ The domanial lord was Fujiwara Tadamichi, regent for the emperor, descendant in the fourth
generation of the premier Yorimichi, the first lord of Shimadzu sho. Later, Yorimichi's successor,
Motozane, assumed the family-name Konoe.
  ² See the Tomo genealogies in Zoku gun-zho rui-zhu, VII, 787-821,and kei-dzu so-ran, II, 299 ff.
  ³ Betto, a term of Sinico-Buddhist origin, was usually a title for the chief of an office; its usage,
however, had become irregular. Here its connotation is not clear, but the betto probably was, if
one may infer from Nos.4 and 12 C, an official connected with the central administration of the sho.
  ⁴ Ben-zai shi was vulgarly pronounced be-zai shi, be-zasshi, ben-za shi, etc. The term implies
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the rendering of taxes (ben-zai, clearance; shi, commissioner). We suppose that ben-zai shi in
Satsuma kuni were financial and administrative officials in districts; they seem to occur usually in
those districts whose taxes were partly due to a sho.
  ⁵ Here the use of the word is regular, referring to the executive office of the domanial lord. See
n.4 to No.1.
  ⁶ Shimadzu sho.
  ⁷ Ge-dai (literally, marginal heading), marginal order, a sample of which is found in this No.
This was an informal procedure, which would hardly be used at the first appointment.
  ⁸ Mura, hamlet.
  ⁹ A conventional beginning of formal statements.
  ¹⁰ A fee was paid to the domanial lord at appointment and reappointment.
  ¹¹ The deputy of the lord of Shimadzu sho, who might be a Toyama; cf. No.5 n.3.
  ¹² The marginal sanction by the domanial lord, like most ge-daifrom whatever source, is written
usually on the first margin-i.e., on the right-hand side of the paper, as Japanese writing proceeds
from right ot left,-instead of at the end, as is done for convenience in this translation.
  ¹³ Shiki, literally, office, but usually meaning the income incident upon the office. See Introduc-
tion, p. 3.
  ¹⁴ An official of the domanial lord's man-dokoro.
  ¹⁵ An official title, originally in the imperial palace guard but now nominal.
  ¹⁶ Monograms originally grew out of signatures; personal names were at first done in cursive
from into single abridged characters, and then more or less purely fanciful monograms were devised.