#23
23. THE SHO-GUN'S SANCTION OF SHIBUYA AKISHIGE'S WILL OF
                                                           1263, 1267
                           (okamoto docs.; also KK, VII, and SK, V.)
THE following item occurs in KK, I, but the original document has not been preserved: "On Ko-cho
3 y., midzunoto i,1 1 m. 23 d., (3 March 1263), (Shibuya Akishige, the second lord of the Iriki-in,
whose Buddhist name was Zen-Shin) devised O-ashi mura and East Koya,2 in Kawae go in
Mimasaka kuni, to Akishige's sixth son Shaku-do-Maru. Shaku-do-Maru was the boyhood name
of Rokuro bo Shidzushige, the ancestor of the Okamoto. The letter of devise, in a single copy, is at
the Okamoto house."
   The following is a somewhat less formal order of confirmation at succession than No. 21; this
form was used presumably for successors other than the main heir.
         "THAT Shaku-do-Maru shall forthwith hold(ryo-chi) O-ashi mura and Higashi
   Koya, in Kawae go, Mimasaka kuni:
"It is hereby decreed(ge-chi), by [the sho-gun's] command, that [Shaku-do-Maru]
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shall, according to his late father Akishige ho-shi's3 letter of devise dated Ko-cho 3rd
year 1st month 23rd day, hold(ryo-sho) [the said places].
   "Bun-ei 4 y. 6 m. 16 d. [8 July 1267]. Sagami no kami, Taira no Ason,4 (mono-
                                                                                                             gram).
                                                           "Sakyo no gon dai-bu, Taira no Ason,5 (monogram)".




   1The last year of the sexagenary cycle.
   2O-ashi is in Kami-yama mura, near the boundary of Bizen. Koya may have been near O-ashi:
koya is a building where the business of cutting trees from an adjoining woodland is managed, but
the word has often become a proper place-name.
   3A low Buddhist rank, but popularly used much in the same sense as shami or nyu-do.
   4Hojo Tokimune.
   5Hojo Masamura.