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#5
                    5.PETITION OF OKURA TANE-AKIRA, AND MARGINAL SANCTION
                                 OF THE DOMANIAL LORD,1187
                   (Nagatoshi docs.; also KK, XI, and SK, I.)
"PETITION by Okura1 Tane-akira,2 the ju-nin of Satsuma kuni, supplicating for deci-
sion of the deputy,
  "That, specially in accordance with the purport of this petition and in pursuance of
  the principle of hereditary succession, permission be granted; [this] being a peti-
  tion that, since the domain belonging to the sho, [namely,] Yamada mura, in Sat-
  suma kori, was the late Nobu-akira's hereditary possession, and whereas Tane-akira's
  wife is Nobu-akira's eldest daughter, to whom he has devised all the ta and hata in
  his possession, and the documents are clear, it is begged that a marginal sanction be
  granted.
"On respectfully examining the records, [it is found that] the aforesaid domain was
the late Nobu-akira's hereditary possession. It had been held for generations without
interference, and there has been no person who disputed it. Since Ni-roku Dai-bu
Kanemune became the ben-zai shi of the said kori, he seized for a brief time the well-
defined ji-to shiki. [The right of Nobu-akira's ancestors to] the ben-zai [shiki] of
Kuruma-uchi mura, in Taki kori, is evident in letters of [the Domanial Lord's] orders.
It is an unspeakable outrage that recently one by the name of Toyama Shiro Dai-bu
Noritada3 has, without any letter of command [from Domanial Lord], seized [the
shiki]. If in accordance with the principle of heredity, the aforesaid shiki be [restored]
by a marginal sanction,...4 Therefore, the circumstances are herein recorded and
presented, and the petition made.
  "Bun-ji 3y. 7m.-d.5 [about August 1187]. Okura Tane-akira, petitioner."
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[Marginal order]:
"Precedents should be followed. If there are circumstances [that need to be con-
sidered], they should be reported. So ordered.
                                         "Miyoshi, dan-zho no chu, (monogram)."




  1 For the origin of the Okura family, see the prefatory note to No.3. The relation of the Tomo
and Okura families will be seen from the following genealogical table that occurs as a note to the
report of land survey of 1197 (cf. No.9 below). This note was derived from an Iriki-in document,
but its original is not extant in the present collection.
  "Tomo Nobu-fusa,
    ben-zai shi betto of Iriki in, ji-to of Yamada, in Satsuma kori;
          |     petition Kyuan 3y. 2m. 9d. [1147].
  Tomo Nobu-akira,
    san-i, betto of Shimadzu sho;
          |     petition Zhu-ei 2y. 8m. 8d. [1183].
  The eldest daughter,
          |     married Okura Tane-akira;
          |     inherited Nobu-akira's possessions;
          |     Tane-akira's petition Bun-ji 3y. 7m. [1187].
  Okura Tanenobu
          |
  Daughter,
                married Minamoto Munehisa;
                Munehisa inherited domain in Yamada mura;
                petition Ken-po 5y. 8m. [1217]."
(The first three petitions mentioned in this table are our Nos.2, 4, and 5. The last, of 1217, is
given below, as No.12 A.)
  2 About Tane-akira, see the report of 1197 below (Nos.8 and 9), in which he is seen as holding
shiki in several places, and also serving in the kuni government.
  3 The original Toyama in Satsuma, of the Fujiwara descent, who had been an official in the
household of the premier, came early in the history of Shimadzu sho as the deputy of its lord
(Introduction, p.4). His descendants became noted warriors in middle Hiuga beside the Kimo-
tsuki, the hereditary lords of parts of the original sho.(San-goku mei-sho dzu-ye, lviii, 43.) In 1185
Toyama Zhiro Dai-bu Yoshinaga was a go ke-nin, whose domain was secured by the suzerain
(Adzuma-kagami, IV,-Kikkawa ed., I, 133). Documents relative to members of this family as dis-
tinguished local chieftains exist down to the first half of the fifteenth century (1333, in the Ibusuki
documents; 1375, in San-goku, etc., lviii, 50; 1345, in Dai Ni-hon shi-ryo, VI, ix, 518; 1375, 1394,
1412, and 1433,in Shimadzu koku-shi, vii, 4; viii, 4; ix, 3; x, 3). It is seen in the present document
that a Toyama had already in 1187 extended his power so far north as Kuruma-uchi, in Togo; that
was undoubtedly owing to the high position his family was holding in the administration of
Shimadzu sho, for Kuruma-uchi appears to have been its yose-gori.
  4 This clause, in nine characters, is not clear, owing to wrong writing. The meaning probably is
that the restoration here prayed for, if granted, would be greatly to the convenience of the
petitioner.
  5 The character meaning "day" appears with a vacant space above it, where the ordinal number
showing the place of the day in the month might be written. This form of omitting the day is
frequent in petitions. Probably the draft, like the present one, was made with the expectation that
the petition would be presented sometime during the month, when the figure indicating the day
would be inserted.





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