Taira Tadamori’s Family Line (4)---The Revolt of Minamoto Yoshichika (1)---

    Minamoto Yoshichika (?-1108) infested Kyushu Island together with Takashina Motozane (?-?), who was his father-in-law and was a provincial officer in Higo Province, and others.  Cloistered Emperor Shiwakawa (1053-1129) dispatched an official, and Yoshichika's father, Yoshiie (1039-1106), sent his right-hand man, Fujiwara Sukemichi (?-?).  Sukemichi, however, took Yoshichika's side and killed the official.  On December 28, 1102, it was ordered that Yoshichika should be exiled to Oki Province, an island province off Izumo Province in the Sea of Japan.  It was not recorded who arrested Yoshichika or who transported him.  His next appearance was in 1107.  He killed a provincial agent officer and officials in Izumo Province, and captured tax products accumulated in the provincial government office.  Moreover, some local powerful families were rumored to side with Yoshichika.

 

     Let me present my hypothesis.  Yoshichika could have been trying to trade with the Liao Dynasty illegally, which had damaged Dazai-fu's, it means Oe Masafusa's, rights and interests severely, which had caused Masafusa's excessive response to Yoshichika's violent manner, and which made Yoshichika so influencial in Kyushu.  The cloistered emperor's governance was staying in business on the balance among central powerful clans and the central middle-ranking families who belonged to the "zuryo" class.  They might have mediated between Oe and Minamoto in a narrow sense, or maintained the equilibrium at large, and the compromise might have been that Yoshichika should retreat to Oki Province, where he could continue the illegal trade with the Liao Dynasty, however inconvenient the place might be.  Yoshichika voluntarily moved to Oki, or to Izumo at the very least, or at the worst.

Taira Tadamori’s Family Line (3)

     In 1101, Oe Masafusa (1041-1111), who was the officer in Dazai-fu (Kyushu Regional Government, which administered diplomatic relations and foreign trades) and who was a famed poet and scholar, accused Minamoto Yoshichika (?-1108) of his killing local people and looting their properties.  His vicious and wicked conducts were not, however, rare among those who belonged to the “zuryo” (to take over) class.  Some of them did murder and looting to get wealthier quickly and simply.  Let me pick up Taira Korehira (?-?) for example.

     Fujiwara Sanesuke (957-1046) was known for his thorough knowledge of customer and rites.  He wrote in his journal that Korehisa killed two local people in 1024, when he was a provincial officer in Hitachi Province, and that he tortured the widow into a confession that the murderer was another local person.  Sanosuke also quoted Korehira’s successor’s letter to the central government that people were starving, and that the province was sapped of vitality.  We can easily see how cruel and merciless Korehira’s violent exploitation was.

     As a scholar, Masafusa might not have been so violent as Yoshichika or Korehira, but he wrote several self-recommendations to be appointed as a provincial officer.  In the application dated April 2, 996, he wrote, “If you say an old scholar who loves poetry should not ride on a vehicle, I would say Bai Ju-yi (a famous Chinese poet) was an officer in Suzhou.  If you say a poor gentleman who loves calligraphy should not serve the colors, I would say Zhu May-chen was a general governor in Guiji.”  Even Masafusa recognized being a provincial officer as a way to be wealthy.

Taira Tadamori’s Family Line (2)

     Taira Korehira (?-?) made a provincial officer in Shimotsuke, Ise, Kozuki, and Hitachi Provinces.  He belonged to the “zuryo” (to take over) class, not to the local-powerful-family class.  He must have his residences in Kyoto and in the northern part of Ise Province, where he managed his manors.  He gathered rice and other products in the residence in Ise Province, accumulated some of them there, and sent some others to Kyoto.  In Kyoto, with the wealth he sent in, he built connections in the central bureaucracy.  With the connections, he was successfully appointed as a provincial officer, and accumulated another amount of wealth in the province.  That was what “zuryo” did.

     His son, Masanori (?-?), made a provincial officer in Hitachi, Dewa, and Echizen Provinces; Masanori’s son, Masahira (?-?), only in Dewa Province.  He was appointed as the provincial officer in 1099.  The “zuryo” class in general made a downfall in the 12th century, but the family didn’t.  Masahira’s son, Masamori (?-1121?), made a brilliant comeback.  He suppressed the revolt by Minamoto Yoshichika (?-1108).

     Prior to the revolt, Fujiwara Korefusa (1030-1096), an officer of Dazai-fu (Kyushu Regional Government), and Fujiwara Atsusuke (?-?), a provincial officer in Tsushima Province, conspired to privately trade with the Liao Dynasty in northern China.  The trade was illegal because Japan had its diplomatic relation with the Song Dynasty but not with the Liao Dynasty.  The both two got a demotion as a penalty.

     In 1099, Emperor Horikawa changed his regnal year names due to a big earth quake and a plague.  Sometime at the time, Yoshichika was appointed as a provincial officer in Tsushima Province.

Taira Tadamori's Family Line (1)

     Taira Sadamori (?-989) was fighting around the northern part of the Kanto Plain against Taira Masakado (?-940), who corresponded in the East to Fujiwara Sumitomo (?-941) in the West, the first pirate king in Japan.  After Masakado’s defeat and death, Sadamori was promoted to make a provincial officer in Tanba and Mutsu Provinces.  He seems never to have worked in Ise Province.

     Somehow or other, his son, Korehisa (?-?), was fighting in 998 against Taira Munenori (?-1011), whose grandfather was a younger brother of Sadamori’s father, over “kami-no-kori” (literally gods’ counties).  There used to be 6 gods’ counties in Ise Province, and 3 of them were located in the northern part, where both Korehisa and Munemori were based.  The counties' taxes were spent to support Ise Shrine.  The fight lasted for 2 generations, and finally Muneyori’s son, Munetsune (?-?), was arrested at Yokokawa in Mt. Hiei in 1021 officially by the police and judicial chief but virtually by Korehira’s son, Masamori (?-?).

     During the fight, probably to make his position better, Munetsune donated Masuda Manor in Kuwana County, Ise Province, in 1013 to Fujiwara Yorimichi (992-1074), who was the eldest son of Michinaga (966-1027), the most powerful man in Japan at the time.  Even after his arrest, he donated a navy blue lapis lazuli salvia jar to Todai-ji Temple.  The jar, which is still kept in Shoso-in, is presumed to have been made at Fergana in Turkistan and might have been brought by sea to Masuda Manor, where a base of the sea people who were active around Ise Bay was located.

     Even in the 12th century, we can find a document about a lawsuit between Kume Tametoki, a low-ranking official, and Kuwana Kanbe, a low-ranking shrine priest, over port tolls in the manor.  Later during the Warring States Period in Japan, the northern part of Ise Province produced the Mukai Family, a pirate samurai family, who made the sea force magistrate of Tokugawa Shogunate.

The Most Powerful Manor Restriction Ordinance Ever

     Unlike other emperors in the later Ancient Japan, the maternal grandfather of Emperor Go-Sanjo (1034-1073) was not a member of the Fujiwara Clan.  So the emperor took a bold stance against the clan, whose chief at the time was Fujiwara Yorimichi (992-1074).

     In 1069, he issued his hard-line manor restriction ordinance, and, at the same time, established a central manor registry office to put the ordinance into practice in a rigid and centralized manner.  Unlike previous ordinances, the ordinance included detailed rules which prohibited:

     1.  To exchange fertile state-owned rice paddy fields for manor rice paddy fields of inferior quality.

     2.  To count state-owned rice paddy fields among manor rice paddy fields even when they were cultivated by manor farmers.

     3.  To classify state-owned rice paddy fields allocated for the maintenance of religious institutions into their manor rice paddy fields.

     We can easily guess how central powerful clans and the central powerful religious institutions had eroded state-owned rice paddy fields.

     The ordinance and its measures seem to have been very effective.  Yorimichi’s grandson, Moromichi (1062-1099) lamented in his journal their loss of Doi Manor in Kozuke Province.  Iwashimizu-Hachiman-gu Shrine still keeps an official document dated September 5, 1072, with the signature of Oe Masafusa (1041-1111), a famed poet and scholar at the time.  The document was issued to the shrine, informing that 13 out of their 34 manors were to be confiscated.

The History of Ineffective Manor Regulation Ordinances

     Ironically enough, the first manor restriction ordinance in 902 spread the idea and concept of land ownership across the nation.  That is, it was largely recognized that you could own a manor if you had a written certification, or if you had equivalent authority.

     In 985, Emperor Kazan (968-1008) had to issue another manor restriction ordinance to have provincial officers to inspect manors which had been developed and approved after 902 and to confiscate illegal ones.  However, it was central powerful clans who were to operate policies and to work out measures.  The clan members were owners of manors, and provincial officers, who belonged to middle-ranking noble families, tend to accept manor applications as part of their job hunting, especially at the end of their terms of offices.

     In 1040, Emperor Go-Suzaku (1009-1045) issued another manor restriction ordinance.  On the pretext of the renewal of the Imperial Palace, all the manors that had been newly approved by the incumbent provincial officers were confiscated.

     In 1045, Emperor Go-Reizen (1025-1068) issued another manor restriction ordinance.  This time, new countermeasures were taken against provincial officers’ job hunting.  He threatened in bravado to confiscate manors which had been approved by the previous provincial officers, to dismiss provincial officers who disobeyed the rule, and never to appoint them as provincial officers again.  His ideas were very lovely, but he couldn’t stop the number of manors from increasing.  The previous provincial officers, the incumbent provincial officers, and even would-be provincial officers all belonged to one class, the “zuryo” class.  State-owned rice paddy fields were, rather, being eroded.  The emperor issued another manor restriction ordinance in 1055, only in vain.  Some manors even came to just orally claim to belong to the Fujiwara Clan.

The Rise and the Downfall of the “Take-over” Class

     Under the ancient centralized government, certain amount of rice paddy field was allotted to an adult for cultivation during their life time .  The allotment was conducted every 6 years since the end of the 7th century.  Due to the public unrest, Emperor Kanmu (737-806) extended the allotment circle to 12 years to maintain the system.  The last allotment was carried out by Emperor Daigo (885-930) in 902.

     Through the 9th and 10th centuries, there emerged a “zuryo” (literally to take over) class among central middle-ranking noble families.  Unlike central powerful clan members, who preferred to stay in Kyoto, they actually left Kyoto for their assignment provinces.  The 11th century witnessed the golden age of the “take-over” class.  Their power basis were gradually undermined by local powerful families, and, at the beginning of the 12 century, they began falling.  Their power struggles against the central high-ranking powerful clans and the central powerful religious institutions were taken over by central middle-ranking military families, who succeeded in organizing local powerful families under them.  We can guess what the “take-over” class's power struggles were like through a series of manor restriction ordinances.

     On March 13, 902, the first manor restriction ordinance was issued by Emperor Daigo.  He incorporated royal rice paddy fields which had been developed since his coronation in 897 into state-owned ones.  He prohibited local people from donating their rice paddy fields to central powerful clans or central religious institutions, and also banned central powerful clans and central powerful religious institutions from illegally enclosing wilderness.  The ordinance required manor owners to keep their official written certificates, and gave provincial officers authority to accept the application of newly developed manors, which strengthened provincial governments’ supervision over rice paddy fields in their provinces.

The Localization of Japanese Ancient Centralized Governance

     At the beginning of the Japanese Ancient Centralized Government era, in the 7th century, provincial officers’ jobs were to impose and deepen the governance into every corner of Japan.  The government was also busy sending subjugation armies to the South and to the North and extending the governance outward.  The governance was a top-down management.

     In the 8th and 9th centuries, provincial officers started proposing their ideas.  The tendency was basically upward.

     In the 23 years from 782 to 805, 7.4 percents of laws were made in the central government on the basis of the proposals by provincial officers; in the 4 years from 806 to 809, 11.6 percents; in the 14 years from 810 to 823, 18.4 percents; in the 10 years from 824 to 833, 25.7 percents; in the 14 years from 834 to 847, 24.8 percents; in the 3 years from 848 to 850, 45.0 percents; in the 3 years from 851 to 853, 27.8 percents; in the 3 years from 854 to 856, 33.3 percents; in the 2 years from 857 to 858, 0.0 percent; in the 18 years from 859 to 876, 34.4 percents; in the 8 years from 877 to 884, 49.0 percents; in the 4 years from 885 to 888, 9.5 percents; in the 9 years from 889 to 897, 32.2 percents; and in the 3 years from 898 to 900, 31.6 percents respectively.

     The 2 years from 857 to 858 was at the end of Emperor Montoku’s days.  In 855, the insurrections among Northern people broke out, and, in 857, those among Tsushima Island did in the South.  Fujiwara Yoshifusa (804-872), Montoku’s uncle, made a regent in the central government, the first non-royal regent ever.  Some scholars today even argue that the emperor was assassinated by Yoshifusa.  The governance was being severely shaken externally and internally.

     In 887, a megathrust earthquake broke out in July.  Tokai earthquakes, Tonankai earthquakes, and Nankai earthquakes broke out in linkage.  As many as 30 provinces were severely and extensively damaged.

     Without those exceptions, the localization of the governance was on a rising note.

Taira Tadamori (1096-1153), the Second Pirate King in Japan

     It is highly probable that the Tachibana Family in the Ota Manor area had been living there ever since the 9th century, when the Tachibana Clan used to be still thriving in the central government.

     Let me get back to Tadamori’s time, the first half of the 12th century.  Was the Tachibana Family exceptionally preserving and persistent in Bingo Province?  That was highly improbable.  Then, what was Tadamori’s “easy” suppression of pirates like?

     On April 8, 1135, Tadamori was appointed as the commander to pursue and subdue pirates along the Seto Inland Sea.  In August, he took 70 pirates to Kyoto in triumph.  On August 19, a rumor that he had just brought his followers was documented.  Actually, no such big execution was recorded.  Tadamori might have organized pirates to be a pirate king.

     The first pirate king in Japan, Fujiwara Sumitomo (?-941), robbed provincial governments of tax rice, and tried to plunder Dazaifu, where the Kyushu regional government office is located, of goods imported from China.  Tadamori, instead of robbery, contracted to send tax to Kyoto.  Instead of plunder, he opened illegal channels which were tolerated and condoned.

     We will see what the contract was like next time.

Struggles over Manor Ownership and Stubborn Local Powerful Families

     After the Ota Manor was donated to Kongobu-ji Temple, Mount Koya, the temple dispatched Father Bana (?-?) to the manor.  He was such competent manor manager that he had classified all the rice paddy fields by taxation category by 1190; which fields were tax free and what taxes were levied on other fields.  For example, Tachibana Kanetaka (?-?) owned 300 ares of tax-free rice paddy fields and 3000 ares of tax-reduced rice paddy fields.

     Based on Bana’s report, the temple denounced Kanetaka and Mitsuie for their illegal appropriation of manor rice paddy fields.  Although Kanetaka and Mitsuie (?-?) had been working for the Minamoto Clan as members of the Imperial Palace Garrison, the Cloistered Emperor office accused them.  Eventually, Kanetaka and Mitsuie wrote a pledge to Bana in 1192.

     However, the Tachibana Family’s downfall didn’t stop there.  By 1192, the Minamoto Clan had suppressed major rebellions and had established the Kamakura Shogunate.  In June, 1195, the shogunate censured Kanetaka and Mitsuie for their illegal extension.  In 1197, their jobs and titles as local officials were confiscated.  On October 20 in the same year, Miyoshi Yasunobu (1140-1221) was sent to the manor as an estate steward samurai. On 22 in the same month, Mitsuie sent a letter of apology to Kongobu-ji Temple, Mount Koya.  In 1198, the Tachibana Family’s ownership of their rice paddy fields was recognized as ever.  Later, the names of Tachibana Mitsuie and Kanehira (Kanetaka’s son?) were only found as neighborhood chief samurais.

     However, again, in June, 1293, less than a couple of decades after the Mongol invasions of Japan and just 40 years before the fall of the Kamakura Shogunate, Tachibana Mitsuhiro was denounced for his tax evasion.  Whether he paid it or not wasn’t clear.  How stubborn the Tachibana Family was!

The Expansion of Manors; the Enclosure of Rice Paddy Fields and the Establishment of Tripartite Division (2)

     Under the ancient Japanese central government, 4 ranks of officers were sent to each province to rule.  Under the 4-rank officers, there were officials who were either sent from the central of hired locally to carry out practical work.  According to the size of a province, there were 7 to 11 officers, and, for example 1n 822, there were no less than 12 to 18 secretaries and other officials working in a provincial government office.  Under a province, there were counties, and each county had local county officials.  And, of course, there were farmers and other ordinal people.

     Then which class of people became pirates and were “suppressed” by Taira Tadamori (1096-1153) in 1129?  We don’t have all the records of all the manors in Japan left, but we can find one near Tada-no-umi (Tada Sea), which had been named after Tadamori, who had brought the area under control.

     To the 40-kilometer north of Tada-no-umi, there used to be Ota Manor along Ashida River among hills in Sera County, Bingo Province.  In 1187, the manor was donated to Koya-san Temple by Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa, so its documents are relatively well-preserved.

The Expansion of Manors; the Enclosure of Rice Paddy Fields and the Establishment of Tripartite Division

    From the first half of the 8th century to the latter half of the 9th century, central noble clans and powerful temples enclosed the sea, islands and seashores around the Seto Inland Sea.  As a result, a substantial number of fishermen were locked out of seashores, and became hobos and tramps.

    In some cases, they enclosed the sea, islands and seashores to produce salt on a large scale.  Horyu-ji Temple, for instance, enclosed 2 beaches in Inami and Shikama Counties, Harima Province.  Gango-ji Temple enclosed Yakishio and Shioya in Asaguchi County, Bicchu Province.  Saidai-ji Temple enclosed Shiogiyama in Harima Province and Shioyama in Samukawa County, Sanuki Province.  Todai-ji Temple enclosed Shioyama in Ako County, Harima Province, where, as early as in the middle of the 8th century, Tomo Inukai (?-762), the then Harima Province governor,  appointed Hata Oko (?-?) as a deputy and tried to build salt pans.  We can tell by the place-names that they were producing salt there.  The Japanese phrase “shio” means salt.

    In some other enclosure cases, the central noble clans and powerful temples enclosed the sea, islands and seashores to reclaim rice paddy fields from marshes and mudflats.  Daian-ji Temple, for example, enclosed 1.5 square kilometers of land in Kmitsumichi, Mino and Tsudaka Counties, Bicchu Province.  Todai-ji Temple enclosed Inano-sho in Kawabe County, Settsu Province.  In other words, they built new manors.  What did this have to do with bringing about pirates?

The Engi Manor Regulation Decree and Piracy

     The social background of the missing links between Fujiwara Sumitomo (?-941) and the Murakami Pirates dates back, as a matter of course, to Sumitomo’s days.  What started from the time was to issue manor regulation decrees.

     On March 13, 902, or in the second year of Engi, about 4 decades before Sumitomo rebelled as the first pirate king in Japan, the first manor regulation decree was issued by Emperor Daigo (885-930).  In 901, Sugawara Michizane (845-903) had been shunted to Dazai-fu, Kyushu, by Fujiwara Tokihira (871-909).  The power games among central powerful clans were getting fierce.

 

     In the decree, local people were forbidden to donate their lands to central powerful noble clans, or to central powerful temples or shrines.  In other words, some local powerful families had become wealthy enough to employ, or powerful enough to enslave, hobos and tramps.  And they developed new manors.

 

     The decree also required manor owners to hold and succeed official written permits for the ownership.  It prohibited central powerful noble clans, temples, and shrines illegally occupy the wilderness and develop manors.  Thus, the central government tried to regulate illegal manors, requisition them, and increase, or at least secure, state-owned rice paddy fields and the taxes from them.

 

     The contradiction was that the central government itself was run by royal families and central powerful noble clans, who also produced provincial governors and provincial high-ranking officials, and practice levy work was often carried out by local powerful families who were local lower-ranking officials.  The both sides were fighting for their share of rice taxes.  Some types of local power struggles against the central was considered to be piracy.