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.