Letter by Hojo Yasutoki 北条泰時筆書状ホウジョウヤストキヒツショジョウ

Description

Hojo Yasutoki (1183-1242) was the third regent of the Kamakura Shogunate, or military dictatorship. By successfully putting down the Jokyu-no-Ran (Jokyu Incident; 1221), he established military headquarters in Rokuhara, Kyoto, to strengthen the military government’s dominance for security and judicial affairs over western Japan. This office of the deputy military government later developed into the Rokuhara Tandai. In 1232, Yasutoki enacted the Goseibai Shikimoku, the first codification as to the rights of the warrior class and the duties and responsibilities of government officials. It was revered for centuries thereafter.The letter is addressed to a certain Sakyo-no-Gon-no-Daibu (true identity unknown), notifying him that statements by the Priest Dogen (Chogen’s son), the monk at Godaiji Temple, and Priest Chono, the monk at Nin-naji Temple are enclosed and that these statements discuss real estate of the Priest Chogen, who served as the guardian priest to Emperor Gotoba’s palace, and a lawsuit involving the semi-monastery Saishoko-In, which was created under personal patronage by Kenshun-Mon-In, the Junior Consort of Emperor Goshirakawa. From the fact that Hojo Yasutoki held the office of provincial governor of Musashino (eastern regions) and assuming that the real estate referred to here arose after the Jokyu Incident, after which the Priest Chogen was exiled, this letter must have been written after 1221.