References

Masamoto-ko Tabihikitsuke: On March 28, 1501, Kujo Masamoto left Kyoto with fewer than 20 retainers, including Shinanokoji Kunai-no-sho Nagamori and Ishii Saemon-no-taibu Aritoshi, who were keshi (stewards), and yofukushu (palanquin escorts) . After arriving at Muhenko-in Temple in Hineno, he moved on to Chofukuji Temple in the Ogi area of Iriyamada Village, which was within Hinenosho in Izumi Province, a territory of the Kujo Family, arriving there on April 1, 1501. Masamoto and his son Hisatsune had killed Karahashi Arikazu, a keshi and close advisor to Emperor Gotsuchimikado, in their house in 1496. Under censure by the emperor, Masamoto was sent to Hinenosho as punishment, but it is considered that he also intended to regain control of Hinenosho and restore the power of the Kujo Family in the society of court nobles. He subsequently stayed at the shoen for approximately three years and eight months, until December 1504, to directly manage Hinenosho. He wrote vividly about the everyday lives of the farmers he saw and heard during that period in five volumes of diary entries. The original of the Masamoto-ko Tabihikitsuke is held by the Archives and Mausolea Department of the Imperial Household Agency. Its only copy can be seen at Lake Alster Plaza Kawasaki History Museum Izumisano.
The Masamoto-ko Tabihikitsuke, a diary written by a court noble from a kenmon (powerful family) who left Kyoto for a territory of his family, serves as a precious historical record of shoen management by the Kujo Family and the conditions of people’s lives. The diary vividly describes the realities of wars, famines and plunderage in the Warring States Period (1467-1573), and many researchers have clarified the situations of villages and society in the period based on it.
You can get interesting insights into the details of prayers for rain, festivals and rituals, hostage incidents, battles, the damage caused by floods and droughts, diseases, crimes and other events in villages in the Warring States Period from the entries in the Masamoto-ko Tabihikitsuke.
Episode 1: Prayer for rain (ritual to pray for rainfall): On July 20, 1501, the village was suffering a drought and asked the priests of Inunakisan Shipporyuji Temple to offer prayers for rain. The priests started by offering prayers for rain at Hibashiri Jinja Shrine, and then if it did not rain within three days, they offered prayers in Shippo no Taki (waterfall of seven treasures). If it still did not rain, prayers were offered in the hall of Fudo Myoo, and if they failed again, impurities such as the heads of deer were thrown into a waterfall basin and prayers were offered.
When prayers were offered for rain in July, it rained within three days. Kujo Masamoto also wrote that Daimyojin worked wonders and that he was moved to tears.
When an event was held to celebrate the rain on August 13, people from the four villages of Iriyamada Village gathered in Hibashiri Jinja Shrine. Funebuchi and Shobu Villages hoisted silk (white) flags, Ogi and Tsuchimaru Villages hoisted deep blue flags, and furyu (group dances) were performed as offerings. Sumo matches were also organized.
Episode 2: Festivals, rituals and arts: In July 1501, a furyu nenbutsu was conducted, in which a group of participants dressed in gorgeous costumes danced to music. Before the people of the village made the offerings of nenbutsu furyu and sarugaku to Hibashiri Jinja Shrine, the villages of Tsuchimaru (July 13), Funebuchi (July 13), Shobu (July 15) and Ogi (July 15) took turns presenting the performances at Chofukuji Temple, where Masamoto was staying. On July 16, the day after the final performances at Chofukuji Temple, the four villages offered furyu hayashi (festival music) to Hibashiri Jinja Shrine, which was also followed by sarugaku performances of Shiki Sanban (Three Rituals), specifically okinamai (the dance of Okina), and Unone (Cormorant Feathers). Masamoto stated that he was surprised because the gestures, movements and speeches of the village people in the performances were comparable to those of talented Noh players in Kyoto.
Episode 3: Hostage incident: On June 17, 1501, farmers from Iriyamada Village who were visiting the Sano market (which was open on dates including 2 or 7) were attacked by shugogata (military of the governor) and taken as hostages. In response, the village rose up and set fire to Sano in an effort to rescue the hostages, who eventually managed to escape and return home, although the left arm of one of them was cut. A diary entry indicates that at around 6 p.m., an official from Sano conveyed the message that the incident was caused by the actions of Satake and betto (administrator) on their own and that Sano was not involved. It was a threat against Iriyamada Village, which was in opposition to the shugo (governor).
Episode 4: Battles: On August 23, 1501, Hineno Village was shaken by the news of the rebellion of Hineno Mitsumori, who was a hikan (bureaucrat) for the shugo, and Aoki Tosa Nyudo and Ishii Aritoshi, who were retainers of Masamoto, rushed to the village and stayed at Muhenko-in Temple. On August 28, the fire bells in Enmanji Temple and Iriyamada Village’s Shobu Village were rung loudly to inform the people of the crisis. The Hineno Family, who were hikan for the shugo, invaded the eastern area of Hineno Village and captured mae-banto (guards) and peasants from the area. The people of Tsuchimaru fought back against the invaders but could not handle them and therefore reported the situation to Masamoto. Aoki Nyudo and Ishii Aritoshi subsequently rushed to the location but arrived after the invaders had withdrawn, and they then began a battle with bows and arrows in Sano, where the shugogata office was located. Around this time, Kujo Masamoto was afraid that Hinenosho would be conquered by shugogata if his retainers died in battle. So he wrote in his diary that he would ask Nagaho Terateru, his retainer, to hand a letter stating his intention to set fire to Chofukuji Temple and commit suicide to his son Kujo Hisatsune, who was kanpaku (chief adviser to the Emperor), and Hosokawa Sumiyuki in Kyoto.
Troops of the shugo came again on September 5, and the vicinity of Tsuchimaru became very crowded with cattle and horses carrying the property of the villagers. Ishii Aritoshi, a bugyo (an officer) under Masamoto, and groups of soldiers from the four villages of Iriyamada Village were waiting on a mountain, but the invaders did not end up coming to the villages.
Then, on September 23, there was an attack by more than 1,000 soldiers under Hineno Mitsumori, a hikan for the shugogata, as well as Ayai, Motoyama and Ota. The troops were counterattacked by only about 200 people from Iriyamada Village led by Shinanokoji Nagamori, Ishii Aritoshi and other commanders. After a battle that lasted more than three hours, the invaders were driven away. It was reported that the troops of the shugogata wore armor but that all of the soldiers on Masamoto’s side fought without armor. Contact was also made with Kumatori and Kaminogo as members of Kumino-sato (neighborhood alliance).
In August and September 1501, troops of Sato Sobei (Hisanobu), a masterless samurai (ronin) of Negoro, torched the Sano market and Tsujihana in the western part of Hineno, advanced on Tsuchimaru and collided with and beat the troops of the shugogata. The troops of Sato Sobei also attacked Sennan using a camp on a mountain as its base. Farmers of the eastern area of Hineno, which was burned down, fled into mountain forests.
Episode 5: Flood damage: Rain fell continuously beginning on August 27, 1502, and this eventually turned into heavy rain and flooding. On September 1, drainage troughs for directing water to paddy fields in Tsuchimaru and Shobu Villages were washed downstream to Nagatakisho. Approximately 400 people of all ages from the four villages of Iriyamada Village and the eastern and western areas of Hineno gathered and tried to salvage the drainage troughs under the supervision of Shinanokoji Nagamori, which resulted in failure. Then, people from three villages of Kaminogo (Kami, Naka and Shimo Villages), as well as people from Nagatakisho, joined the effort. It is said that people from Kaminogo also offered sake. As a result of the cooperation of people from in and outside Hinenosho, the drainage troughs of Tsuchimaru could be moved back to their original locations. As for the drainage troughs of Shobu Village, discussions were held to decide if they should be placed temporarily in Kashiigawa River in front of Oiseki Daimyojin and then pulled back before spring in the next year or if new drainage troughs should be prepared.
Episode 6: Drought damage: The entry on July 10, 1503, mentions that there was an extreme drought during the year that forced farmers to collect small amounts of water left in rivers, even enlisting the help of their wives and children, to moisten their paddy fields. Stalks of early rice turned white, while the leaves twisted and turned red.
All the drinking water in all the villages was used up by July 25, and all the rivers stopped flowing. Villagers had to go to the well in Chofukuji Temple, where Masamoto was staying, to collect water.
Episode 7: Disease: On April 5, 1503, some people died due to an outbreak of disease. Consequently, 10,000 volumes of the Heart Sutra were read as prayers at Enmanji Temple in Ogi Village. Villagers also made a collective total of 10,000 prayer visits from Dainichido Temple to Hachiojisha Shrine to drive off the disease.
An entry in May 1504 reports that all people in a coastal settlement of Sano Village (Sanoura) died from a disease.
Episode 8: Crime: On February 16, 1504, Wakazaki Ukon, who was the banto of Ogi Village, and the banto of Funebuchi reported the murder of the family of a miko (shrine maiden). According to people in the village, there was no food due to a famine, so they gathered bracken growing naturally in the mountains and immersed it in river water overnight. One night, someone stole the bracken. So, guards were stationed to keep watch, and the thief was seen running into the house of a miko of Hibashiri Jinja Shrine in Aza Matsushita. The miko and her two sons in the house were caught, and the villagers killed the three of them. It is said that such cases occurred occasionally. While mentioning that the actions of the miko’s family disrupted the order in the village and that their deaths were inevitable because it was their fault, Masamoto chanted Buddhist sutras.
Episode A: On May 1, 1504, Masamoto ordered Nagaho Terateru and Takehara Sadao to establish laws to prohibit the sale of rice, wheat and other items of Iriyamada Village to merchants from other villages and to discriminate between Eiraku-tsuho and Kobu-tsuho (coins produced in the Ming Dynasty).
Episode B: On January 2, 1503, shusho-e (a New Year’s service) was organized in Shipporyuji Temple, but the acting head priest of Shinpukuji Temple, Shinkai, was not able to attend because of heavy snow. Masamoto sent letters, called kissho, from Chofukuji Temple to villages at the start of the new year, and people ate kagamimochi (round rice cake), radish, gourd, wild boar meat, deer meat, oshi-ayu (pressed sweetfish pickled with salt) and other foods during the first three days of the new year to pray for longevity, which was called hagatame (strengthening of the teeth).
Episode C: On January 4, 1503, the chief priests of Chofukuji Temple and Rengeji Temple brought powdered green tea. Masamoto held a feast and offered them cups of sake. While priests of Hosen-an and Kosekiji Temple (Shobu Village) and Keisho-an (a temple of Oya Ukon of Shobu Village) visited, Masamoto did not meet them, and his retainer Shinanokoji Nagamori handled their reception.
Episode D: On January 5, 1503, a ceremony to open a communal bath was held in Iriyamada Village, and the head priest of Muhenko-in Temple in Hineno Village attended. He brought 30 hiki (rolls of textiles) as payment for sake. Masamoto received him and offered him a cup of sake as he had done in the previous year. He was so pleased that he ordered Shinanokoji Nagamori to present three fans to the priest.
Banto and carpenters from Hineno Village also visited and greeted Masamoto on January 6, and he offered them cups of sake and had Nagamori present a fan to them. On January 8, the chief priest of Rengeji Temple brought a barrel of sake.
Episode E: The entry on August 29, 1502, mentions how textiles were dyed with tea in Hinenosho. You can learn from this entry that there were dyeing methods for three colors, yellowish brown, bluish brown and reddish brown, and that yamamomo (a bayberry that was a specialty of Iriyamada Village) and tea were used for this purpose. In Funebuchi, Shobu and other villages, an organization of about 40 people called konbaiya produced lye, which was used for dyeing things deep blue.
Episode F: The efficacy of specific medicines for chest diseases and intermittent fevers (malaria and other fevers) is stated on the inside of the front cover of Volume “Ko” of the Masamoto-ko Tabihikitsuke. The text instructs that ohaguro (tooth dye), containing raw loach, earthworm urine and head lice, charred owl and other creatures, as well as incense smoke, should be taken without processing or preparation.
Episode G: The villages of Sano, Ihara, Kaminogo, Kumatori, Kijima and Shinge entrusted their cattle, horses and treasures to Iriyamada Village. They were called azukarimono (entrusted items) or kakushimono (hidden items) of the villages.
Episode H: In preparation for assaults by enemy forces, such as shugogata and lords of other shoen, the people of Iriyamada Village implemented yamairi (move to the mountains), yamagomori (seclude oneself in the mountains), koyairi (move to a cottage) and escapes (into the area surrounding their homes, which was called “sasa wo hiku”) while establishing bases in the nearby mountains. It has recently been considered that the low-lying valley where Tsuchimaru Ameyama Castle was located might have been one of the mountain bases.

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