Table 26: Officials of the Shogunate I

¶The Heavenly Ancestor (Amaterasu-Ōmikami) illumined and governed the four quarters of heaven and earth, and the Great Ancestor (Emperor Jinmu) pacified the realm within the four seas; in both cases martial prowess came first, and there was none who did not achieve the merit of cleansing and subduing. In ancient times, indeed, all the people of the realm were soldiers, each following his own head of lineage and standing in a relation of mutual subordination. The Emperor himself went out to the army and served as its supreme commander, drilling and encouraging it. That the people made valor and martial spirit their custom was truly for good reason. As time passed and the middle ages arrived, the Emperor no longer took up the government in person, and the ministers who served as chief councillors knew nothing of military affairs; everything was entrusted to generals and commanders. Thereupon, whenever a local magnate once raised his call and issued his orders, the people of the countryside vied to be first to submit to him, like water seeking the lowest ground or beasts running over an open plain. The power of the commanders came nearly to rival that of the court, and its momentum could not easily be checked. That the great authority passed to the military houses had its source in precisely this. Minamoto no Yoritomo, relying on the legacy of his father and grandfather, petitioned to become Sōtsuibushi (Chief Constable), and obtained the title of Shōgun. At that time the common people of the realm and the warriors of the realm alike followed him gladly. The Hōjō held the post of Shikken (Regent) generation after generation; setting up infant and unenlightened lords, they commanded the Gokenin (the shogun's vassals) for more than a hundred years. If we now examine the institutions they established, they set up the Mandokoro (Administrative Office) to decide the various affairs of government and the Monchūjo (Board of Inquiry) to adjudicate lawsuits. Besides these, the Samurai-dokoro (Office of Retainers) had charge of the Shugo (Protectors) and Jitō (Stewards), and the Bugyō (Commissioners) and the Tandai (Deputies) administered the government of the people in the provinces; but although it is said that they managed the pivotal affairs and garrisoned the key points, they amounted to no more than a handful of offices. Their government was simple yet strict, and their people grew accustomed to it and submitted. Alas, that men who were mere vassals of vassals should hold in their hands the fate of the state, that their power should reach even to the Most Revered (the Emperor), and that they should come to the very brink of laying hands on the Sacred Regalia, was truly a great calamity of all ages, and a thing that a loyal subject can scarcely bear to speak of. Yet to compile a table of their subordinate officials at present has its reason. The shogunal secretaries of that time, such as the Ōe and the Miyoshi, had talents adapted to every change and understood what was essential for rescuing the age. It happened that they met Yoritomo's rising; although court officials, they went to him and were employed by him, and their thought was that, since the court had long since lost the hearts of the people, if the military houses did not gather them in, there was no knowing where the disorders of the realm would come to rest. They held only that to give peace to these people was what was right. For this reason, while taking away the substance, they did not occupy the name, and in appointing officials and assigning duties they strove to preserve the original character of the military houses, so that they did not let the warriors long for showy refinements but let them rest content in a custom of diligence, frugality, and simplicity. In the end they were able to control high and low and to bring about a brief interval of calm, and their merit too cannot be buried. For this reason the table is made specially, in order to show the changes of the times. As for the Ashikaga, father and son abused one another and high and low trampled on one another; they were merely the chiefs of bands of brigands. There was nothing worthy of record, and for the most part this has been cut and abridged. That the sacred sovereigns, having led the people by martial force until the custom had long been formed, cast it aside and left it in the hands of usurpers was not the doing of a single morning or evening. Those who in later times seek to restore it should take this as a mirror. Thus the Table of Shogunal Officials is made.

¶(Note: The table that follows in the original, listing the shogunal officials year by year, is not translated here. It is available in the Japanese edition.)