Biographies CIX: The Shōguns, Part IV: Fujiwara-no-Yoritsune and Fujiwara-no-Yoritsugu

Fujiwara-no-Yoritsune

¶Fujiwara-no-Yoritsune was the third son of the Regent Michiie (Note: the sources are the Kugyō Bunin, the Hōryaku Kanki, and the Jōkyū-ki). His childhood name was Sanko (Note: the source is the Hōryaku Kanki). The year, month, day, and hour of his birth all fell under the sign of the Tiger (Tora), and he was given this name for that reason (Note: the source is the Gukanshō). In the first year of Jōkyū (1219) Minamoto-no-Sanetomo died leaving no heir. Hōjō Yoshitoki held the real power over the military and did not wish to set up a new shōgun from the Minamoto line (Note: this follows the general sense of the Azuma Kagami and the Gukanshō). The wife of the Chancellor Saionji Kintsune was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Yoshiyasu, Chūnagon, who was the husband of Minamoto-no-Yoritomo's younger sister. Michiie took this daughter of Kintsune as his wife, and Yoritsune was born to them (Note: the source is the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Because Yoritsune was connected by kinship to Yoritomo, Yoshitoki consulted with the generals and sent Hōjō Tokifusa, Sagami-no-kami, to the capital to petition the Retired Emperor Go-Toba and ask his permission. In the tenth month of the same year Yoritsune was welcomed and set up as supreme commander; he was then only two years old (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami, with the Gukanshō also consulted. The Azuma Kagami says that the imperial order appointing him shōgun came in the sixth month and that he arrived at Kamakura in the seventh, so the original entry would properly belong under the sixth month, but here it is recorded according to his actual arrival). Hōjō Masako took charge of the government (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai). Affairs of the shogunate, great and small, were all referred to Yoshitoki for decision. A Kosamurai-dokoro, the lesser Office of Retainers, was established, and Hōjō Shigetoki was appointed its Bettō, director. In the eighth month Gotō Mototsuna was sent to the capital to inquire after the illness of the Retired Emperor Go-Toba. In the ninth month Fujiwara-no-Yukimitsu, former governor of Shinano, resigned as Mandokoro Shitsuji, Steward of the Administrative Board, on grounds of illness, and Iga Mitsumune, Saemon-no-jō, replaced him. In this month there was a great fire at Kamakura. In the second month of the third year of Jōkyū (1221), thieves set fire to the Sanjō Palace, where the Shichijō-in resided. Miyoshi-no-Yasutoshi was sent to the capital to offer condolences, and Ōe-no-Chikahiro and Iga Mitsusue were ordered to search for the thieves (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the fifth month the Retired Emperor Go-Toba levied troops from the Five Home Provinces and the Seven Circuits and plotted to attack Yoshitoki. Masako sent Hōjō Tokifusa and Hōjō Yasutoki out along the Tōkaidō, Takeda Nobumitsu, Ogasawara Nagakiyo, and others along the Tōsandō, and Hōjō Tomotoki along the Hokurikudō, advancing in three columns side by side toward the capital. The two armies fought at the Owari River and at Uji and Seta, and the court's forces were utterly defeated. The three Retired Emperors Go-Toba, Tsuchimikado, and Juntoku, together with the two Imperial Princes Masanari and Yorihito, were sent into exile. Many of the courtiers who had taken part in the plot were put to death (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Jōkyū-ki). In the eighth month Miyoshi-no-Yasunobu, Chūgū-zoku, resigned as Monchūjo Shitsuji, Chief of the Board of Inquiry, on grounds of illness, and his son Yasutoshi, Minbu-no-jō, succeeded him as chief (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Kantō Hyōjōden). In the ninth month the retainers residing in the capital region were ordered to guard the Kayanoin, the residence of the Retired Sovereign (Go-Toba). In the tenth month of the second year of Jōō (1223) a Kinjuban, the watch of personal attendants, was established. In the third month of the first year of Gennin (1224) a portent appeared in which vegetables grew around the handle of a kettle, and prayers were held to purify and ward it off. In the sixth month Hōjō Yoshitoki died. Masako appointed Yasutoki and Tokifusa as shikken, regents, and sent Hōjō Tokimori and Hōjō Tokiuji to Rokuhara to command the military affairs of the capital region and the western seas. In the eighth month Iga Mitsumune, Shikibu-no-jō, was found guilty of an offense and exiled to Shinano, and his younger brothers Tomoyuki, Saemon-no-jō, and Mitsushige, Uemon-no-jō, were exiled to Chinzei (Kyushu). Fujiwara-no-Yukimori, Minbu-no-jō, became Mandokoro Shitsuji (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the seventh month of the first year of Karoku (1225) Masako died (Note: since the Azuma Kagami lacks the entry, this follows the Kantō Hyōjōden). A Hyōjōshū, Council of State, was established to take part in military government. Eleven men became councillors, among them Nakahara-no-Morokazu, Daigaku-no-jokyō; Miura Yoshimura, former governor of Suruga; Fujiwara-no-Yukimura, former governor of Suruga; and Fujiwara-no-Ienaga, governor of Dewa. They were chosen and appointed for the most part from those who had served the court and held posts as Confucian officials, and from relatives of the Hōjō (Note: the source is the Kantō Hyōjōden). In the twelfth month Yoritsune came of age (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the first month of the second year of Karoku (1226) Yoritsune was appointed Ukon'e Gon-no-shōshō, Provisional Lesser Captain of the Right Imperial Guards, was granted Senior Fifth Rank Lower, and became Seii Taishōgun (Note: since the Azuma Kagami lacks the entry, this follows the Kugyō Bunin). In this month it was forbidden to make fields the object of wagers, and also to make loans at interest exceeding double the principal, or to lend coin at a rate above the market rate for rice or coin. In the fourth month Kawagoe Shigekazu was appointed Musashi Rusudokoro Sōkengyō, General Inspector of the Provincial Residency Office of Musashi. A rebel named Ninjaku, calling himself Wakamiya Zenji Kōgyō, gathered a following at the Shirakawa Barrier and plotted an uprising. Setsujō Tomohiro and Asari Tomoyoshi killed him. In the eighth month the use of jun-pu, cloth as a substitute currency, was stopped, and copper coins were put into circulation (Note: the Azuma Kagami lacks this entry). In the intercalary first month of the second year of Kangi (1230), on the grounds that the Takiguchi, the Palace guards, had no soldiers, they were levied by decree of the Retired Emperor, and the Oyama, Chiba, and other clans were each ordered to send one son to stand night duty. In the third month Hōjō Shigetoki, governor of Suruga, was sent to Rokuhara (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). Hōjō Tokiuji, Shuri-no-gon-no-suke, was relieved of his post and returned (Note: the sources are the Meigetsuki, the Azuma Kagami, and the Teiō Hennenki; the Heishi Keizu and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai place this in the first year of Antei). In the second month of the third year of Kangi (1231) he was granted Junior Fourth Rank Upper (Note: the Azuma Kagami writes "Lower" for "Upper"). In the third month he was transferred to Ukon'e Chūjō, Middle Captain of the Right Imperial Guards (Note: the Kugyō Bunin writes "Left" for "Right"). In the fourth month he was granted Senior Fourth Rank Lower (Note: the sources are the Kugyō Bunin, the Azuma Kagami, and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai). Rokuhara was ordered to proclaim the following: "For the two crimes of robbery and murder, the ringleader shall be beheaded and his accomplices exiled to Chinzei. Further, on the days of the festivals of the shrines of the capital, persons who are not warriors are forbidden to bear arms." In the fifth month an order was issued concerning the judgments of the provincial protectors: "They must not adjudicate beyond the Daibon Sankajō, the three great offenses (rebellion, murder, and robbery and the like); it is not permitted for a protector to rule arbitrarily on any other matter. The policing of the Kebiishi should be as lenient as possible, so that the people may devote their strength to paying taxes. When a protector or steward is sued by a lord of an estate, Rokuhara is to summon him, and anyone who does not answer after three summonses is to have his name recorded and reported to Kamakura. If the value of a theft is no more than one hundred mon, the thief shall make restitution of double the amount; if it exceeds one hundred mon, only the offender himself is to be arrested and punished, and the penalty must not extend to his kin. Heinous crimes such as rebellion are excepted." (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the first month of the first year of Jōei (1232) he concurrently became Bingo Gon-no-kami, Provisional Governor of Bingo (Note: the source is the Kugyō Bunin). In the second month he was granted Junior Third Rank (Note: the sources are the Kugyō Bunin and the Azuma Kagami). In the eighth month Hōjō Yasutoki fixed the Shikimoku, the Code, in fifty articles and made it the standard for judicial decisions (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Jōei Shikimoku). Fujiwara-no-Sukeyori, former governor of Chikugo, resigned as Chinzei Bugyō, Commissioner of Chinzei, and his son Sukeyoshi, Saemon-no-jō, took his place (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami, with the Sonpi Bunmyaku also consulted). In the ninth month the Home Provinces, the neighboring provinces, and the western provinces were ordered, in suits concerning land, to leave public lands to the judgment of the provincial governors as before, and in the case of estates to have the lords of the estates petition the court and await its decision (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the first year of Tenpuku (1233) he was appointed Gon-Chūnagon, Provisional Middle Counsellor (Note: the source is the Kugyō Bunin).

¶In the twelfth month of the first year of Bunryaku (1234) he was raised to Senior Third Rank and resigned as Gon-Chūnagon (Note: the sources are the Kugyō Bunin and the Azuma Kagami). In the first month of the first year of Katei (1235) the monks of Kamakura were forbidden to bear arms (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the fifth month Yūki Tomomitsu, former assistant governor of Kōzuke, became a councillor but soon resigned (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Kantō Hyōjōden). In the seventh month the following order was issued: "In all disputes over shoshiki (rights of office), shotai (holdings), and boundaries, the plaintiff shall first be made to submit a written oath. If the suit has no evidence, the land is to be confiscated. A person who holds no land shall be made to swear that he will have no regret at receiving punishment, and only then be allowed to hear the decision." To Rokuhara the following was ordered: "In cases of killing or wounding in the capital in which warriors are involved, report to the Kebiishi-chō, the Police Bureau, and hear its disposition. When robbers confess, the ringleaders are to be judged at Rokuhara, and the accomplices sent to the Kantō and exiled to Ezo." It was further ordered: "The rotation of the Ōbanyaku, the guard duty in the capital, has had fixed terms from the beginning. Recently the warriors' alternating service has often not been carried out on schedule. Henceforth those who are late are to be given a further two months of night duty." Before this, when warriors dispatched urgent messengers, they mostly seized the horses of passers-by without leave to ride them, to the distress of travelers; now this was forbidden and relay horses were added at every post station (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the tenth month he was appointed Mutsu-Dewa Azechi, Inspector of Mutsu and Dewa. In the eleventh month he was granted Junior Second Rank (Note: the source is the Kugyō Bunin). In the seventh month of the second year of Katei (1236) he was granted Senior Second Rank (Note: the sources are the Kugyō Bunin and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai). Earlier, because the monks of the Kōfuku-ji had caused a disturbance, the warriors in the capital and the neighboring provinces had been ordered to lead their kin and guard the capital, but some of those kinsmen did not obey the orders of the sōke, the main house. The main houses petitioned Kamakura about this, and the following order was issued: "Henceforth, if an emergency arises in the Ōbanyaku, members of the branch lines are to obey the summons of the kadoku, the head of the house." (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the ninth month Sasaki Nobutsuna, former governor of Ōmi, resigned as councillor, and Hōjō Tomotoki, governor of Tōtōmi, took his place (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Kantō Hyōjōden). In the eleventh month he was appointed Minbukyō, Minister of Popular Affairs (Note: the sources are the Kugyō Bunin and the Azuma Kagami). In the fourth month of the third year of Katei (1237) Hōjō Sukitoki became a councillor (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Kantō Hyōjōden). In the first month of the first year of Ryakunin (1238) he went up to the capital (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai). In the second month he was again appointed Gon-Chūnagon, concurrently Uemon-no-kami, Commander of the Right Division of Palace Guards, and soon afterward also Kebiishi-no-bettō, Director of the Police Bureau (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Kugyō Bunin). At that time an imperial progress took place, and it was the custom for the holder of the post of Kebiishi-no-bettō to escort the procession on horseback, but Yoritsune was unaccustomed to riding and so could not attend in the retinue (Note: the source is the Godai Teiō Monogatari). In the third month he was transferred to Gon-Dainagon, Provisional Major Counsellor (Note: the sources are the Kugyō Bunin and the Azuma Kagami). It was memorialized that Ebina Tadayuki, Saemon-no-jō, had received the conferment of a first court rank without a recommendation from the Kantō (the shogunate), and that his iki, the document certifying his rank, should be taken from him (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the fourth month Miura Yasumura, governor of Wakasa, and Nikaidō Yukiyoshi, governor of Dewa, became councillors (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Kantō Hyōjōden). In this month he resigned as Gon-Dainagon (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Kugyō Bunin). In the sixth month Miyoshi-no-Yasutoshi, former governor of Kaga, resigned as Monchūjo Shitsuji on grounds of illness, and his son Yasumochi, Minbu-no-shōjō, succeeded him as chief (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Kantō Hyōjōden). Bonfires were set up in the streets of the capital and guardsmen were posted. In the tenth month he returned to Kamakura. In the ninth month of the first year of Enō (1239), whereas formerly the stewards of the various provinces had had monks of the Enryaku-ji and wealthy merchants who paid in funds act as their deputies in the performance of their duties, this was now forbidden. It was also forbidden for the widow of a warrior to remarry into another house while continuing to hold the estates and house-men of her former husband. In the third month of the first year of Ninji (1240), extravagance among the retainers of the Kantō and those in attendance at Kamakura was forbidden, and they were made to practice simplicity and thrift. It was also forbidden for warriors and their vassals and followers to seek posts at court on their own account. In the ninth month, retainers who held court posts but did not perform their court duties were made to pay silk, in amounts graded according to the case. In the fifth month of the second year of Ninji (1241) Ōe-no-Mochiyasu, Minbu-no-shōjō, had one holding of land reduced as punishment for having mishandled a monchū, a judicial hearing. In the sixth month: previously, the lawsuits of the people of the provinces had been divided among the bugyōnin, the commissioners, to be judged, and those that could not be fully heard were sent to Kamakura to await a mikyōsho, a directive. As a result the people, going back and forth, spent days and months, and the poor and powerless suffered most. Now it was ordered that such cases be handled by hōsho, brief written rulings. To Rokuhara it was ordered: "The jinin, shrine attendants, of the various shrines of the western seas (Kyushu) and the guests of the powerful are harming the people under various pretexts. Investigate in detail and send their persons up." Previously, the judgment of serious criminals in the capital had been entirely sent to the Kebiishi-chō to be executed; now it was arranged that Rokuhara should apply for it and that judgment be given on the spot. In the eleventh month the wastelands of Musashi were opened up and the water of the Tama River was drawn off for irrigation. In the twelfth month one man each was selected from among the gentry who excelled at archery and horsemanship, and who were skilled in letters, in poetry, in stringed music, and in kemari (court football), and they were made to stand night duty at the Kosamurai-dokoro (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the sixth month of the third year of Ninji (1242) Hōjō Yasutoki, Sakyō-gon-no-daibu, died, and his grandson Tsunetoki, Sakon'e-no-shōgen, succeeded him and became shikken (Note: the sources are the Hōryaku Kanki and the Kantō Hyōjōden). In the seventh month of the first year of Kangen (1243), Hōjō Masamura and others, one hundred and forty-six men in all, were ordered to divide into watches and take turns standing night duty, to be assigned as mounted escort for unannounced outings (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the fourth month of the second year of Kangen (1244) he handed the office of Seii Taishōgun to his son Yoritsugu. The following year he shaved his head (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Kugyō Bunin). His Buddhist name was Gyōchi (Note: the source is the Kugyō Bunin). In the fourth year of Kangen (1246) Hōjō Tsunetoki fell ill, and his younger brother Tokiyori became shikken in his place. Tsunetoki died soon afterward (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami, the Hōryaku Kanki, and the Godai Teiō Monogatari). Mitsutoki, governor of Echigo, the son of Hōjō Tomotoki, enjoyed Yoritsune's favor; thinking, "Tokiyori is a great-grandson of Yoshitoki, while I am a grandson of Yoshitoki. I cannot allow a mere Tokiyori to rise above my rank," he secretly planned to remove Tokiyori, and Yoritsune joined in the plot (Note: the source is the Hōryaku Kanki). Before long the scheme was discovered, and Tokiyori, after consulting with his granduncle Masamura and others, sent Yoritsune back to the capital and once again looked up to Yoritsugu as shōgun. When the Miura were put to death, there was a secret report that Michiie had in the past incited Miura Yasumura and others, urging them to destroy the Hōjō and take their offices. Tokiyori heard this but did not press the matter deeply (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the third year of Kenchō (1251), Yoritsune again sent the monk Ryōgyō and others to various places, secretly enticing warriors and plotting to destroy the Hōjō. Sasaki Ujinobu seized Ryōgyō and the others and sent them in. As a result Yoritsugu was removed from his post and returned to the capital, and in his place Prince Munetaka was welcomed and set up as supreme commander (Note: see the Azuma Kagami and the Hōryaku Kanki). In the eighth month of the first year of Kōgen (1256), Yoritsune died in the capital, at the age of thirty-nine (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami, the Rekidai Kōki, the Teiō Hennenki, the Kugyō Bunin, and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai).

¶During Yoritsune's tenure, all real political power was in the hands of the Hōjō, and Yoritsune held only the empty name of shōgun. Because he had been raised from infancy by women, his conduct was apt to be governed by concern over lucky and unlucky days. He prayed to the gods and buddhas and gave alms so regularly that scarcely a month went by without them (Note: this follows the general sense of this work's own account). Once, when there was an eclipse of the moon in the first month, Yoritsune, considering that the day's stem-and-branch and its lunar mansion both coincided with his honmyō, the sign of his birth year, loathed it greatly, and had the monk Ryūben and others ordered in advance to ward off the calamity by prayer. On the day itself, however, the sky was cloudy and a little rain fell, and the eclipse could not be seen; Yoritsune was overjoyed and rewarded Ryūben generously. Yoritsune's superstitiousness was, for the most part, of this kind (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami).

Fujiwara-no-Yoritsugu

¶Fujiwara-no-Yoritsugu was the eldest son of Yoritsune (Note: the source is the Sonpi Bunmyaku; the Shōgun Shikken Shidai calls him the second son. According to the Azuma Kagami, in the first year of Bunryaku (1234) Yoritsune's wife gave birth, but the child did not survive, and so the Sonpi Bunmyaku does not count the first-born child). In the fourth month of the second year of Kangen (1244) he was granted Junior Fifth Rank Upper, appointed Ukon'e Shōshō, Lesser Captain of the Right Imperial Guards, and concurrently became Seii Taishōgun. He was then six years old (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Rekidai Kōki; the age of six follows the Azuma Kagami's entry giving the first year of Enō (1239) as the year of his birth, and the Masukagami). Hōjō Tsunetoki, governor of Musashi, was shikken (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the eighth month he was granted Senior Fifth Rank Lower (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai). In the tenth month gambling such as shi-ichi-han and mekachi was forbidden, though sugoroku alone was specially permitted to the warriors. In the first month of the third year of Kangen (1245) he concurrently became Ōmi-no-suke, Assistant Governor of Ōmi. In the fifth month the following order was issued: "After the lawsuits of warriors and commoners have been submitted to the Monchūjo, if the officials in charge make excuses and do not report for duty, or if commissioners do not attend the inquiry in person and dispose of the answer by writing alone, they shall be punished. If a protector or steward fails to answer the summons of Rokuhara and this reaches three times, his office shall be taken from him." (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the third month of the fourth year of Kangen (1246) Hōjō Tsunetoki, governor of Musashi, retired from his post because of illness, and his younger brother Tokiyori, Sakon'e-no-shōgen, took his place (Note: the Kantō Hyōjōden and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai give the fourth month). In the sixth month Hōjō Mitsutoki, governor of Echigo, plotted to remove Tokiyori, but the affair was discovered and he was exiled to Izu (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami, with the Hōryaku Kanki also consulted). Gotō Mototsuna, governor of Sado; Fujiwara-no-Tamesuke, former Dazai-no-shōni, Junior Vice-Governor-General of Dazaifu; Taira-no-Hidetane, assistant governor of Kazusa; and Miyoshi-no-Yasumochi, former governor of Kaga, were implicated in this affair and dismissed as councillors. Yasumochi was in addition removed from the post of Monchūjo Shitsuji. In the seventh month Yoritsune was sent back to the capital. In the eighth month Miyoshi-no-Yasutsura, Minbu-no-shōjō, became Monchūjo Shitsuji (Note: see the Azuma Kagami and the Kantō Hyōjōden). In the eleventh month he was granted Junior Fourth Rank Lower (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai). In the twelfth month the protectors and stewards were ordered: "Anyone who harbors wicked youths or gamblers shall lose his office." In the fourth month of the first year of Hōji (1247) (Note: the source reads "Shiji" [資治]; this is an evident slip for Hōji [寶治]), a shrine to the Emperor Go-Toba was built at Tsurugaoka (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the sixth month Miura Yasumura, former governor of Wakasa, and his younger brother Mitsumura, governor of Noto, were killed (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami, the Ichidai Yōki, and the Hōryaku Kanki). In the eleventh month the protectors and stewards were forbidden to measure the area of fields on their own authority and extort unjustly from the farmers. In the twelfth month the term of rotation for the Ōbanyaku was changed to three months, and twenty-two men, including Oyama Nagamura and Shimazu Tadatoki, were each assigned as one watch to guard the capital. In the fifth month of the second year of Hōji (1248) the following order was issued: "Suits between lord and vassal shall not be accepted by the officials in charge, whatever the rights and wrongs. In suits between brothers, the father and mother must not be set up as witnesses." In the seventh month the following order was issued: "When a warrior has borrowed money against an estate and dies without repaying, and the holding is to be passed to his wife and children, the wife and children shall be made to cede half of it to the creditor. If the deed of record already bears the child's name, the whole of the land is to be given to the creditor." It was also forbidden for a woman to adopt another person on her own account without her husband's order. Earlier there had been a rule that those guilty of light theft were exiled, and for such light offenses (keika) the offender was to repay double the value of the goods; now it was decided that repeat offenders would be given the heavy penalty (jūka) (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the eighth month he was granted Junior Fourth Rank Upper (Note: the source is the Shōgun Shikken Shidai). In the eleventh month the officials of the Monchūjo were forbidden to neglect their duties and give themselves up to amusement, and those who disobeyed were to be struck from the shiseki, the register of office (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the first month of the first year of Kenchō (1249) he was granted Senior Fourth Rank Lower. In the sixth month he was transferred to Sakon'e Chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Imperial Guards (Note: the source is the Shōgun Shikken Shidai). In the twelfth month the Hikitsukeshū, the Court of Pleadings, was established to take part in deciding lawsuits. Hōjō Masamura, Hōjō Tomonao, and Hōjō Sukitoki, while remaining councillors, concurrently became Hikitsuke-no-tō, heads of the Court (Note: the source is the Kantō Hyōjōden). In the second month of the second year of Kenchō (1250) Tokiyori urged Yoritsugu to study letters and the martial arts, selected teachers to attend at his side, and chose able sons of retainers to study together with him. In the fourth month it was forbidden to carry bow and arrows at night, and for persons of low rank to bear swords. It was also forbidden for retainers, without holding a regular post (honkan), to be appointed directly as Hyōe-no-jō, Lieutenant of the Guards. In the eleventh month the following order was issued: "Recently idle vagrants have been secretly gambling under the pretext of sugoroku. This is especially bad in Hitachi, Shimōsa, and Mutsu. Henceforth all games played on a board are forbidden, with the exception of go." Accordingly Shishido Ienokaze, Chiba Tsuguhide, and others were ordered to enforce it (Note: the source is the Azuma Kagami). In the sixth month of the third year of Kenchō (1251), on the completion of the Kan'in, the Kan'in Palace, he was raised to Junior Third Rank (Note: the sources are the Azuma Kagami and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai). In the second month of the fourth year of Kenchō (1252) he left his post and returned to the capital. In the ninth month of the first year of Kōgen (1256) he passed away, at the age of eighteen (Note: see the Azuma Kagami and the Shōgun Shikken Shidai).