su, shomo oman uo tammoshitta okai ruwe ne; wa gusu, nei terekeibe nukara chiki, ruki patek ki rusui koro okai ruwe це.

And

there is therefore no necessity
for you to go away."
so the snake did not migrate
but stayed in the land;
and now, whenever it sees
a frog it always has a great
desire to swallow it."

LEGEND XII.

WHY WESTERN YEZO IS SO ROUGH AND
DANGEROUS.

"Kotan kara kamui kotan kara katu tap ne an ruwe ne yak aye.

Turesh tura no kara wa, nei turesh anak no Anruru moshiri kara; orowa, okkai kamui anak ne Chupka moshiri kara wa, uwetushmak wa kara yak aye. Awa, uei Awa, nei turesh shiwentep ne gusu, oiua kamui kot turesh an, aige, tura no monraige shomoki no nei turesh tura uweneusara. Rapoketa, okkai kamui kotan kara okere ehange; ne wa ambe nukara wa orowa no kimatek gusu, nei Anruru moshiri nei no

"This is the way in which the maker of places is said to have created the world.1

He and his younger sister made it between them; the sister's portion was the Western part of Yezo while the male deity made the Eastern part, and, it is said, they vied with each other in their work. Now, as the younger sister was but a woman, she, happening to fall in with the younger sister of the Divine Oina, instead of doing her work stopped to chatter. While this was going on the male deity came near com

1. The world here means the Island of Yezo only.

FEUDAL LAND TENURE IN TOSA.

BY THE REV. R. B. GRINNAN.

[Read 28th April, 1892.]

The history of the land tenure of a country is always closely connected with its political development. This is especially true of ancient times, for then land was the sole or principal source of wealth and power, and came naturally into the hands of the strongest and therefore the ruling class. It is necessary, in order to fully understand the question before us, to inquire who the early rulers of Tosa were, and by what means their authority was maintained. But here as elsewhere early history is obscure, and even with the help of old land-marks it is difficult to obtain more than mere suggestions respecting either the political relations of the time or the early systems of land holding.

Before the time of Chōsokabe Motochika there does not appear to have been any one lord ruling the whole island of Shikoku as under the daimyō of the Tokugawa regime. There were kokushi (governors) who were appointed by the Emperors, but their authority over the under lords was never great. Their rule was rather nominal than real. When it was that these kokushi were first sent to Tosa I do not know. My information on this

subject has been obtained chiefly from a book called "The Rise and Fall of Chōsokabe" (Chōsokabe no Seisuiki) and this history does not antedate the entrance of that family into Tosa. Before speaking at length of this Chōsokabe family I wish to call attention to the family of Ichijō, from which sprang the longest and most important line of kokushi known in Tosa. The Ichijō were of kuge origin. At the time of the "Ōjin no ran," (Rebellion of Ojin) a kuge named Ichijō Kazubusa fled from Kyoto and hid himself in Hyogo. Chōsokabe Fumikane of Tosa, hearing of his whereabouts, went to see him and persuaded him to return in his company to Tosa. His reason for performing this act of kindness was that Kazubusa's father had once taught him certain necessary laws of court etiquette while he was visiting in Kyoto. It seems, further, that Fumikane sought to strengthen himself by means of the friendship of a man of high kuge rank. The contending lords of Tosa had been in the habit of securing monbatsu or men of good family, when opportunity offered, with a view to strengthening their positions socially and politically. After his arrival in Tosa, Kazubusa lived for two years in the castle of Ōko, to which place came the various under lords to pay him their respects. He was afterwards appointed kokushi of Tosa, and it was arranged that he should live in the castle of Nakamura, situated in what is now known as Hatagōri. From this time on for several generations the Ichijō family lived in the castle of Nakamura and were the kokushi of Tosa. No great interest attaches to any of them, except it be to Yasumasa, who became a Christian, as his name also seems to imply. It was for this reason that he was banished to Usaki in Bungo, where he remained, marrying the daughter of a Christian daimyō. Ichijo Tomomasa was the last of this family to become kokushi. He was banished by Chōsokabe Motochika to Iyo, where he died. These kokushi were the first to classify the lands so that the proper amount of tax could be collected for the Government

in Kyoto. They greatly promoted the progress of the country by assisting and directing in the opening up of new lands for cultivation and in the building of proper river embankments.

SHUGOKOKUSHI.

Under the kokushi were the shugokokushi who were the real native lords of Tosa. They were small daimyō who had in various ways risen to power, and they were constantly contending among themselves for supremacy. They paid homage to the kokushi and tribute to the Emperor, and after that they were unmolested in their wars one with another. There were seven of these under lords, whose names and places of residence are as follows:

:

JOSHU.

Aki, who lived in Akigori in Aki no shiro (castle).

Chōsokabe, who lived in Nagaokagori in Ōkō no shiro.

From what date these shugokokushi existed as such I do not know, but they were probably the seven leading under lords from the beginning of the rule of the Ichijō family. They helped materially in opening up the country for cultivation, and in laying out the honden (chief lands) as these were afterwards found by Yamaguchi when he went to Tosa. Of the seven the family which rose to greatest power and influence was that of Chōsokabe. It was of Chinese origin and of very high rank. It is said that Koman Ō, of China, came to Japan in 199 A.D., but for what purpose is not known. He was a great-great-grandson of Shikotei, who built