City Life in Kamakura Times: in Shogunal Law and the Teikin Ôrai

Professor Takahashi Shin'ichirō
Dr. Dan Sherer
Professor Joan Piggott

The 2017 Workshop focused on documents concerning city life and material culture in Kamakura Japan. Participants translated select tsuikahō, or supplementary laws, concerning those living in the city and its administration by Japan’s first warrior government. In the second portion of the workshop, members worked on translating the Teikin Ôrai, a medieval collection of sample letters meant to educate readers and copiers. The Teikin Ôrai presents a breathtaking variety of items, from food and clothing, to plants and paraphernalia. The details in these documents better inform our understandings of medieval life in the city and material culture more generally.

Translation Authors

Dr. Dan Sherer, Dr. Sachiko Kawai, Chris Bovberg, Emily Warren, Kaitlin Forgash, Lisa Kochinski, and Matthew Keller
Edited by Emily Warren

Regulations for Life in the City of Kamakura
By Emily Warren

Before Yoritomo arrived, Kamakura was a small village on the Ima Road, a notable intersection of the Tōkaidō circuit road and the Mutsuradō highway. When Yoritomo moved into Kamakura in 1192 to found his warrior government, he would transform the physical landscape of the alluvial plain surrounded by mountains and ocean in myriad ways, prompting the introduction of new people, architecture, and cultural and economic spaces.

One of the most obvious transformations during Yoritomo’s lifetime was the elaborate construction of Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, a shrine to the deity that allowed Yoritomo and his allies to win the Genpei War. Kamakura visitors would have been awed by the grand ritual center at the north center of the city—spatially and politically—not only because of the architecture. There was also the elevated cobblestone road (danzakura), Wakamiya Street, and multiple torii gates stretched all the way from Tsurugaoka Hachimangū to what is now the Yuigahama neighborhood by the sea. With a hard, wide road beneath one’s feet—reminiscent of Kyoto’s grand Suzaku Avenue to those who knew it—and gigantic stone steps leading up to the grand shrine, central Kamakura demonstrated the new glory and authority of the shogunate.

Yoritomo selected the neighborhood just east of Tsurugaoka Hachimangū for his own residence and the center of his warrior government, founding what historians now call the “Ōkura Shogunate.” Following his death, elite warriors shuffled through residences in the Ōkura neighborhood, with Hōjō Yasutoki eventually moving into Yoritomo’s shogunal palace (gosho), and other elites building their own mansions. Ōkura was the most popular section of the city. Some other families would put down roots in other strategic locations around Kamakura, such as Komachi along the Komachi street (ōji). Or they might settle the narrow passes and valleys that cut through the mountains and formed topographical gaps in the walls that surrounded the city.

Although today many think of Kamakura as a city beside the sea, in the early medieval era, the city was primarily associated with the mountains that surrounded it on three sides. As Takahashi Shin’ichirō and others have illustrated, valleys, gullies, and passes (yatsu) on the edges of the urban center were incredibly important. A quick glance at even a modern map makes it clear. They functioned as strategic locations that could be easily defended in an attack. They were also places of community with villages clustered against the mountains. There were seven primary passes around and within Kamakura: Umegayatsu (Plum Blossom Pass), where the remains of Yoritomo’s general Takeda Nobumitsu’s home have been discovered; Uchiwagayatsu (Fan Pass) or Kamegayatsu (Turtle Pass), where multiple temples were built in a narrow area; Yukinoshitagayatsu (Pass Below the Snow), so named for its lovely snow-viewing as well as Yoritomo’s ice house against the mountains; and Kamenoigayatsu (Turtle Well Pass), Hanagayatsu (Flower Pass), and Bengayatsu along the mountains and the sea to the south.

While many of the Kamakura period houses and temples are no longer standing today, if you travel to Kamakura and go to the entrance of many of the mountain hiking trails, you can find contemporaneous evidence of Kamakura communities in the caves dug out of the mountainsides. Within these artificial caves, often of grey stone, men and women memorialized the dead with offerings, grave goods, ornate stone statues, and pagodas. These memorial caves (yagura) contained bones and ashes of the dead too. Some of those memorialized within the caves are famous, such as Yoritomo’s wife Hōjō Masako or the last Minamoto shogun Sanetomo. But we can see instances of the unnamed within as well. Many of these spaces of memorial have been lost to time, covered in landslides or weathered, but through them we can glimpse places where the residents came together to celebrate and mourn the dead.

In many ways, the most natural change to Kamakura from village to shogunal city was the arrival and settlement of the warriors, particularly the housemen (gokenin), in neighborhoods within central Kamakura and in the entry passes. By the 1270s, there were almost 100 warrior households in the city, with a population of approximately 10,000. But, housemen did not only bring themselves and their bows, swords, and horses to serve their masters in the new Kamakura shogunate. They brought their own retainers, sometimes as many as a few hundred men. They brought and raised families there too, with warriors having multiple wives and children that filled their homes. The powerful warrior elites also had numerous temples built to memorialize themselves and their families.

To protect the realm, monks and priests arrived to oversee newly built temples and shrines. Craftspeople came to ply their trades, and merchants used markets to sell goods from the surrounding regions that arrived along the highway and improved network of roads. Traders also arrived by ships from the Inland Sea, carrying ceramics and books from as far away as Song China, and an artificial island, Wakaeshima, was constructed to aid trade and create port space. The island no longer exists today, but lucky eagle-eyed visitors walking the beach today might find bits of broken pottery and ceramic, remnants of this medieval coastal trade. Warriors who decided to live near Tsurugaoka Hachimangū and the shogunal palace might benefit from being close to the center of power. But those further away were able to build larger homes and likely skirt some of the regulations. Communities in the passes and valleys were still relatively close to vibrant temples where markets arose. By the middle of the thirteenth century, the population of Kamakura had swelled to approximately 50,000, and it had become a complex, vibrant urban center.

A Transformation in Shogunal Law: The Jōei Formulary and the Supplementary Laws

The center of power shifted in 1225, when Hōjō Yoshitoki moved the shogunal palace and government center to just below Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, to what is now called the “Utsunomiya Shogunate.” Located beside the grand central Wakamiya Street and near where many warriors had settled on Komachi street, Hōjō Yoshitoki changed the landscape below the shrine to become a crucial administrative center, not only a ceremonial one.

Kamakura governance changed in another important way with the next shogunal regent (shikken), Hōjō Yasutoki (1183-1242). In 1232, Yasutoki promulgated the ground-breaking, first code of warrior law, the Jōei Formulary (Goseibai shikimoku). The Formulary reflected the shogunate’s role in legal disputes and legislation concerning warriors. Yasutoki was especially frustrated with unreasonable lawsuits that bogged down shogunal courts. In a letter to his brother in 1232, he writes, “For some time there has not been such a formulary set in place. As a result, people have filed unreasonable suits, trusting that the strong will overpower the weak; or they have filed suits on matters that have already been decided, feigning ignorance. Therefore we have decided to establish regular procedures to facilitate the rendering of impartial verdicts without discriminating between high and low.” In order to make the Formulary accessible to the housemen, it was written in relatively simple kana script instead of Sino-Japanese kanbun, which would have been used for a legal document. The Formulary began the process of addressing difficult, important legal issues for posterity, such as land ownership for the housemen.

Although Yasutoki insisted in the same letter that there was no intention to interfere with Kyoto courtier law—that would have upset the balance in the dual polity of shared governance by court and shogunate—the Jōei Formulary represented a new era in warrior governance that would impact government and law for the remainder of the medieval age. Warrior governments even after the fall of Kamakura in 1333 would continue to draw inspiration from the Formulary.

It was no doubt quickly obvious, however, to those promulgating the Formulary that it still left much to be desired, and unexpected issues arose that the shogunate felt it ought to formally address. To this end, the shogunate began to issue supplementary laws, or tsuikahō, on numerous topics. From the promulgation of the Jōei Formulary to 1250, the shogunate made over 200 supplementary laws. By the end of the Kamakura period in 1333, there would be over 700 such statutes. In 1240, Kamakura created the district magistrate (ho bugyōnin) system to enforce the laws and ensure clean and functional common spaces.

Given the proactive role that Yasutoki and his shogunate took towards legislative and judicial policy, as well as the growing population and complexity of the city of Kamakura in the thirteenth century, it is hardly surprising that the shogunate began issuing laws for residents. Kamakura was the shogunal city, so the warrior government could pass laws within the city boundaries without infringing on the role of the court in Kyoto. Because of this, the supplementary laws concerning the City of Kamakura occupy a unique position, as they allow us to see warrior law created for various groups in the city.

Further reading: “Interpreting Supplementary Laws” and “The Management of the City Commons in Kamakura” by Emily Warren

Tsuikahō Translations

The following tsuikahō translations are numbered according to their entries in Medieval Legislative Historical Documents, Volume One『中世法制史料集　第一巻』edited by Satō Shin’ichi 佐藤進一 and Ikeuchi Yoshisuke 池内義資. In particular, the entries came from the section related to the City of Kamakura. Dates for the entries, which might appear at the end or beginning, are put in parenthesis. In the original text section 〈　〉or < > marks passages of small writing. Titles for the entries may be taken from the opening line of the translation (“Regarding…,” “Concerning…”) or be a summation by our translators (“On…). Text inserted for clarification by the translators is marked by brackets [ ].

Tsuikahô 75: Regarding Those Who Chant The Nenbutsu
Tsuikahô 109 : Regarding The Selfish Competition Over Office And Rank
Tsuikahô 122-129 : Matters Magistrate Of The Precinct In Kamakura Shall Know About
Tsuikahô 200 : That The Followers Of Monks In Kamakura Shall Be Forbidden Long And Short Swords
Tsukahô 201 : On Monks Engaging In Brawls
Tsuikahô 203 : Regarding The Post Of The Directors Of The Various Temples Within Kamakura
Tsuikahô 245-249 : Matters The Precinct Magistrates Shall Know
Tsuikahô 251: Concerning Hawking
Tsuikahô 272 : Concerning The Building Of Townspeople's Houses
Tsuikahô 296-297 : On Commerce Regulations
Tsuikahô 304: Regarding The Money Confiscated From Selling And Buying People
Tsuikahô 305: Concerning Lending In Kamakura
Tsuikahô 309: Regarding The Strict Prohibition Against Kidnappers And Selling People
Tsuikahô 382-383: On Riding In Litters
Tsuikahô 386: Regarding Those Who Chant The Nembutsu
Tsuikahô 387: Regarding Cowl-Wearing
Tsuikahô 388: On Straw Hats
Tsuikahô 390: On Out-Of-Market Sales
Tsuikahô 391: On Street Peddlers
Tsuikahô 392: On The Night Watch
Tsuikahô 393: On Kidnapping And Selling People
Tsuikahô 394: On Gambling
Tsuikahô 396: On Bridges And Streets
Tsuikahô 397: On Abandoning
Tsuikahô 428: On Building In The City
Tsuikahô 570: On Temple Donations
Tsuikahô 736: On Kidnapping And Selling People
Tsuikahô 737: On Hawking

Tsuikahô no Tsuika 54: Regarding wagering on sugoroku with rice fields
Tsuikahô no Tsuika 118: Regarding the Outlaws
Tsuikahô no Tsuika 244: Regarding the money exchanged for selling and buying people
Tsuikahô no Tsuika 482: Concerning the ban on the killing of living things
Tsuikahô no Tsuika 578: Concerning the attendant monks of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu
Tsuikahô no Tsuika 560: On the collection of interest