ce to
Kamakura, which thus became, in very truth, the administrative
metropolis of the empire.

THE SHIMPO-JITO

When Yoritomo appointed retainers of his own to be land-stewards in
the various manors, these officials did not own the estates where
they were stationed; they merely collected the taxes and exercised
general supervision. After the Shokyu struggle, however, some three
thousand manors, hitherto owned by courtiers hostile to the Bakufu,
were confiscated by the latter and distributed among the Minamoto,
the Hojo, and their partisans. The recipients of these estates were
appointed also to be their land-stewards, and thus there came into
existence a new class of manor-holders, who were at once owners and
jito, and who were designated shimpo-jito, or "newly appointed
land-stewards," to distinguish them from the hompo-jito, or
"originally appointed."

These shimpo-jito, in whom were vested at once the rights of
ownership and of management, were the first genuine feudal chiefs in
Japan--prototypes of the future daimyo and shomyo. It should be here
noted that, in the distribution of these confiscated estates, the
Kamakura regent, Yoshitoki, did not benefit to the smallest extent;
and that the grants made to the two tandai in Kyoto barely sufficed
to defray the charges of their administrative posts. Yoshitoki is, in
truth, one of the rare figures to whom history can assign the credit
of coveting neither wealth nor station. Out of the three thousand
manors that came into his hands as spolia opima of the Shokyu war, he
might have transferred as many as he pleased to his own name; and
wielding absolute authority in Kyoto, he could have obtained any
title he desired. Yet he did not take a rood of land, and his
official status at the time of his death was no higher than the
fourth rank.

THE BUILDERS OF THE BAKUFU

The great statesmen, legislators, and judges who contributed so much
to the creation of the Bakufu did not long survive the Shokyu
struggle. Miyoshi Yasunobu, who presided over the Department of
Justice (Monju-dokoro) from the time of its establishment, had been
attacked by mortal sickness before the Imperial army commenced its
march eastward. His last advice was given to the lady Masa when he
counselled an immediate advance against Kyoto. Soon afterwards he
died at the age of eighty-two. The great Oye no Hiromoto, who
contributed more than any other man to the conception and
organization of the Kamakura