he found the people suffering grievously from the
extortions of manorial chiefs. It was not an uncommon practice for
the owner of an estate to hold in custody the wives and daughters of
defaulting tenants until the latter paid their rents, however
exorbitant, and seldom indeed did the holder of a manor recognize any
duty of succouring the peasants in time of distress. The former cruel
practice was strictly forbidden by Yasutoki, and, to correct the
latter defect, he adopted the plan of setting a fine example himself.
It is recorded that in the Kwanki era (1229-1232), when certain
places were suffering from crop failure, the regent distributed nine
thousand koku of rice (45,000 bushels approximately) among the
inhabitants and remitted all taxes throughout more than one thousand
districts.

In the Azuma Kagami, a contemporaneous history generally trustworthy,
we find various anecdotes illustrative at once of the men and the
ethics of the time. Thus, it is related that the farmers of a village
called Hojo being in an embarrassed condition, seed-rice was lent to
them in the spring by the regent's order, they undertaking to repay
it in the autumn. But a storm having devastated their fields, they
were unable to keep their pledge. Nothing seemed to offer except
flight. When they were on the eve of decamping, however, they
received from Yasutoki an invitation to a feast at which their bonds
were burned in their presence and every debtor was given half a
bushel of rice. Elsewhere, we read that the regent himself lived in a
house so unpretentious that the interior was visible from the
highroad, owing to the rude nature of the surrounding fence. Urged to
make the fence solid, if only as a protection against fire, his reply
was: "However economically a new wall and fence be constructed, the
outlay would be at the cost of the people. As for me, if I do my duty
to the State, my life and my house will be safe. If I fail, the
strongest fence will not avail."

In estimating what his bountiful assistance to the farmers meant, it
is necessary to remember that he was very poor, The greater part of
the comparatively small estates bequeathed to him by his father he
divided among his half-brothers by a Fujiwara mother, reserving to
himself only a little, for, said he: "I am the regent. What more do I
desire?" One day, while attending a meeting of the Hyojoshu, he
received news that the house of his brother, Tomotoki, was attacked.
Immedia