ject they
were indited mostly in the kana syllabary.

*Called also the Kwanto Goseibai Shikimoku.

The actual work of compilation was done by Hokkyo Enzen (a renowned
bonze), but the idea originated with Hojo Yasutoki and Miyoshi
Yasutsura, and every provision was carefully scanned and debated by
the Bakufu's State council (Hyojoshu). There was no intention of
suppressing the Daiho code. The latter was to remain operative in all
regions to which the sway of the Kyoto Court extended direct. But in
proportion as the influence of the Bakufu grew, the Joei laws
received new adherents and finally became universally effective. A
great modern authority, Dr. Ariga, has opined that the motive of the
Bakufu legislation was not solely right for right's sake. He thinks
that political expediency figured in the business, the Kamakura
rulers being shrewd enough to foresee that a reputation for
administering justice would prove a potent factor in extending their
influence. If so, the scheme was admirably worked out, for every
member of the council had to sign a pledge, inserted at the end of
the Shikimoku, invoking* the vengeance of heaven on his head if he
departed from the laws or violated their spirit in rendering
judgment. Nothing, indeed, stands more signally to the credit of the
Bakufu rulers from the days of Yoritomo and his wife, Masa,
downwards, than their constant endeavour to do justice between man
and man.

*"This oath indicates, among other things, the deep sense of the
importance of unanimity, of a united front, of the individual sharing
fully in the collective responsibility, that was cherished by the
Bakufu councillors. This was, indeed, one of the chief secrets of the
wonderful stability and efficiency of the machine." (Murdoch.)

NATURE OF THE CODE

The Joei Shikimoku is not a voluminous document: it contains only
fifty-one brief articles, which the poet Basho compares to the
luminosity of the full moon. It has been excellently translated and
annotated by Mr. Consul-General J. C. Hall in the "Transactions of
the Asiatic Society of Japan" (Vol. XXXIV, Part I), and Mr. J.
Murdoch, in his admirable History of Japan, summarizes its provisions
lucidly. We learn that slavery still existed in the thirteenth
century in Japan; but the farmer was guarded against cruel processes
of tax-collecting and enjoyed freedom of domicile when his dues were
paid. Fiefs might not be sold, but a peasant might dispose of his
holding.