d with the Adachi.
Whether the Miura family were really involved in this plot, history
gives no definite indication; but certainly the ex-shogun, Yoritsune,
was involved, and his very marked friendship with Miura Mitsumura
could scarcely fail to bring the latter under suspicion. In the end,
the Miura mansion was suddenly invested by a Hojo force. Mitsumura
and his elder brother, Yasumura, escaped to a temple where, after a
stubborn resistance, they and 270 of their vassals committed suicide.
No mercy was shown. The Miura were hunted and slaughtered everywhere,
their wide, landed estates being confiscated and divided among the
Bakufu, the fanes, and the courtiers at Kyoto.

The terribly drastic sequel of this affair illustrates the vast power
wielded by the Hojo throughout the empire in the thirteenth century.
Yoritomo's system of high constables and land-stewards brought almost
every part of the country under the effective sway of Kamakura. It is
not to be supposed, however, that these high constables and
land-stewards were suffered to subject the people within their
jurisdiction to arbitrary or extortionate treatment. Not only could
complaints of any such abuses count on a fair hearing and prompt
redress at the hands of the Bakufu, but also inspectors were
despatched, periodically or at uncertain dates, to scrutinize with
the utmost vigilance the conduct of the shugo and jito, who, in their
turn, had a staff of specially trained men to examine the land survey
and adjust the assessment and incidence of taxation.

ENGRAVING: HOJO TOKIYORI

HOJO TOKIYORI

Tokiyori, younger brother of Tsunetoki, held the post of shikken at
the time of the Miura tragedy. He had succeeded to the position, in
1246, on the death of Tsunetoki, and he nominally abdicated in 1256,
when, in the sequel of a severe illness, he took the tonsure. A
zealous believer, from his youth upwards, in the doctrines of the Zen
sect of Buddhism, he built a temple called Saimyo-ji among the hills
of Kamakura, and retired thither to tend his health--entrusting the
office of shikken to a relative, Nagatoki, as his own son, Tokimune,
was still of tender age--but continuing himself to administer
military and judicial affairs, especially when any criminal or civil
case of a complicated or difficult nature occurred. Thus, there was a
cloistered regent at Kamakura, just as there had so often been a
cloistered Emperor in Kyoto. Tradition has busied itself much with