Tokiyori's life. He carried to extreme lengths the virtue of economy
so greatly extolled by his grandfather, Yasutoki. Such was the
frugality of his mode of life that we read of him searching for
fragments of food among the remnants of a meal, so that he might
serve them to a friend, and we read, also, of his mother repairing
with her own hands the paper covering of a shoji in expectation of a
visit from him. He is further said to have disguised himself as an
itinerent bonze and to have travelled about the provinces, observing
the state of the people and learning their complaints. His
experiences, on this pilgrimage read like a romance. Lodging at one
time with an aged widow, he learns that she has been robbed of her
estate and reduced to painful poverty, a wrong which Tokiyori hastens
to redress; at another time his host is an old samurai whose loyal
record comes thus to the knowledge of the shikken and is subsequently
recognized.

But it must be confessed that these tales rest on very slender
evidence. Better attested is the story of Aoto Fujitsuna, which
illustrates at once the character of Tokiyori and the customs of the
time. This Fujitsuna was a man of humble origin but considerable
learning. One year, the country being visited by drought, Tokiyori
gave rice and money to priests for religious services, and himself
worshipped at the shrine of Mishima. These measures were vehemently
criticized by Fujitsuna, who described them as enriching the wealthy
to help the impoverished. When informed of this, Tokiyori, instead of
resenting it, sent for Fujitsuna and nominated him a member of the
Court of Recorders,* where he earned the reputation of being one of
Japan's greatest judges.** It is related of him that he devoted his
whole fortune to objects of charity, and that when Tokiyori, claiming
a revelation from heaven, proposed to increase his endowments, his
answer was, "Supposing heaven revealed to you that you should put me
to death, would you obey?" ***

*The Hikitsuke-shii, a body of men who kept the archives of the
Man-dokoro and conducted preliminary judicial investigations. It was
organized in Tokiyori's, time and from its members the Hyojoshu was
recruited.

**The other was Ooka Tadasuke of the Tokugawa period.

***It is related of this Aoto Fujitsuna that, having dropped a few
cash into the Namera River at night, he expended many times the
amount in paying torch-bearers to recover the lost coins, his
argum