casional presents, and by revenues from kugoden
(private Imperial land). The Court nobles had their own domains,
usually small. All these estates, those of the Crown, of princes, and
of Court nobles, were subject to a system called hansai. That is to
say, one-half of their revenues were leviable for military purposes.
Originally this impost was understood to be a loan to the Bakufu, but
ultimately it came to be regarded as a normal levy, though its
practical effect was to reduce the revenue from such domains by
one-half. Moreover, as the arrogance of the military magnates in the
provinces grew more insistent, and as the Bakufu's ability to oppose
them became less effective, the domain of the Court nobles suffered
frequent encroachments.

REVENUES OF THE BAKUFU

One source of revenue for the Bakufu was its domains in various
places; another was the buke-yaku, or military-house dues. These were
at first two per cent, of the land-tax of the house concerned, but
afterwards they increased to five per cent. Thus an estate paying one
hundred koku in the form of land-tax, had to pay a further five koku
as buke-yaku, the latter proceeds being sent to Kyoto for the use of
the shogun's household. Another important levy was the tansen, which,
as its name implies, was a land-rate levied at so much per tan
(one-quarter of an acre), the proceeds being devoted to special
purposes, as, for example, to defray the cost of grand ceremonials or
of new edifices. The records show one payment of tansen which works
out at fifty mon per tan. Another document indicates that the monthly
expenses of the Man-dokoro were some sixty kwanmon and that they were
defrayed by levying taxes upon pawnbrokers and sake-dealers in Kyoto
and in Omi province. The latter tax (shuko-zei) is shown to have
been, on one occasion, two kwan eight hundred mon per house. The
Bakufu collected dues on foreign commerce, also, and miscellaneous
imposts of an irregular character made no small addition to its
income.

REVENUE OF SHRINES AND TEMPLES

Temples and shrines derived part of their income from port-dues and
barrier-tolls. Thus, the Hachiman temple of Iwashimizu received tolls
from all traffic passing the Yamazaki barrier; Kofuku-ji levied
duties on vessels entering Hyogo port, and Engaku-ji of Kamakura
collected tolls at the Hakone barrier (sekisho). Such taxes proving
very prolific and easy to levy, the number of barriers increased
rapidly, to the no small obstr