The Story of the Japanese 00370 [Late Heian Period] The Enkyu Manor Consolidation Act

Now, immediately after his accession, Emperor Go-Sanjo promoted Oe no Masafusa (1041–1111), who had served him for a long time as a chamberlain to the Crown Prince, to the position of Kurando (Imperial Archivist). This was also a declaration that he would no longer rely heavily on the Fujiwara clan. Having lost his power, Fujiwara no Yorimichi quietly retired to Uji.
Oe no Masafusa was a child prodigy who began reading books at the age of four, read the Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han by the age of eight, and composed poetry by the age of eleven. His poem is included in the Hyakunin Isshu:
“The cherry blossoms on the mountain ridge of Takasago have bloomed; I wish the mist of the outer mountains would not rise.”
It is included.
The Kojidan also contains an episode illustrating the master-servant relationship between Emperor Go-Sanjo and Oe no Masafusa.
One day, Emperor Go-Sanjo wrote an imperial edict to be offered to Ise Jingu in his own hand and had Oe no Masafusa read it. The edict contained the phrase “I will not commit any wrongdoing,” and Masafusa stopped reading at this point.
When the Emperor, feeling concerned, asked, “Have I ever committed any wrongdoing?” Masafusa replied,
“You did not appoint Fujiwara no Takakata (1014–1079) as Sachuben (Middle Controller of the Left) because he once spoke ill of you. Is this not a ‘wrongdoing’?”
It is said that upon hearing this, Go-Sanjo blushed and reflected on his actions. Oe no Masafusa was by no means a “yes-man” to Emperor Go-Sanjo; he was an invaluable aide who would sometimes tell him things that were hard to hear.
Now, from this point on, the duo of Go-Sanjo and Oe no Masafusa would take on various political reforms. The reign of these two is called the “Enkyu Good Governance.” Let us look at what kind of good governance it was.
In the first year of Enkyu (1069), Go-Sanjo issued the “Enkyu Manor Consolidation Act.”
Manor consolidation was a political issue that successive administrations had tackled many times, but the approach taken by Go-Sanjo and Masafusa was different from those of the past. What the two did was to “thoroughly abolish manors without supporting documentation.”
In the first place, the manor consolidations carried out until then had been conducted while the Fujiwara clan was at the center of the government. The Fujiwara clan themselves were the largest manor owners. Because of the hesitation to offend the Fujiwara, these efforts were inevitably incomplete. Therefore, this time, they established an office called the “Kiroku Shoen Kenkeijo” (Record of Manor Deeds Office) and implemented extremely strict screening. The office was to compare the claims of the provincial governors with those of the manor owners and decide whether the manor was truly permitted to be privately owned.
Following the promulgation of the Enkyu Manor Consolidation Act, Fujiwara no Yorimichi declared,
“My manors have become too numerous. Since there is no supporting documentation, you may seize them one after another.”
It gives the impression of a total surrender.