It has traditionally been understood that after Kukai passed away, the maintenance and management of Shingon-shu was handed over to Jichie _??__??_, who became the Toji choja _??__??__??__??_on the tenth day of the fifth month of 836. This has been based on a complete acceptance of the details provided in such works as Toji choja shidai _??__??__??__??__??__??_ and Toji choja bunin _??__??__??__??__??__??_ although in ninth and tenth century public documents and historical records the Toji choja is not mentioned. The first extant historical appearance is in Kukai's Yuigo nijugokajo _??__??__??__??__??__??__??_of the of the mid-tenth century, which is treated as his last will (hereafter referred to by the common name, Goyuigo _??__??__??_). The next citation is in the Shingon fuho sanyosho _??__??__??__??__??__??__??_ of Seison _??__??_, which was written in the eleventh month of 1060.
In this report I first extracted and examined all the instances of the terms Toji choja and choja from the Goyuigo. As a result, four characteristics were observed: (1) Jichie as the (first) Toji choja, (2) the person first appointed as sogo _??__??_ is to be called the Toji choja regardless of years of monastic seniority, (3) several passages indicate the understanding that the Toji choja is the zasu dai-ajariya _??__??__??__??__??__??__??_, who is the zasu dai-betto _??__??__??__??__??_, and (4) the Toji choja is in charge of: (a) the maintenance of the sutra repository of To-ji, (b) serving as the dai-ajari of officially sponsored kanjo-e _??__??__??_, (c) the examinations and ordinations of the yearly ordinands, (d) maintenance and management of Gufuku-ji _??__??__??_, and (e) maintenance and management of Kongobu-ji, _??__??__??__??_.
Next, I examined the first three earliest historical documents in which the word choja appears: Daigo tenno goki _??__??__??__??__??__??_, Benkan no kudashibumi _??__??__??__??_, and Sanjuchosakushi kanmon _??__??__??__??__??__??__??_. All were written in the eleventh month of 919, and the following three characteristics were noted: (1) all three use terms such as shu no choja _??__??__??_, shu no cho _??__??__??_, daidai shu no choja _??__??__??__??__??_, shingon choja ajari _??__??__??__??__??__??__??_, and monto sogo shu no choja _??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??_; (2) it is possible to treat the position of shuchoja as having already been established by 919; and (3) this shuchoja is the general representative and head of all of Shingon-shu.
Finally, I searched for uses of the term Toji betto _??__??__??__??_ based on the fact that jige bettor _??__??__??__??_ had already been positioned in temples nationwide. I located three such records for the late ninth century. The first use in the Toji geyujoan _??__??__??__??__??__??_ referred to Shinzen _??__??_, and was dated on the twenty-fourth day of the fifth month of 888.
Based on the above findings, the process of establishing the choja of To-ji-the overall head of Shingon-shu-proceeded in five stages as follows: zo To ji shobetto _??__??__??__??__??__??_→denbo ajari _??__??__??__??__??_→toji betto _??__??__??__??_(jige betto _??__??__??__??_)→shu no choja _??__??__??_→Toji choja_??__??__??__??_. In other words, passing through the historical usages of zo Toji shobetto in Kukai's day, the denbo ajari of Jichie and Shin zei's _??__??_ time, Toji betto of Shinzen's time, and shuchoja of Kangen's _??__??_ day, at the time of the completion of the Goyuigo in the midtenth century the usage may be assumed to have been Toji choja.
