国地頭職の沿革

抄録

This article studies changes that occured to the Kunjitoshiki after its establishment by the Kamakura Shogunate in the winter of 1185. Minamoto no Yoritomo (源頼朝) dispatched his retainer Hojo Tokimasa (北条時政) to the court in November 1185 and won permission for him to control the Shogojitoshiki (荘郷地頭職) during the establishment of the Kunijitoshiki. The first section of the article clarifies the actual conditions of the Kunijitoshiki during its early days in the Kansai district. At that time all the Kunijitos arbitrarily controlled the Shogojitoshiki, and privately they maintained ties with the court for handling problems with the Shogojitoshiki. The second section traces the change that occurred to the Kunijitoshiki after July 1186 when the Kunijito lost his former powers to Yoritomo. The third section then analyzes the origin of this change by pointing out the following facts. Every Kunijito understood his position, as if he had been given it directly by the court. From the spring of 1186 the court actually began to control many Kunijito directly, and so the danger arose that Yoritomo might have possibly lost his ability to control all the Kunijitoshiki and Shogojitoshiki.