This article examines memorials (上表文) sent to the Southern dynasties that display a strong Buddhist influence. Its first chapter focuses on the analysis of the memorials sent to the Song and the Liang Dynasties from the Shizi 師子 Kingdom and the Tian-zhu-jia-pi-li 天竺迦〓黎 and Zhong-tian-zhu 中天竺 Kingdoms, which have been considered the same kingdom, but despite the common name Tian-zhu 天竺, they should not be regarded as the same. In addition, it is difficult to confirm that tribute sent in the name of the Shizi Kingdom in 527 was really sent by that kingdom. Chapter 2 discusses the circumstances under which the memorials sent to the Song and Nanqi Dynasties correspond to those sent to the Liang Dynasty and concludes that the former were composed by Buddhist monks who moved between the Nanhai 南海 Kingdoms and China, in such places as Funan 扶南. Moreover, the author argues that during the reign of Liang Dynasty Emperor Wu, correspondence was sent out expressing the emperor's wish to receive Buddhist-worded memorials, which forced neighboring kingdoms to consult older memorials preserved in a place presumably Funan. Given this background, Chapter 3 examines the relationship between the Southern dynasties and those kingdoms which sent Buddhist-influenced memorials, concluding that the traditional tribute relationship (册封 or 除授) was not formed between the Southern dynasties and those kingdoms, with only one exception during the Song era. This is because their memorials presumed a different relationship, between the Chinese emperor as bodhisattvas who provide guidance in popular worship and the kingdoms, as described in the Buddhist scripture about the relationship between Ashoka the Great and the kingdoms on his periphery. Within such a scenario, the traditional emperor-subject tribute relationship was considered inappropriate. Considering the situation of the Southern dynasties having to legitimize their existence in competition with the Northern dynasties, the author argues that the former, particularly the Liang dynasty, instituted a new form of diplomatic relationship based on Buddhism, which was now expected to play an international role as the guarantor of dynastic legitimacy.

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The research to date on skilled forces of production under the Ritsuryo (Luling) systems in Japan and China has resulted in an accumulation of basic information, mainly from the aspect of social history. Recetly, the discovery of Tianshengling 天聖令 has been become the current topics. We cannot find the big difference between Tang's Ritsuryo and Japanese, in Eizenro 営繕令: the chapter of construction and manual industry. One notable exception, however, is article 7 of the Yoro 養老 Eizenryo pertaining to skilled labor, to which no comparable provision exists in the Chinese code. The article focuses on this difference revealed by the discovery of the Tianshengling to examine the issue of skilled labor in ancient Japan within the framework of legal institutions. To begin with, the author concludes that the provisions outlined by Article 7 were never implemented in China and were thus unique to Japan. Secondly, lying in the background of the insertion of Article 7 was the disbanding of organized groups of skilled laborers and the flow of technology into local society, making it necessary to enlist corvee labor requiring technological skills from a widely dispersed base. In addition, within the process of reorganizing groups of people (bemin 部民) whose labor was under the private control of powerful clans into subjects of the Ritsuryo state and the resulting appropriation of technicians from those groups, the Ministry of Civil Affairs (minkan 民官) took control of technology by registering them no differently than any other able bodied adult male (cho 丁) eligible to be enlisted for corvee. This is one way of explaining why the compilers of the Japanese Ritsuryo codes introduced Japanese-style form of control mechanism that seem to set up a unique provisions.

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There were two customs gates in operation at the port of Hyogo (present day Kobe) during in late medieval Japan. The northern gate had been placed under the authority of Todaiji Temple, the southern gate under Kofukuji Temple. This article discusses how the northern customs house was being operated as of 1445, based on an analysis of three customs ledgers compiled during that year: Hyogo-kitaseki-irihune-nocho 兵庫北関入船納帳 held by the University of Tokyo Faculty of Letters (A), Hyogo-kitaseki-irihune-nocho 兵庫北関入船納帳 held by the Kyoto Metropolitan History Museum (B), and Hyogo-kitaseki-zassen-nocho 兵庫北関雑船納帳 held in the Todaiji Temple archives (C). The key to understanding how vessels were processed at the customs gates are practices surrounding fuda 札, a ticket that could be purchased cheaply by any vessel with a permit (kasho 過書) to pass through the gate, thus exempting them from high custom fees. Since the northern and southern gates were connected, customs exempt vessels passing out the southern gate would be relieved of the fuda (fudagari 札狩) they had purchased at the northern gate. How the customs gates were managed is clarified by the author based on an examination of the differences existing among the three ledgers. First, (A) and (B) are ledgers recording deferred customs fees payments, while (C) lists payments made at the time of passage. Secondly, the content of (C) was recorded in two stages, the second more detailed than the first. Next, while having the same title (A) and (B) were kept separately, since the latter contains the term kubo 公方, and the former does not. Finally, there is no content that corresponds in (A) and (C), while the information in (B) and (C) concerning fuda matches. The changing content of (C), the differences between (A) and (B) and the complementary relationship between (B) and (C) all reflect changes in management of the northern gate that occurred together with Todaiji's direct takeover of operations, which was characterized by efforts to increase customs revenue by stricter limitation and regulation of vessels exempt from duties and to firmly establish the new system.

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