In the present article the author offers an interpretation of the Shogunate's diplomatic known as shuinjo 朱印状 (vermilion sealed affidavit of official recognition) in late premodern Japan, focusing on the little know aspect of shuin-aratame 朱印改, an act that was implemented by a representative of the shogun, and about which little is known to date. Then a case study of this act is presented concerning the Koma 高麗 Shrine of Nihori 新堀 Village, Koma District, Musashi 武蔵 Province from the viewpoint of the recipient of the document and various problems faced by the Shrine in the process. In order to receive a shuinjo, a temple or shrine had to appear before the shogunate in Edo and stay there for about a month until all the paperwork was completed. Needless to say, such a stay was expensive, including not only travel and entertainment expenses, but also the heavy gratuity which had to be paid to the issuing authority (furegashira 触頭). There are cases of much pomp and circumstance surrounding such visits, the expense of which was all borne by the temple or shrine recipient, ranging from one to several tens of ryo 両. The shogunate frowned upon such extravagance and even made attempts to prohibit any gratuities being paid to the furegashira, while at the same time taking the prerogative to order that such payments be made. Needless to say, the intention was unclear and insufficient, for the gratuity was necessary in order for any temple or shrine to ensure that the shuin aratame process go smoothly and successfully. Since the ceremonial solemnity of the shuin-aratame process was expressly to reconfirm the Shogun's authority, it was very difficult to attempt rationalizing or simplifying this process, which was indispensable for any temple or shrine for attaining the highest status of an institution officially recognized by the shogunate, thus the extravagance connected with it was accepted as a fact of life by potential rccipients of the vermilion seal. Because of the important significance of the shuinjo for beth the issuing authority in the shogunate and recipient temples and shrines, there were definite limits to what extent the process could be simplified or expenses cut. In other words, the process was the way in which the importance, seriousness and honor of the shuinjo was reconfirmed within Tokugawa period society.

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The Kōdōkan of Minagawa Ki’en has been popularly known as a Confucian school since the centenary commemorative book Kōju Minagawa Ki’en was published by the Ki’en Kai in 1908. In chapter 7, the journalist Nishimura Tenshū discussed two petition letters for a grant of public land addressed to the Kyoto government by Ki’en in order to establish a Confucian school, and identified the date “October, year of the Pig” as the third year of Kyōwa, namely 1803. But Liuqi (1999) refuted Nishimura’s dating on the basis of correspondence between Ki’en and Kawada Kōsei, a retainer of Tottori clan, rather identifying the fourth year of Meiwa (1767) for Ki’en’s petition.Among the documents related to Minagawa Ki’en donated by Mr. Minagawa Bunkô to the Yuuhisai Koudoukan, we found a reliable fair copy of the petition letter by Ki’en addressed to “Nishi Bugyōsho” (Western office of Kyoto government), dated “Meiwa Yonen Teigai Jūgatsu Jusha Minagawa Bunzō,” namely October, the fourth year of Teigai, Meiwa, Confucian Minagawa Bunzō. Analysis of the three texts of the petition letters shows that Ki’en planned a semi-public and semi-private Confucian schoolfor poor elite students with a capable, non-hereditary schoolmaster, and insisted on the necessity of grant land for fear that the school would be privatized by the schoolmaster’s family in the case of rented land.In addition to the aforementioned petition letters dated 1767, we present here the text of three letters by Ki’en to Matsura Seizan, lord of Hirado clan, disciple and patron of Ki’en. In the first letter, which is dated the 11th day of the 6th month of the 3rd year of Bunka (1806), Ki’en reported on the frame-raising ceremony of an auditorium on the the 26th day of the 5th month of the same year, saying that he had purchased by himself a western open space next to his house, building it using donations from his disciples. He named it Kōdōkan as a shrine of Confucius and lecture place of Ceremony and Music. This letter is a supplication for financial aid to maintain Kōdōkan. He also mentioned his plan to construct a dormitory adjacent to Kōdōkan for elite students. But nothing is known about this educational establishment.As for the two other letters to Matsura Seizan, both dated the 16th day of the 2nd month of the 4th year of Bunka (1807), they are the same letter of thanks regarding Seizan’s financial aid to Kōdōkan, with small differences in the extremely polite wording: one uses the present title Lord of Hirado; the other uses the retired title of Seizan in the address, since Seizan had retired on the 18th day of the 11th month of the 3rd year of Bunka.

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