In the old law of the Engishiki the court ran imperial pastures (chokushi-maki) in Shinano, Kōzuke, Kai and Musashi, and the sixteen of Shinano supplied the court with horses each year; the Mochizuki pasture on the foothills of the Asama range is the best-known, and the presentation of the Mochizuki horses at the capital in the eighth month (the Komahiki) was a court ceremony of the Heian age (recalled).
The horses mattered to Kamakura as much as to Kyoto, because the east's mounted housemen needed them. The pastures were kept by local houses who ranked as keepers (maki no kanjin) and as pasture stewards; in the Genpei war they stood with Kiso Yoshinaka and were then folded into Kamakura's system. In 1200 the pasture is a court institution managed in Kamakura's interest, with stewards placed on it: its governance is layered, and the draw of it for the campaign is the horse supply.
Who he is
- Name
- not pinned for 1200
- Title
- Keepers of the imperial pastures of Shinano: the Mochizuki, Unno and Nezu houses (the three Shigeno houses, recalled)
- Since
- not applicable
- Family
- The three Shigeno houses of Shinano (Unno, Mochizuki, Nezu) are recalled as the old keepers and as allies of Kiso Yoshinaka in 1183; their standing after Yoritomo's settlement is not pinned.
- Confidence
- low
The campaign board (Mochizuki pastures, likely, 'horse'); recollection of the Engishiki and of the annual presentation of horses (the Komahiki). No page opened.
Overlord
The court (the pasture's proprietor) and Kamakura's constable of Shinano (Hiki, recalled)
What it holds
- The Mochizuki pasture and other Shinano pastures on the slopes round the Asama range and the Saku basin
- The yearly presentation of horses to the court (the Komahiki, recalled)
How it was acquired
By the old law; the keepers' houses by descent.
Allies and rivals
Allied in the past with Kiso Yoshinaka, now with whichever side holds Shinano; the Suwa and Zenkōji are neighbours.
How things stand that morning
Working as a pasture; no event is dated.
Wealth
Horses, the main product; no figure.
Military
Horse-herders who are also mounted warriors; no numbers.
Threats
- Kamakura taking the best stock; a Hiki constable's demands
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- Shōji 2/8/15 (about September 1200)The Komahiki of the eighth month: horses of Shinano are led before the court (a yearly ceremony, recalled; the year's performance is not known).Depends on: The court's continuing the rite Stopped by: War or neglect
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board puts Mochizuki pastures with the Kyoto court, 'likely': accepted for the paper title; Kamakura's stewards press on it.
Evidence: The campaign board entry and recollection only.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: The pasture is drawn as a block round Mochizuki; the actual pastures were scattered.
Primary sources for Kyoto court
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Hundred Times Refined Extracts: court annals (late thirteenth century, from court diaries). Short dated annals of the imperial court excerpted from courtiers' diaries, among them the Gyokuyo and the Meigetsuki. Read online
- Mirror of the East, Anonymous; compiled by officials of the Kamakura shogunate (compiled about 1300 from the shogunate's records, diaries and family documents). The Kamakura house's own chronicle, in daily entries. Read online
- Jottings of a Fool: an interpretative history of Japan, Jien (慈円) (about 1219 to 1220, revised to about 1223). A history by Kujo Kanezane's brother, head of the Tendai school and the leading churchman of the court, written to explain the fall of the Kujo and the rise of the warriors as the working of principle (dori). Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Diary of the Inokuma Regent: the diary of Konoe Iezane, Konoe Iezane (近衛家実) (1197 to 1218, as a daily diary). The diary of the regent's heir, aged twenty-one in 1200 and already a senior courtier under his father Konoe Motomichi, who was regent (sessho) for the child emperor Tsuchimikado. Read online
- Leaves of Jade: the diary of Kujo Kanezane, Kujo (Fujiwara) Kanezane (九條兼實) (1164 to 1200, as a daily diary). The diary of the former regent, Yoritomo's ally at court, who had been driven from power in the Kenkyu purge of 1196 and lived in retirement in 1200. Read online
- Record of the Bright Moon: the diary of Fujiwara no Teika, Fujiwara no Teika (藤原定家) (1180 to 1235, as a daily diary, with gaps). The diary of the poet and courtier, then thirty-eight and a middle-ranking official of the Kujo house. Read online
- Surviving Documents of the Kamakura Period, Various; collected by Takeuchi Rizo (竹内理三) (documents of 1185 to 1333, collected and printed 1971 to 1997). The collected charters, deeds, court orders, shogunal directives, temple records and land registers of the Kamakura age, printed in date order. Read online
4 more in the sources library for Korea and Japan.
Sources and studies
- KJA_BRIEF.md and the OMNIA board for sheet kja (the lead's notes: [own] computation, [not yet checked against the source] recollection, [en] English Wikipedia)
- Azuma Kagami (the Kamakura chronicle), Kenkyu 10 to Shoji 2 entries, recalled and through the brief; ja.wikipedia and ja.wikisource were refused in this session, so no entry was re-read
- Jeffrey P. Mass, Warrior Government in Early Medieval Japan (1974), from memory; the archive.org full text could not be opened
- Recollection of the Engishiki list of imperial pastures (Shinano, Kōzuke, Kai, Musashi) and of the Mochizuki horse-presentation; not re-read
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.