著者

佐藤 博信

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.92, no.4, pp.449-471,566-56, 1983-04-20 (Released:2017-11-29)

---

The present paper attempts to clarify the basic movements of the Oyama Family (小山氏) of Shimotsuke province (下野国), a warrior clan who, together, with the Ashikaga Family, played a central role as one of the "patrician" families of the eastern provinces during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods. The method of analysis utilized takes on the form of individual investigations concerning consecutive Oyama family heads. As a result of organizing both documents issued and received by these family leaders on the basis of a complete analysis of such objective data, a preinitiation name (osanana 幼名), current name (tsusho 通称), given name conferred at initiation (namae 名前), title in the central goverment (kanto 官途), title in the provinces (juryo 受領), and abbreviated signature (kakiHan 花押), the author attempts to shed light on the fundamental political and historical substance of the generational changes which took place during the resurgence of the clan following the rebellion of Oyama Yoshimasa (小山義政) in the Namboku-cho period. The study begins with Yasutomo (泰朝) and continues through the family headships from Mitsuyasu (満泰), to Mochimasa (持政), Shigenaga (成長), Masanaga (政長), Takatomo (高朝), Hidetsuna (秀綱), Masatane (政種), and Hidemune (秀宗). The investigation demonstrates that not only the objective documentary evidence was born from a regular pattern of change, but also the particular generational changes were in many cases marked by intra-family conflicts. Also, within this historical process the author sees an important function played by the relationship of the Oyama Family to the Muromachi Bakufu government in the eastern provinces (Koga Kubo 古河公方). The conclusion that it was this close relationship to the Koga Kubo Ashikaga Family which determined the political destiny of the resurrected Oyama Family during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods. That is, the decline of the eastern Ashikaga Family power in the late Sengoku period necessarily led to the fall of the Oyama clan and consequently paved the way for its later retainership ties to the Go-Hojo Family (後北条氏).

著者

高村 直助

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.106, no.9, pp.1630-1632, 1997-09-20 (Released:2017-11-30)

著者

伊藤 貞夫

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.106, no.11, pp.1901-1949, 1997

---

The innovative works of two French scholars, F. Bourriot's Recherches sur la nature du genos and D. Roussel's Tribu et cite, which were both published in 1976, criticized radically the common view that polis society was based on a tribal system and have been supported by many Greek historians since they were appreciated by M.I. Finley in his notable book, Politics in the Ancient World. However, the author feels that their theories are not well founded, and that especially Bourriot's argument emphasizing the religious function of Athenian gene meets with definite invincible difficulties. First, regarding his interpretation of Philochoros' fragment (FGH 328 F35a), Bourriot's interesting reference to homogalaktai in Arist. Pol. 1252b is unsuccessful. The inhabitants of a village, called homogalaktai in that passage, must have been considered by Aristotle to be members of a local lineage in the anthropological sense rather than such joint owners of a pasturage, as Bourriot infers. Homogalaktai in Philochoros' fragment is probably an obsolescent term of the members of an aristocratic group in an Athenian phratry, while orgeones appear to imply upper commoners who stood together against homogalaktai as worshippers to their own god or hero in the course of the democratization of a phratry and also succeeded in organizing lower commoners in the classical period. Secondly, the positive part of Bourriot's theory that gene were originally sacerdotal families is also unpersuasive, because the author cannot cite sufficient evidence giving us both the technical term genos and the proper noun of a sacerdotal group. There are only too sporadic examples (Athen.234f.; Pindar. Olymp. VI71; Hdt. IX33; Demosth. LIX 117). Aesch. III 18, as well as Arist. Ath. Pol.57.2, does not necessarily establish that the term genos originally implied just the sacerdotal family, though in Aesch. III 18 the term happens to be used to represent a sacerdotal family. In Ath. P0l. 57.2 gene appear to be the aristocratic clans which often served as priests in their own phratries, in contrast with the sacerdotal families monopolizing the important priesthoods of communal temples. Thirdly, Bourriot's other insistence that aristocratic families were not called gene, but oikiai, is also not supported by sufficient evidence. From the archaic to the Roman imperial period, ancient authors appear to have usually used only proper nouns when referring to individual aristocratic families. The description of Bacchiadai (Hdt. V 92β; Diod. VII 9; Paus. II 4) sets a good example. It is also important that the above-mentioned dources concerned with Bacchiadai show the cooperative power and spirit of an aristo-cratic clan. As for Roussel's theory that ethne had no tfaces of a tribal system, there is definite epigraphical evidence against it. In an eastern Locrian inscription we find two kinds of primordial community, damos and koinan (ML 20 11. 3-4), besides polis as a constitutional unit of that ethnos (ibid. 11. 19-28). In comparison with an inscription of Elis, another ethnos which includes damos as a social organization (e.g. Buck 62 1.9), the Locrian koinan proves to be equivalent to the Elean patria (Buck 61 1.1), a kind of tribal group. Though the works of Bourriot and Roussel are significant contributions to the study of ancient Greek society, the original arguments of those scholars cannot nevertheless replace the view that phratriai and gene date back to the Dark Age and that gene were aristocratic groups ruling individual phratriai.

著者

中野 忠

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.98, no.11, pp.1843-1851, 1989-11-20 (Released:2017-11-29)

著者

廣瀬 憲雄

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.116, no.3, pp.365-383, 2007-03-20 (Released:2017-12-01)

---

This article examines Japan's formal hierarchical relations with the kingdoms of Silla and Palhae through an analysis of diplomatic source materials. The author offers a new approach to the study of diplomatic source materials by treating them as formal correspondence distinguished according to office or social rank (shogi) and identifying them in terms of how they express levels of decorum. From the Enryaku era (782-) on, Japan's attitude towards both Sillae and Palhae was characterized by a refusal to express subordination to either. This attitude helped stabilize relations with Palhae, on the one hand, since Palhae recognized Japan's superiority due to its ongoing conflict with Silla and the weakening of its royal family. On the other hand, Japan's attitude resulted in a cessation of relations with Silla, due to the Korean kingdom's demand to be dealt with as a diplomatic equal. Concerning the hierarchical character of diplomatic documents exchanged between Japan and Palhae from the Enryaku era on, Japan's attitude as expressed in its correspondence, looked upon Palhae in a superior manner, but not as a tributary or vassal state, while Palhae recognized Japan's superior position, but, again, not in sovereign and subject relationship. The author concludes that such a relationship developed out of mutual compromise, indicating the existence of no great disequilibrium in the balance of diplomatic power wielded by the two parties in their relations. Here we discover a new way of looking at diplomatic relations in ancient East Asia as hierarchical in character without being tied to conditions of subservience like vassalage or tribute. Similar examples include the relations developed by the Tang Dynasty with such entities as the Turk Qaranate, the Uighurs, and Tibet.

著者

那須 敬

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.117, no.7, pp.1301-1314, 2008

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.126, no.1, pp.39-66, 2017 (Released:2018-03-12)

---

本稿の目的は、1887年に制定された近代日本最初の官僚任用制度である試補及見習規則期における文部省の官僚任用と文部官僚に要求された専門性・専門知識について明らかにすることである。従来、文部省・文部官僚への言及は、主に教育史領域からなされてきたが、そこでは政策過程を解明することが主眼であり、文部省・文部官僚自体がいかなる組織・集団で、官僚制度の進展とどのように関連したのかといった視角は希薄であった。本稿では、多数の帝国大学法科出身者が各省へ入省する契機となった試補規則期に焦点を当て、文部省による官僚任用の実態を明らかにした。そのうえで、雑誌『教育時論』を用いることで、文部官僚が同時代的に要求された教育行政の専門性・専門知識に関する議論を浮き彫りにした。 本稿の成果は以下の三点である。 (1)試補規則期の文部省の試補の採用は、多数を占める帝国大学法科出身者の任用は各省中最少であり、対照的に文科出身の試補全員を任用するという点で、各省の中でも独自の人事任用を行っていた。そして、省内多数を占めた省直轄学校長兼任者・経験者とともに、文科出身者は教育行政を担うに足る専門性・専門知識を持っていると考えられていた。 (2)文科出身者とは異なり、井上毅文相期の省幹部が「法律的頭脳」と批判されたように、法科出身者は教育行政官としての資質において批判を受ける可能性を持った。根底には、教育とは「一科の専門」であり、法学領域の能力とは別のものであるという見解があった。 (3)「法律的頭脳」と批判された木場貞長は、「行政」を主として教育行政を考える自身を「異分子」と認識した。そして、木場は文部省直轄の学校長などから学校の実情を理解しないと批判されに至った。木場のような思考を持つ文部官僚が主流となるのは、文官高等試験を経て、内務省の官僚が文部省へ異動し、局長などの省内幹部を占める明治末期まで待たなければならなかった。

著者

戸森 麻衣子

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.114, no.10, pp.1754-1755, 2005

著者

伊藤 雅之

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.127, no.2, pp.42-70, 2018 (Released:2019-02-20)

---

本稿は、紀元前三世紀から同二世紀にかけてのローマにおける外国使節への贈与を取り上げ、こうした行為が同国の地中海世界全域における覇権の獲得に及ぼした影響と、またそこからうかがえる前三世紀末頃からのローマ人たちの外交手法の変容を論じる。第一節ではまず、前一七〇年頃、ローマを訪れた数か国の使節たち個々人に対して行われた、元老院による公式交渉の中での金銭贈与を一つのモデル・ケースとして取り上げる。そしてこの検討から、ローマ側が巧みにそれぞれの国のエリートたる使節たちに贈物を受領させ、地中海世界各地で広く見られる互酬の通念を活かし、彼らをローマに対し恩義があり、それ故、以後、親ローマ的に振舞わざるを得ず、またそう振舞うであろうと周囲からも認識されるという状況を作り出したということを示す。第二節では、多数の類似の事例を取り上げ、こうした外国使節個人への贈与が、史料の示す限り、ローマにおいては前二〇五年に始まり、かつ少なくとも同国のギリシア世界への急速な進出の時期に継続的・意識的に行われたことを明らかにする。そして第三節では、今度は、前三世紀前半に確認されている、外部勢力の側がローマ人たちに金銭贈与を試みた事例に注目する。この中で、同世紀末からの相手側に贈物を受け取らせる中で見せるようになっていく巧妙さとは対照的に、ローマの人々がそれ以前にはこうした行為への対応に不慣れであったことを示し、そこから、ローマが前二〇〇年代より以前には外交の文脈での贈物のメカニズムを理解しておらず、また当然これを対外関係の中で利用もしていなかったということを論じる。そしてこれらの結果から本稿は、ローマは前三世紀末にこうした正規のものとは異なるチャンネルからの外部へのアプローチの有用性を認識・活用し始め、それがこの時期から始まる同国の急速な対外進出を実現させた重要な要素の一つになっていったという結論を導く。

著者

村井 章介

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.127, no.2, pp.1-41, 2018 (Released:2019-02-20)

---

室町幕府の首長が明皇帝によって日本国王に封じられるという、日中関係史における画期について、1402(建文4)年でなく1404(永楽2)年が正しいとする学説が有力になっている。しかしそれらは厳密な史料の読みに裏づけられた学説とはいいがたい。 根拠とする史料が原態からどれくらい隔たっているかを正確に測定しながら、一歩一歩史実を確定していくという、古文書学的な手法を用いて検証してみると、1404年説を採った場合に受封者と認定しうるのは、足利義満・豊臣秀吉の二人しか残らない。室町幕府の首長が東アジアの国際社会で日本国王として承認されるという、「封」の実質を重視する観点からは、1402年のほうがはるかに重要な画期である。皇帝が「封」の実質を実現するために発給する文書には、誥命・詔書・勅諭など、対象者のランクに応じて多様な様式が使い分けられていた。 琉球の中山・山南・山北の三王に目を転じると、三山相互、あるいは明との関係の推移にともなって、皇帝が王を「封」ずる文書のほか、暦・印・冠服などがさまざまなタイミングと順番と目的に従って与えられていく状況が観察できる。「封」をめぐる多様な皇帝文書の使い分けは琉球の場合にも認められ、しかも比較的短い間に移り変わっていた。 さらに対象を「東南夷」(東アジア~インド沿海部の諸国)に拡げて見ていくと、洪武・建文年間には「封」が最高ランクの文書「誥命」でおこなわれたのは高麗・朝鮮のみだったが、永楽年間には一変して、印とのセットで遠距離の諸国に気前よく与えられるようになる。その背景には、鄭和の大遠征に象徴されるような、天下に威と徳を及ぼそうとする永楽帝の対外姿勢があった。 最後に、琉球をふくむ日本列島地域に伝えられた史料、すなわち何通かの外交文書の原本や『歴代宝案』『善隣国宝記』という外交文書集には、明代の国際秩序の解明にとって他に換えがたい価値があることを指摘した。

著者

坂井 孝一

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.97, no.6, pp.1063-1082,1157-, 1988

---

『元興寺事八衆中与門跡別当三方之入勝也』(All cases involving the district of Gango-ji will be decided by "irekachi" between the district secular council, the patriarch of Daijo-in, and the abbot of Gango-ji.) This entry from the medieval diary entitled Daijo-in Jisha Zojiki 大乗院寺社雑事記) indicates that with respect to enforcing the law (kendan 検断) in the Gango-ji district of the medieval city of Nara, a process called irekachi 入勝 (literally, the first party to arrive on the scene has the right to enact the law) was carried out among the three authorities governing the district. In this article the author attempts to clarify the actual patterns, basic character and historical significance of this unique law enforcement institution of irekachi. In the conventional research on irekachi, there are still at least three points that remain to be clarified. First, despite the entry 七郷八衆中使与寺務使入勝也 (irekachi occurred between the representatives of the district secular councils of Nara and the office of Temple affairs), scholars have contended that irekachi was geographically limited specifically to the Gango-ji district alone. Secondly, even though there are examples of irekachi being enacted in the case of minor offenses like illegal residency (kishuku-no-ka 寄宿の過), scholars have continued to insist that the institution was reserved specifically for inflicting wounds with a sword and murder. Finally, the previous research on the subject has failed to clarify the true reasons why such a unique custom was adopted. The present article focusses on these three problem points in an attempt to shed more light upon the acutal procedures making up irekachi and to discover the fundamental precedents of law enforcement rights in medieval Nara. However, due to the nature of the existing documentation on the subject the author first takes up points two and three using the case of Gango-ji district, and then, after establishing the conditions for the existence of "the irekachi system," goes into his discussion on problem point one. Concerning the actually nature of illegalities handled through irekachi, the author first investigates the problem of procedure. The main feature of the system was that the complete legal process was controlled from beginning to end by the legal enforcement agency that was first on the scene. This feature was also true for cases involving the jurisdiction of the aristocratic patriarch (monzeki 門跡) of Daijo-in himself. Furthermore, with regard to the crimes dealt with via irekachi, not only was it enacted in the cases of stealing, gambling and the "three great crimes" (san-ka-taibon 三ヶ大犯), but also in all kinds of minor incidents that occurred in and around the city of Nara. Concerning the particualar character of irekachi, after investigating the actual political power of and foundations underlying the rights of law enforcement agents in Nara, the author argues that there existed an overall balance of power between these agents, and that the fundamental rationale underlying the institution of irekachi lay in its effectiveness for satisfying on an equal basis the desire of these powers to rule the city. Moreover, irehachi was the only method of guaranteeing one incident / one agent unitary legal procedures. On the basis of the above discussion the author then introduces the three conditions underlying the existence of the "irekachi" system. Concerning the problem of geographic limitations, the author investigates these three existential conditions in relation to the law enforcement agents in the seven districts (shichigo 七郷) of Nara. After proving that both the office of Temple affairs and district secular councils did in fact fulfill these conditions, he concludes that irekachi was carried out by these two agencies in all seven of the districts ; and because these seven districts made up the greater part of Nara between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, we can be assured that irekachi

著者

松沢 裕作

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.115, no.11, pp.1932-1934, 2006-11-20 (Released:2017-12-01)

著者

松村 高夫

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.116, no.3, pp.362-364, 2007

著者

北村 暁夫

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.110, no.8, pp.1565-1572, 2001

著者

土谷 恵

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.101, no.12, pp.2049-2093,2200-, 1992

---

It is the Buddhist temple that featured the widest variety of warawa in medieval communities. Although many studies of warawa have been made, few of them succeed in sufficiently revealing the state of warawa in the medieval temples. In an attempt to find out the significance of warawa and warawasugata (dressed like a child) in the early medieval period, this article specifically describes characteristics of warawa in the temples. Chapter 1 describes the way of living and the image of warawa in the temples based on setsuwa literature. Kokonchomonju mentions to uewarawa (jodo) and chodo (boys who were lovers at high-ranking men) of the omuro at Ninnaji Temple, while Ujishuimonogatari mentions to chigo, chudaidoji, and daidoji on Mt. Eizan. These stories in Kokonchomonju have something to do with a certain bokan who contributed to compiling the Ninnaji-Temple-related setsuwa group. Stories mentioning warawa in Ujishuimonogatari, on the other hand, seem to be setsuwa relating to Chuin on Mt. Eizan. What should be noted here is daidoji-setsuwa. Daidoji-setsuwa is picked up not only by Ujishuimonogatari but also by Hosshinshu and Zoutanshu. What is common to all of them is specific characteristics of daidoji : (1)they were not allowed to enter the priesthood : (2)they remained in warawasugata, even during their adulthood, attended high-ranking people, and (3)they worked close to temple authority but were ignorant and persevering, and sometimes comically amusing. Chapter 2 specifically examines names, ranks, and roles of warawa by referring to the temple documents of Daigoji Ninnaji and Mt. Eizan. Typical temple warawa were referred to as chigo, chudoji, and daidoji, who served the works and belonged to a bo or innge. Warawa were ranked as chigo chudoji, and daidoji. In a procession, warawa were ranked as uewarawa, chudoji, and daidoji. The chigo of omuro consisted of a hierarchy composed of children from the Seiga families, those from the bokan, those from gehokumen of the in (the retired emperor), and so forth. Chigo were clearly distinguished in rank from chudoji who was a warawa allowed to go up to serve personally high-ranking people in the bo. The major functions of chudoji were waiting on and attending high-ranking people. On the other hand, daidoji were not allowed to go up to the level of their superiors. They were organized into cho or ren and had various kinds of functions: leading horses, procuring necessities for Buddhist ceremonies, periodically collecting land taxes from estates, and administrating the kodoneridokoro of the bo. In short, daidoji and chudoji were also hierarchically distinguished each other. Chapter 3 studies kugeshinsei (new laws imposed by the Imperial Court) and jihenshinsei (new rules issued by individual temples for themselves) to find out that daidoji were similar to zoshiki of aristocratic families and that the main role of chudoji and daidoji was to attend monks. It has also been learned from picture scrolls, including Kasugagongen-genkie, that chigo, chudoji, and daidoji are clearly distinguished by their seating location and dress. The origin of warawasugata of those who attended monks can be found in the holy attendants of Buddha. The concept of warawasugata first appeared in Souniryo, which stipulated that children should attend monks. ln accordance with stratification that took place in the monkhood from the late 10th century to the 11th century, chigo, chudoji, and daidoji, were also ranked. Daidoji eventually became those who failed to find a way to enter the priesthood, which resulted in the warawasugata of adult or senior daidoji. Chigo, chudoji, and daidoji are found to be representative warawa of the medieval temples. The author shows that daidoji, instead of dodoji, was typically in warawasugata at medieval temples. This warawasugata reflected not only expectations toward voluntary services and the holy power of warawa, but also stratification among the warawa.

著者

東中野 多聞

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.112, no.4, pp.522-523, 2003

著者

坂井 榮八郎

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.113, no.11, pp.1919-1921, 2004

著者

藤本 正行

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.96, no.11, pp.1816-1817, 1987-11-20 (Released:2017-11-29)

著者

岡田 泰介

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.107, no.8, pp.1411-1445,1557-, 1998

---

Throughout classical Greek History, most mercenary soldiers came from peripheral regions like Archadia, Aetolia and Crete. Few resources and too many mouths to feed have been often indicated as forming the background of working away from home. As a matter of fact, agricultural conditions in those regions cannot always be thought of as unfavorable in comparison with the rest of Greece. So, it is important to focus upon the social and economic conditions of these peripheral peoples to study the origins and development of mercenaries among them. This paper is a case study of Crete, which was a major source in the recruitment of mercenary forces in the armies of warring powers during Hellenistic times. In Hellenistic Crete, like Sparta, the ownership of landed estates had markedly changed in character. Polybios says in his time that citizens could have as much land as they were able to acquire. A logical conclusion is that on the one hand, landed estates became owned by fewer and fewer people, while on the other hand, more and more people lost what land they possessed. Serious discontent spread throughout the island among citizens deprived of land and young men trained from boyhood in athletic and military pursuits. In this same period, Cretan cities concluded many international treaties with the major political powers of the Hellenistic World, and as a result of these treaties, frequently dispatched "allied troops" overseas. In the guise of bilateral agreements these treaties principally aimed at ensuring stable supplies of mercenary troops for kings, cities, or leagues of cities. The evidence suggests that these Cretan mercenaries were normally those citizens who could still provide their own weaponry, but were suffering economically. These citizen・soliders went abroad almost exclusively under the control of the oligarchic rulers of cities. Negotiations for recruiting mercenaries were often controlled by the governments of individual Cretan cities themselves and recruiting campaigns on the island required their permission. This is the reason why, in Hellenistic Crete, a redivision of land or other radical changes never happened, as far as we know. The ruling oligarchies of cities coped with this critical situation by sending abroad people who had been reduced to poverty and discontented with existing regime as hired soldiers and allowing them to enjoy the benefits of war, while at the same time to averting the revolutionary energy of people upsetting the ancien regime. On the other hand, the alliances with foreign powers were beneficial in both political and military aspects for the oligarchic parties that dominated the Cretan cities. In their own feuds or in social conflicts, they found supporters in those foreign powers in return for providing mercenary forces to them.

著者

芳之内 圭

出版者

公益財団法人 史学会

雑誌

史学雑誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.117, no.8, pp.1414-1434, 2008-08-20 (Released:2017-12-01)

---

The Higashimaya Bunko copy of Nicchu Gyoji (Daily Events) was, according to a recent study by Nishimoto Masahiro, written during the early 11^<th> century and contains important information about the Heian period not found in any other extant source. This article examines the information provided by Nicchu Gyoji in conjunction with newly discovered sources materials pertaining to court couriers reporting the time to the emperor ("Naijusoji-no-koto"内豎奏時事) and the palace guard's night-watch ("Konoe no-jin Yako-no-koto 近衛陣夜行事), in order to clarify how time was kept at the emperor's quarters(Dairi 内裏).According to Nicchu Gyoji, there were two methods for reporting the time to the emperor: one verbally in the evening through the Mumeimon 無名門 Gate; the other by ramming a stake into a board at which time is written in the court yard inside the Gate. According to related sources for the time, the inscribed placard was not only the means of informing the emperor's attendants of the time, but was itself considered as an instrument for reporting directly to the emperor, and, as such, was carefully handled and guarded by the time courier, whose role was in turn considered very important in palace operations. Regarding the palace guard's night shift, during the time between about 9p.m. and 5a.m. the watch would patrol the palace, performing such duties as eradicating evil omens and preventing fires. At the beginning of the night-watch, the guard would enter through the Mumeimon Gate and announce the time, which the author suggests was performed in accordance with procedures for the time courier.