The Hikitsuke (引付 lit. enquiry) or Hikitsuke-kata (引付方) (High Court) was one of the judicial organs of the
Kamakura
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939.
Kamak ...
and
Muromachi shogunates of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
.
The Hikitsuke was established by the fifth ''
shikken
The was a titular post held by a member of the Hōjō clan, officially a regent of the shogunate, from 1199 to 1333, during the Kamakura period, and so he was head of the ''bakufu'' (shogunate). It was part of the era referred to as .
During ro ...
''
Hōjō Tokiyori
Hōjō Tokiyori (, June 29, 1227 – December 24, 1263) was the fifth shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate in Japan.
Early life
He was born to warrior monk Hōjō Tokiuji and a daughter of Adachi Kagemori.
Rule
Tokiyori became shikken f ...
in 1249
to expedite an increasing number of lawsuits in the higher
Hyojosho court. The Hikitsuke was responsible for establishing the facts of a case, while the Hyojosho would interpret the applications of law.
The Hikitsuke had three, and later five, tribunals; each tribunal was operated by four or five Hikitsukeshū (引付衆 adjusters), whose head was called a Tōnin (頭人), with four or five Bugyōnin (奉行人 secretaries).
The Hikitsuke's power increased gradually. At first the Hikitsuke just drafted several verdicts after hearings and submitted them to the
Hyojoshu. Submitting only one verdict per lawsuit, the Hikitsuke later became a ''de facto'' full law court. It originally processed only conflicts of the
vassals
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzera ...
of the
shogunate
, officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...
, but later treated more general cases.
Although it aimed at accelerating trials and making them fair, the Hikitsuke tended to make rough-and-ready decisions in the late
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle b ...
. The Hikitsukeshu were mostly occupied by the
Hōjō clan
The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of ''shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this period ...
. In addition, the Hikitsukeshu and Hyojoshu lost effective power to the
yoriai, which was held at
tokuso's residence.
The Muromachi shogunate took over the system of Hikitsuke, but it lost its substantial meaning after
Ashikaga Tadayoshi
"Ashikaga Tadayoshi" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 624. was a general of the Northern and Southern Courts period (1337–92) of Japanese history and a close associat ...
died, who controlled the Hikitsuke.
References
{{reflist
Government of feudal Japan