Akanabe-no-sho Manor (茜部荘)
Akanabe-no-sho Manor was a shoen (manor in medieval Japan) that existed in Mino Province during the Heian and Muromachi Periods. It was originally called Atsumi-no-sho. It was an estate of Todai-ji Temple.
Location
The southern part of Atsumi Country, Mino Province. Its center corresponds to today's Akanabe area （Akanabe-ono, Akanabe-nakashima, Akanabe-hishino, Akanabe-shinsho, Akanabe-terayashiki, etc.) in Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture.
Size
About 111.71ha, as of the year 818.
Origin
It was originally a chokushiden (imperial proprietorships and land) of Emperor Kammu, and was established as a shoen on March 14, 809. Emperor Kammu transferred it to his daughter, Imperial Princess Asahara, and on May 9, 818, the land was donated to Todai-ji Temple by her mother, Imperial Princess Sakahito, according to her will.
It is said that after the manor became the territory of Todai-ji Temple, Akanabe-jinja Shrine (listed in the Jinmyocho (list of deities) of the Engishiki (codes and procedures on national rites and prayers)) was founded in the year 830 by the ceremonial transfer of the divided tutelary deity of Usa Hachiman-gu Shrine.
In 960, the manor's name was changed from Atsumi-no-sho to Akanabe-no-sho.
Feudal Lord
Demise
Since the time when OE no Hiromoto's son, Tokihiro NAGAI, became jito (manager and lord of a manor) during the Kamakura Period, the Nagai family had handed down the post down through successive generations and gradually expanded its control over the manor through repeated legal action against Todai-ji Temple, but Emperor Godaigo confiscated the manor during the period of the Northern and Southern Courts and redonated it to Todai-ji Temple. The details of the successive jito who served since this time are unknown, but the manor had become completely outside of the control of Todai-ji Temple by the time of the Onin War.
Note
The nengu (land tax) was collected in the form of silk and cotton to cover the clothing costs of Todai-ji Temple.