ages, and interdicted the pledging of military men's property.

Of course, such legislation proved disastrous. Whatever temporary
relief it afforded to indigent and improvident debtors, was far
outweighed by the blow given to credit generally, and by the
indignation excited among creditors. The Bakufu owed much of the
stability of their influence to the frugality of their lives and to
their unsullied administration of justice. But now the Kwanto bushi
rivalled the Kyoto gallants in extravagance; the Kamakura tribunals
forfeited the confidence of the people, and the needy samurai began
to wish for the return of troublous times, when fortunes could be won
with the sword. Amid such conditions Sadatoki took the tonsure in
1300, and was succeeded nominally by his cousin Morotoki, who,
however, administered affairs in consultation with the retired
regent. In 1303, a son was born to Sadatoki, and the latter, dying in
1311, bequeathed the office of regent to this boy when he should
reach years of discretion, entrusting him, meanwhile, to the
guardianship of two officials, the more active of whom was a lay
priest, Nagasaki Enki.

An idea of the confusion existing at that time in Kamakura may be
gathered from the fact that, during the five years between the death
of Sadatoki and the accession of his son Takatoki (1316), no less
than four members of the Hojo family held the regency in succession.
Takatoki was destined to be the last of the Hojo regents. Coming into
power at the age of thirteen, his natural giddiness of character is
said to have been deliberately encouraged by his guardian, Nagasaki,
but even had he been a stronger man it is doubtful whether he could
have saved the situation. Corruption had eaten deeply into the heart
of the Bakufu. In 1323, a question concerning right of succession to
the Ando estate was carried to Kamakura for adjudication, and the
chief judge, Nagasaki Takasuke, son of the old lay priest mentioned
above, having taken bribes from both of the litigants, delivered an
inscrutable opinion. Save for its sequel, this incident would merely
have to be catalogued with many cognate injustices which disfigured
the epoch. But the Ando family being one of the most powerful in
northern Japan, its rival representatives appealed to arms in support
of their respective claims, and the province of Oshu was thrown into
such confusion that a force had to be sent from Kamakura to restore
order. This expedition faile