h as
58,000 acres under cultivation; but in 1031 this had shrunk to
forty-five acres."

Yorinobu did not wait for his associates. Setting out with his son,
Yoriyoshi, in 1031, he moved at once against Tadatsune's castle,
which stood on the seashore of Shimosa, protected by moats and
palisades, and supposed to be unapproachable from the sea except by
boats, of which Tadatsune had taken care that there should not be any
supply available. But the Minamoto general learned that the shore
sloped very slowly on the castle front, and marching his men boldly
through the water, he delivered a crushing attack.

For this exploit, which won loud plaudits, he was appointed
commandant of the local government office, a post held by his
grandfather, Tsunemoto, whom we have seen as vice-governor of Musashi
in the days of Masakado; by his father, Mitsunaka, one of the pillars
of the Minamoto family, and by his elder brother, Yorimitsu, who
commanded the cavalry of the guards in Kyoto. The same post was
subsequently bestowed on Yorinobu's son, Yoriyoshi, and on the
latter's son, Yoshiiye, known by posterity as "Hachiman Taro,"
Japan's most renowned archer, to whom the pre-eminence of the
Minamoto family was mainly due. Tadatsune had another son, Tsunemasa,
who was appointed vice-governor of Shimosa and who is generally
spoken of as Chiba-no-suke. The chief importance of these events is
that they laid the foundation of the Minamoto family's supremacy in
the Kwanto, and thus permanently influenced the course of Japanese
history.

THE CAMPAIGN OF ZEN-KUNEN

It is advisable at this stage to make closer acquaintance with the
Japanese bushi (soldier), who has been cursorily alluded to more than
once in these pages, and who, from the tenth century, acts a
prominent role on the Japanese stage. History is silent as to the
exact date when the term "bushi" came into use, but from a very early
era its Japanese equivalent, "monono-fu," was applied to the guards
of the sovereign's palace, and when great provincial magnates began,
about the tenth century, to support a number of armed retainers,
these gradually came to be distinguished as bushi. In modern times
the ethics of the bushi have been analysed under the name "bushido"
(the way of the warrior), but of course no such term or any such
complete code existed in ancient days. The conduct most appropriate
to a bushi was never embodied in a written code. It derived its
sanctions from the practice