history of japan - Library

NOTES
[1] Kira's full name and territorial title were, Kira Yoshinaka
(according to Brinkley, Yoshihide) Kozuke no Suke. Kozuke
is a province to the north-west of Tokyo. The title Suke is
peculiar. The usual title of feudatories of all degrees was
"Kami", a word which has many meanings according to the
ideographs in which it is written, but generally involving the
idea of superiority in rank or office. In this case, it was
applied to the provincial Governors of former times and
from them transferred to the feudatories under the
Tokugawa. Suke was an assistant or helper, and in three
fiefs in the Empire it was substituted for Kami in describing
the feudatories, not that they were of any lower degree in
rank than their fellow feudatories, who were known as
"Kami" but because the latter title in these three cases
were reserved for princes of the Imperial family. Ako was a
fief in the province of Harima with a revenue which had
been reduced to 20,000 koku at the time of the
Restoration, though at this period it was of much greater
wealth and power. Koke, which has previously in this
volume been translated "Chamberlains", here signifies
"noble houses".---J. H. L.