Alt-Onin - Prince Akihiro and His Wayward Estates (Intel Brief)

Prince Takatsukasa Akihiro is last in the line of the "Takatsukasa" Clan, a Kuge family offshoot of the Fujiwara, now fairly obscure. He is an infrequent visitor to court, perhaps once or twice a year, and said to be one of the few Kuge that deliberately travels outside of Kyoto... the Kuge generally regard this as madness. You don't have the connections for more detail than that. Prince Akihiro needs enforcers to go to his lands and estates in the Seto Inland Sea and on Shikoku to make sure they continue to pay the taxes that are due to him. Most of these lands are scattered across Iyo Province, though they add up to a considerable amount for a single Kuge in the 1460s. These holdings are subject to raids by both pirates and Mongols. In a few cases, they are actually run by pirates, though as long as taxes are paid, Prince Akihiro is unconcerned about this. In exchange for their assistance, he can grant the PC’s status, lands, and wealth.


Important Concept - "Shoen Estate" - In early Japanese history, an arrangement developed between the nobility and common peasants in order to avoid the ruinous taxes of the central government. Taxes were typically 70% or more of the crops a peasant could grow, so anything less than that was win-win. Peasants would "gift" their land to a powerful noble or even a Buddhist temple, and be allowed to remain on it and work the land. These temples and nobles did not have to pay taxes to the government because of their special status. They charged the peasants a "fee" to use the land that was much less than the going tax rates of the time. The actual protection and administration of a "Shoen estate" could be quite complicated, and was usually handled by local warriors in exchange for a share of the revenue. This whole arrangement is breaking down into chaos by the 1460's. 

Estates near Matsuyama (4) - Mostly okay, well protected, and properly administered by the Kono Clan as required by law. 

• Estate #1 on Misaka River, medium village, site of Joruri-Ji Temple (pilgrimage site #46 for Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha)
• Estate #2 on Haishi River, a small village, nothing notable
• Estate #3 on Omote River, a large village with rice and cash crops (black tea)
• Estate #4 on Shigenobu River, up in mountains, medium village

Estates on the Hijikawa River near Ozu (2) - Taxes have not been paid in over a year, puzzling because this is not very far from Matsuyama, the center of Kono Clan power. 

• Estate #5 at Shirataki, “downstream” from the Fudo Falls, medium village with a famous Chinese scholar in residence, Xiao Guanding. 
• Estate #6 at Tada, just north of Ozu, a medium village with cash crop (mulberry and silk)

Estates in the Geiyo Islands (3) - Scattered holdings with a lot of fishermen, pirates, and rival clans on both sides of the Inner Sea. Taxes have been paid erratically for a couple of years now.   

• Estate #7 on Oshima Island, a medium village with cash crop (mulberry and silk)
• Estate #8 on Tsu Island, a medium village with a small castle of frequently changing occupancy. 
• Estate #9 on Omishima Island, medium village, rice only

Estates near Uwajima (3) - Isolated estates on the coast facing Kyushu, long plagued by raiders and Mongol slavers. Taxes have been unevenly paid for a long while but dried up completely in the last year. 

• Estate #10 on the coast at Shitaba, a medium village with a retired Buddhist priest, formerly of great rank but now known only by his adopted pseudonym "Ansui". 
• Estate #11 on the coast at Warabi, a small village, rice only
• Estate #12 on Iwamatsu River near Tsushima, a medium village known to harbor pirates, tolerated because they usually raid the Mongols.