Pathway to Japanese Literature

1 The Discharged Prisoners of the Kamo Aoi Festival

In connection with Hōrai’s participation in the Honganji funeral rites, having completed my preliminary observations on Gion’s Inugami-jin in the previous issue, I now found it appropriate to proceed with an examination of the origins and historical changes of the so-called *Discharged Prisoners* in relation to the Kamo Aoi Festival.

The Kamo Aoi Festival was solemnly conducted on the fifteenth day of last May, following precedent.
The ceremonial procession was, as was customary, thoroughly classical in nature.
From the titles of its participants to their attire, it remained sufficiently evocative of the Heian and Kamakura periods’ very essence.
According to Mr. Ema Tsutomu of the Folklore Research Society’s account in his *Kamo Aoi Festival Commentary*, the current procession featured at its forefront three mounted police superintendents; followed by two samurai in *suō* robes; then four Acting Chief Guards; next came mounted Acting Kebiishi Officials accompanied by an equipment officer (*Chōdōgakari*), a page (*Warawa*), and a Discharged Prisoner (*Hōmen*), each appearing once; followed by two Acting Fire Chiefs (*Kachōdai*); four *Jogi* attendants; and three *Hakuchō* lower-ranking servants bringing up the rear.
Next came one mounted Acting Kebiishi Lieutenant, accompanied by a page and separately followed by attendants similar to those preceding him.
As matters pertaining to the procession from the Acting Yamashiro Envoy onward were unnecessary for this study, I omitted their description here and henceforth focused solely on documenting the Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*) attendant upon the Kebiishi officials.

Needless to say, the Kebiishi Office was akin to today’s Metropolitan Police Department; while involved in legal proceedings and penal affairs, its primary responsibility lay in maintaining public order through the pursuit of criminals. Therefore, at grand festivals such as the Kamo Festival, those officials would stand at the head of the imperial envoy’s procession and assume the duty of maintaining public order. The fact that samurai in *suō* robes now additionally preceded [the procession] was likely a remnant from the Muromachi period, when the Kebiishi officials’ participation had become reduced to mere formality—no longer adequate for actual security duties—prompting authorities to separately assign contemporary warriors to provide dual-layered escort. However, even this too eventually became reduced to mere formality, losing all practical substance as security, so that now—positioned even further ahead—it necessitated a triple guard of Meiji-era police superintendents. It could not be said that there would not come an era when even these police superintendents too became reduced to mere formality, necessitating yet another security force to take their place. And the so-called Discharged Prisoners were among those that had long since been reduced to mere formality. Borrowing Mr. Ema’s explanation now, I shall first introduce the nature and attire of the Discharged Prisoners in the Kamo Aoi Festival.

Spear-Bearers (Discharged Prisoners): The Discharged Prisoners were lower-ranking attendants under the Office of Police and Judicial Officials, originally consisting of those who had been discharged from criminal sentences and employed to engage in tasks such as pursuing thieves and guarding prisoners.
On this day, the Discharged Prisoners wore tate-eboshi hats, layered crimson hitoe over surisome-dyed kariginu hunting robes, and carried hoko (wooden branches) as they proceeded.
Particularly noteworthy was that they attached artificial flower decorations to their chests as they proceeded.
This is what *Tsurezuregusa* refers to as the “attachments of the Discharged Prisoners.”
Surisome dyeing referred to a historical technique where fabric was pasted onto wooden boards and patterns were created by rubbing mountain indigo leaves—to the Discharged Prisoners were applied blue horizontal stripes and similar designs through this method.
They wore straw sandals as before.
(The above is Mr. Ema’s text.)

The Discharged Prisoners who participated in the Kamo Aoi Festival accompanied the Kebiishi officials guarding the imperial envoy as lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials.
Initially, they undoubtedly carried functional spears, prepared to stop anyone disrupting the procession and even determined to impale resisters if necessary.
As their status was that of the lowest-ranking constables, their attire must certainly have been simple and humble.
Yet by Ōe no Masafusa's time near the Heian period's end, they had come to drape themselves in lavish silken robes during festival participation—so conspicuously that it drew suspicion from discerning observers.
By the late Kamakura period under Kenkō Hōshi's era, they had added such excessive ornamentation to their garments that both sleeves grew too heavy for independent movement; this reached such extremes that *Tsurezuregusa* mocked them as "having others carry their sleeves while they themselves cannot grasp spears, their panting exertions a wretched spectacle."
Though less extreme today, they still attach artificial floral decorations and carry wooden branches instead of metal spears—so thoroughly has their origin as low-ranking constables serving under the Office of Police and Judicial Officials been forgotten.

2 The Significance of the Term "Discharged Prisoner"

The matter of designating lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials as “Discharged Prisoners” caused considerable consternation among Tokugawa-period scholars in their attempts to explain it.
The *Anzai Essays* cite a theory from Ōe no Masafusa’s *Gōdanshō* stating that though they [the *hōmen*] donned garments of brocade and silk during the Kamo Festival, being non-persons (*hinin*), they did not refrain from taboos, and—

Sadataka states: “Non-persons” is a term of utmost baseness.
Being the lowest of low-ranking officials and as non-persons, they felt no compunction about wearing fine garments; the term “hōmen” was read as “hoshii mama ni yurusu” (to permit as one desires).
This was only for festival days.
By extrapolating this [theory], it must have become their regular designation.

He interpreted it as such. That is to say, this theory posited that they were permitted to act freely only on the day of the Kamo Festival, thus making "Discharged Prisoners" their general designation. Even a scholar of Ise Sadataka's discernment had remained satisfied with such an incomplete explanation. In Tanikawa Shisukei's *Wakun no Shiori*:

The *Azuma Kagami* records four Discharged Prisoners appearing in the accompanying procession during the Tsurugaoka congratulatory visit by the household of the Minister of the Right. It states this refers to lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials. As each member diligently fulfilled their assigned duties, maintaining procession numbers and order—whether by suppressing disputes or assisting troubled attendants—this constituted the meaning of being "discharged from procession duties." They were commonly called "running lower-ranking attendants."

He states.
While the former theory differs from his explanation, they are equally inadequate.
And they failed to realize that their name originally derived from discharged prisoners.

That the term "Discharged Prisoner" (*hōmen*) derives from prisoners who had been discharged was already noted in the commentary of the *Kojiruien*:

"The Discharged Prisoners were lower-ranking attendants of the Office.
They employed those who had been discharged from criminal sentences to engage in tasks such as pursuing and arresting criminals or guarding prisoners, or had them escort exiles.
It states that these individuals, at the Kamo Festival, wore fine garments and followed it.
It is said that they dyed stolen goods and used them."

The aforementioned [explanation] was a conclusion that must not be altered even once.
The aforementioned explanation by Mr. Ema had also been based on this.
“*Tales of Times Now Past*”
In Volume 29 (“The Tale of the Kebiishi Official Whose Stolen Threads Were Exposed”) of *Konjaku Monogatarishū*, there was an account of one Kebiishi official who led Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*) to pursue thieves; his subordinate equipment officer (*chōdōgakari*—even today, such figures called *chōdōgakari* accompany [the procession] at the Kamo Festival).
(…who was of higher rank than the Discharged Prisoners.) Having noted this, [the equipment officer] stole threads himself and hid them beneath his hakama trousers—a deed accidentally exposed by his Kebiishi colleagues—whereupon the accompanying Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*), witnessing this, whispered among themselves:

“That we committed theft and became such people was no shame at all,” they said. “Such things did happen.” With stifled laughter, they chuckled at this revelation. Furthermore, in “Pilgrimage to Toribeyama Temple: A Woman Encounters a Thief” from the same volume, it recounts how a certain married woman—who had visited Binzuru at Toribeyama Temple accompanied by her maidservant—was violated by a menial laborer who then stripped both mistress and servant of their garments. This man had originally been a samurai; after committing theft and serving prison time, he had been made into one of the Discharged Prisoners.

it states.
That the Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*) correspond to what are now termed discharged prisoners admits no doubt.
At the very least, that the term *hōmen* derives from discharged prisoners admits no doubt.

3 Discharged Prisoners and the Discharged Prisoners as Lower-Ranking Attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials

That the so-called Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*) were lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials was further evidenced by an entry in the *Iroha Jiruishō*: “Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*: lower-ranking attendants under the Kebiishi).” While there remains no doubt that this designation originated from discharged prisoners, several questions demand scrutiny: Why were these former convicts employed as lower-ranking constables? Even assuming the first generation consisted of discharged prisoners, how did their descendants come to inherit such roles? Were all discharged prisoners perpetually employed as lower-ranking officers? Furthermore, does every instance of *hōmen* appearing in ancient texts like *Tales of Times Now Past* exclusively denote attendants of the Office? To my knowledge, none of these critical questions have yet been substantively examined.

The term discharged prisoner refers to criminals who were incarcerated after committing offenses and subsequently released upon completing their designated sentences.
Provided these discharged prisoners were not subjected to additional penalties such as suspension or deprivation of civil rights nor banished from their home provinces—and assuming they had previously been registered citizens of some locality—they ought under national law to have regained their original civic status upon release.
Consequently, an odious designation like *hōmen* should not have remained attached to them permanently.
The Saikyūki’s twenty-third volume details protocols for releasing inmates who completed their service under its Provisional Eleven: Matters of Granting and Taking section.

The interrogation protocol states: “The lieutenant, while mounting his horse (or the assistant official proceeds), approaches the prison gate, summons the warden by name, and admonishes them to carry arms.”
[The subordinates] followed this procedure.) [He] commanded: “Summon [family name] [name]-maru.” (If there are multiple individuals, summon each by their respective names: [name]-maru, [name]-maru, etc.) They acknowledged and summoned them forth.
[He] commanded: “Name-maru, acknowledge this.” (If there are several individuals: “Summon Name-maru and others.”) Having completed their corvée labor, they were discharged according to law; each returned to their home provinces with strict orders not to reoffend or neglect public duties. For official provisions—advance ceremonial preparations were made (protracted; others followed this example). Next, summoning the warden, [he] commanded: “Remove the shackles” (termed *kana shitore*), ordering their immediate removal. (After removal: “Proceed with restraint as necessary.”)

Upon examination, [I note that] discharged individuals [involved in] matters [related to] prison gates—such procedures are not observed in modern times.
Only after inspecting the shackles does one proceed to the next step.
After shackling the prisoner, conduct the interrogation.
The lieutenant bowed.

The assistant official summoned the warden, who acknowledged [the order]; [the assistant official] then issued a command.
After removing the shackles, [he] took out an eboshi hat from his pocket and bestowed it upon them.
They bowed once and dispersed—nothing more.

It states.
According to this, it becomes clear that Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*), upon completing their service, were to return to their home provinces, resume their status as Great Imperial Assets—that is, as citizens—receive orders to perform national duties as subjects without recommitting crimes, and be granted eboshi hats before being formally discharged.
However, the fact that those Discharged Prisoners were employed as lower-ranking attendants of the Office was in reality an exceedingly small portion among them, and that the number of those being discharged from prison cells one after another far exceeded this—even when considered through mere common sense—must have been an utterly evident state of affairs.
Then, what became of the majority of these Discharged Prisoners?
Certainly, in principle, they ought to have reverted to their status as citizens; however, there were likely not a few among them who had nowhere to return.
Even if they returned, there must have been many who, as former criminals, were not accepted by their communities and families.
Furthermore, there must have been some who, ashamed to face their old acquaintances, did not wish to return to their hometowns.
Thus, these individuals either became what later generations called “wandering newcomers,” settling in foreign lands to seek new livelihoods, or turned into so-called miscellaneous vagrants who clothed and fed themselves through itinerancy, eking out a living wherever they went—this must have been the case.
And from among these individuals, a small number who were selected continued to be called Discharged Prisoners as lower-ranking attendants of the Office, and were employed in tasks such as pursuing thieves, guarding prison cells, serving as Kebiishi attendants, and escorting convicts.

4 Discharged Prisoners as Lower-Ranking Constables

The fact that Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*) were dispatched to pursue thieves was also evident from the aforementioned story in *Konjaku Monogatarishū* about the Kebiishi official who stole threads. In the same text, a story titled “The Tale of Discharged Prisoners Who Committed Robbery by Breaking into Houses and Were Captured” described the Discharged Prisoners as those who had resided near the Eastern Prison. This made it clear that these were none other than Discharged Prisoners serving as lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials, who lived near the prison cells and had been entrusted with their security. The Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*) in the same text’s “Tale of the Thieves Confined in the Western Market Storehouse” also headed out to pursue thieves who had been confined in a storehouse under Kebiishi escort. Furthermore, the same text’s “Tale of the Robbers Who Broke into Fuji no Taifu’s Residence and Were Captured” recounted how Fuji no Hangan—a Kebiishi official acquainted with Fuji no Taifu—summoned Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*) to conduct an on-site investigation to pursue the robbers who had broken into Fuji no Taifu’s residence; based on their investigation, they captured the thieves’ accomplices. Moreover, in “The Tale of the Child Who Stole Melons and Deceived His Father with Unfilial Words” from the same text—though the term “Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*)” did not appear—it related how lower-ranking attendants of the Office arrested a culprit, escorted them to their parent’s residence, and extorted them, leaving no doubt that these lower-ranking attendants were what were termed Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*). The matter of escorting exiled prisoners was mentioned in the “Exile of Mongaku Shōnin” section of *Genpei Jōsuiki* (The Rise and Fall of the Minamoto and Taira),

Due to being exiled to Izu Province… two lower-ranking attendants from the Office were assigned by the Retired Emperor.
The two lower-ranking attendant Discharged Prisoners of the Office were supposed to escort [the exile] down [to Izu], but when they spoke to Mongaku: “It is indeed customary for us lower-ranking attendants of the Office—when involved in such matters—to first drink sake ourselves once; thereafter we may also make periodic requests.”
“Even those who are not of Your Reverence’s stature still have people come to make requests of them.”
“Now then—Your Reverence being a noble personage—you must have many acquaintances in Shirakawa of the capital.”
“After completing the escort duties, we would humbly request local provisions from the province and journey supplies—relying solely on official rations would afford little comfort.”
“You ought to mind your own position and consider others’ sentiments as well,” they admonished him repeatedly.

Given this, it even goes so far as to write that the Discharged Prisoners demanded bribes from Mongaku.
In *The Tale of the Heike*, regarding this same matter—

It is precisely in matters such as these—pertaining to the customary practices of the Office’s lower-ranking attendants—that self-serving favoritism would naturally arise.

As stated above, in any case, it can be inferred that these Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*), while guarding prisoners as lower-ranking attendants of the Office, were receiving benefits from those very prisoners. Furthermore, *Konjaku Monogatarishū* 16. In “The Tale of the Poor Man Devoted to Hase Kannon Who Obtained Gold from a Corpse,” it explicitly states “lower-ranking attendants of the Office called Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*)” and recounts how those Discharged Prisoners captured a poor man devoted to Hase Kannon in the vicinity of Kujō and put him to work as a laborer.

As evening approached, while making his way through the vicinity of Kujō alone and with trepidation, he encountered a group of lower-ranking attendants of the Office known as Discharged Prisoners. When the discharged prisoners suddenly seized this man, and the man demanded, “Why are you capturing me?” they promptly took him away. They dragged him to the upper area and took him into Hasshō. As the man felt both bewildered and terrified, they ordered him to take a corpse of about ten years old that lay in Uchino and carry it to the riverbank to discard it. Having walked exhaustively all day from Hase, devoid of strength and unable to endure, he thought that having made pilgrimages to Hase for three years and fulfilled his vow only to encounter such an ordeal upon returning—truly, this must be the result of karma from a past life. As his wife had always said—there had been no karmic connection after all—he thought pitifully, but this corpse was exceedingly heavy and he could not lift it. However, as the discharged prisoners pressed him relentlessly, he resolved to carry it onward. When they followed behind to watch, he did not abandon it and flee but continued on. Yet before reaching the distant, weighty riverbank, the man thought to himself that alone he could not bear this corpse to the riverbank; therefore he would take it home and tonight, with his wife’s help, discard it together. When he told them of this plan, they replied, “If that is your intention, do as you will.” The man brought the corpse home, and when his wife saw it and asked, “What is this?” he explained through tears that this was how things stood as he recounted his decision.

it states.
This was because the corpse was in fact gold bestowed upon that poor man by Kannon, making it an exceedingly auspicious tale; however, that such a story came to be told was undoubtedly because the discharged prisoners—serving as lower-ranking attendants of the Office—had acted in an outrageously violent manner.

At the end of this story,

When he brought that corpse into his house, the discharged prisoners who had been at the gate were no longer to be seen.
Reflecting on this—was it truly the Discharged Prisoners who seized that man, or was it Kannon who had transformed [the corpse]?

it states.
However, even actual Discharged Prisoners would not have been incapable of such deeds.

Acts of violence by Discharged Prisoners are frequently documented.
*Chūyūki*
In the entry for the fourth day of the twelfth month of Kajū 8 (1094),

Summoned Takebe no Yasunari, a Kebiishi official, and assigned [him] to report to the Head of the Archives.
This [incident] concerns the killing of shrine laborers from Bizen who served as lower-ranking attendants of the Office, carried out under the command of a senior noble.

Also, in the entry for the eighth day,

On the first day—the day the envoy to Usa was dispatched—the lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials were sternly ordered to provide a detailed explanation regarding the killing of shrine laborers from Bizen who served as labor overseers.

it states.
What exactly this incident was is not well understood, but *Shōyūki*—
In the entry for the 21st day of the fourth month of Chōwa 3 (1014)—

This morning, the Shijō Major Counselor privately conveyed that there were an extraordinary number of peculiar incidents involving the Office of Police and Judicial Officials.
This was a coordinated scheme.
It is a matter worth discussing.
Though this is indeed true, does the son-in-law lord not heed admonishment?
The misconduct of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials was not comparable to that of the current era.
Kantochō and Discharged Prisoners roamed wantonly through the capital, cutting through ichimegasa; others, such as bettō toneri, similarly cut [them], and so on.
Women’s sedge hats are not prohibited items.
Even if they were prohibited items, for the Kantochō and Discharged Prisoners, along with the bettō’s subordinates, to destroy them was a most outrageous matter.
The Bettō was extremely young in age and lacked wisdom.
Dark night after dark night—again, it was a dark night.
Within the capital region, chaos and disorder reigned unchecked.
Officials’ noses became like mouths.
Sages exist solely as cautionary examples.

This refers to their having been reprimanded for cutting through the women’s sedge hats worn by those coming and going in the city; it appears there were quite a number of audacious acts among them.
It remains unclear whether this was a case of Kantochō and Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*) affiliated with the Office of Police and Judicial Officials abusing suspect inspection procedures to harass women who concealed their faces, or whether it constituted violence of another nature.
And it appears that this matter did not cease even afterward, as seen in the entry for the thirteenth day of the fifth month of Jian 3 in the same text,

In these past few days, some Kebiishi officials and some *tone* have been cutting women’s sedge hats and socks, among other things.
The reasoning remains unclear.
If there are new regulations, first establish a deadline and make them known far and wide; they should then be promulgated.
But how should we regard these sudden acts of cutting and destruction?
Especially women, concealing their forms with ichimegasa (women’s sedge hats), visited the merit gate.
This is a virtuous act.
How could women plant virtuous roots when [they] have remained lawless up to now?
Could women wearing sedge hats possibly cause public harm?
Matters of law are countless.
And suddenly there was a hat regulation.
It remains unknown whether this [regulation] is proper; given that antiquity lacked such restrictions, is this not strange enough?

It also appears [to be the case].
Also, *Chōshūki*
In the entry for the 18th day of the 11th month of Daiji 4,

During the Hour of the Sheep (1–3 PM), [someone] was questioned regarding the truth at the front of the imperial palace gate.
The discharged prisoners restrained [his] hands and questioned him barefoot, et cetera.
It likely amounted to humiliation.

it states.

The circumstances surrounding this also remained unclear, but by today’s standards, it would undoubtedly constitute a human rights violation. Also, in the entry for December 6th of the same text,

"The Head Priest stated: During their pursuit [of criminals], the Five-Lion Vajra Staff of Shōbō Sōjō—enshrined at Kōeikyō-bō Hall of Tōdaiji Temple—was stolen by the Discharged Prisoners. The painter Raijo was tracked down and retrieved, and [the staff] was returned to the main temple. Although the lion ornamentation had been removed and damaged, [it] was reattached as before."

As such, there were cases where they themselves, while pursuing thieves, conversely committed theft.

Apart from these, numerous articles in various texts concern Discharged Prisoners as lower-ranking attendants of the Office; however, if it proves tedious, I will not cite them one by one.

5 Motives for Employing Discharged Prisoners

The motives behind why discharged prisoners came to be employed as lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials have yet to be clearly documented in any existing records.
However, in practical terms, it can be understood as identical to how ex-convicts serving as informants were employed as underlings by *yoriki* and *dōshin* during the Edo period.
Informants were referred to as *okahiki*, which in Edo was colloquially pronounced *okappiki*.
As the saying goes, “It takes a thief to catch a thief”—since those familiar with criminals’ affairs were inevitably their associates, authorities selected clever individuals from among relatively minor offenders and primarily employed them for detective investigations.
The name *meakashi* (informant) is in fact derived from *meishō* (“eye-witness”), a term thought to have originated from their role as associates intimately familiar with criminals’ faces—authorities had them perform identity verification of suspects and visually confirm [the criminals’ identities].
In the *Kantō Hasshū Kosensroku*, there is an account stating that [authorities] captured enemy ninja agents and imprisoned them with the intent to later use those who would infiltrate again from the enemy side as informants.
The reason this is termed *okahiki* lies in its original intent: to have them guide [authorities] to criminals’ hideouts.
The *Genkai* explains that *okahiki* are land guides who assist by guiding [authorities] from alongside.
*Meakashi* (informants) and *okahiki* were not necessarily limited to ex-convicts alone, but in any case, they were unsavory characters.
*Tokugawa Kinrei-kō*
In Article 28,

Whether commoners or criminals, [they] would apprehend a single wrongdoer, name [them] *okahiki*, have [them] guide [authorities], exempt that person’s crime, and arrest other criminals.

It states.
Also, *Hogo no Uragaki* (Draft Annotations)
2.

Those who pardon prisoners of minor crimes and have them investigate the dens of other thieves are called *okahiki*.

It also states.

In fact, such practices were conducted in secret even into the Meiji period, and it is said they may still occasionally occur even now.
At the very least, utilizing ex-convicts who had reformed must indeed have been convenient for employing them in criminal investigations.
And the Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*), being lower-ranking attendants of the Office, were employed and put to work extensively; exploiting that authority as a cover, they frequently committed acts of violence.

Moreover, when viewed from one perspective, the employment of Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*) likely also functioned as a form of protection for ex-convicts. Once released from prison, if they became individuals with no social connections, even if they earnestly sought to reform themselves, there would be no means for them to actively pursue honest work—inevitably leading them to commit crimes again. There must have been many such unavoidable instances in reality. And taking them in as lower-ranking police officers and jailers was undoubtedly what might be termed an expedient measure. However, they remained ex-convicts, unable to escape being marked as such by others. Ultimately, they came to be treated as Outcasts. I will address this matter further later.

6 Discharged Prisoners Other Than Lower-Ranking Attendants of the Office

As previously mentioned, some discharged prisoners were still employed as lower-ranking attendants of the Office under the name *hōmen*; but what became of those who were not selected?
In principle, as recorded in the *Saikyūki*, they should have returned to their home provinces and resumed their status as citizens; however, given that many of these criminals were originally unregistered vagrants, those who actually returned to their hometowns and took up honest work must have been rather few.
Consequently, the majority of them must have either drifted into groups like riverbank dwellers, slope dwellers, or scattered settlement dwellers; become complete vagrants wandering aimlessly; or resorted to committing crimes again to survive—only to meet their demise.
And even among these, there must have been those who fared well—taking up residence as live-in servants for certain individuals and becoming what were called miscellaneous servants (*zasshoku*).
References to miscellaneous servants and works such as the *Konjaku Monogatarishū* appear frequently in texts since the Heian period. While termed *zasshiki* and varying in meaning across eras, even the Enryaku 2 [783] decree already contained phrases like “vagrant types among miscellaneous servants,” indicating an exceptionally long history for this designation. They were also collectively referred to alongside scattered settlements (*sansho*) and miscellaneous servants—a name that appears to have originally been applied to those without affiliation who wandered and drifted while engaging in odd jobs.
However, even when they became servants in others’ households or were employed by government offices, they were still called miscellaneous servants and relegated to lowly positions.
The fact that certain Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*) had assumed the status of miscellaneous servants is known from the earlier-cited tale “Pilgrimage to Toribeno Temple: A Woman Encounters a Thief” in the *Konjaku Monogatarishū*, which describes a miscellaneous servant at Toribeno Temple who raped a visiting woman and stripped her of her clothing, stating: “He was originally a samurai, but after committing theft and being imprisoned, he became a Discharged Prisoner.”
These individuals, though likewise referred to as Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*), were not the lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials but rather discharged prisoners who had become so-called miscellaneous servants.
And they were still referred to as Discharged Prisoners.
In other words, “Discharged Prisoners” (*hōmen*) refers to ex-convicts; it was not necessarily a designation limited to lower-ranking attendants of the Office.
(I will present a detailed study on miscellaneous servants on another occasion.)

Next, I will present the fate of the Discharged Prisoners serving as lower-ranking attendants of the Office, their relationship with Ritual Performers and Night Watchmen, and matters such as their extravagant attire and ceremonial elegance on festival days.

7 Discharged Prisoners and Outcasts, Their Fate

Assuming that the Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*), serving as lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials, were originally criminals who had completed their sentences and been released—what became of them in the end? And what path did their descendants especially fall into?

Even if a father was a Discharged Prisoner, there was no logical reason his descendants should perpetually inherit responsibility for their ancestor’s criminal record. Not only their descendants but even the discharged prisoners themselves—who were in fact ex-convicts—were supposed to be reinstated as full citizens once they had safely completed their sentences, as explicitly stated in the previously cited passage from the *Saikyūki*. However, reality did not necessarily proceed according to such logic. Even after their sentences were completed, they were still called Discharged Prisoners; considering that even those employed by that very office were treated as Outcasts, one could indeed surmise the depth of this contradiction.

Regarding the fact that Discharged Prisoners were treated as Outcasts, there is explicit text in the *Gōdanshō*.

Regarding the matter of Discharged Prisoners wearing silk brocades at the Kamo Festival, someone was commanded to state: “How is it known that Discharged Prisoners wear silk brocades at the Kamo Festival?”
Someone answered: “Although [we] have investigated its origins, [they] remain unclear.”
Someone was commanded to state: “On the day of the Kamo Festival, at the seating stands, Lord Takayasu asked Lord Narimasa: ‘Why is it that Discharged Prisoners wear and use silk brocades, despite being people of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials?’”
Tobe (Narimasa) answered: “Because they are Outcasts, they do not avoid taboos.”
Lord Kintō said, “In that case, even if they commit arson or murder, should we not suppress them?”
All other criminals are punished—is there any documented evidence for the article permitting [them] to wear fine garments?
Lord Narimasa replied, “Because [these] garments—dyed fabrics processed from stolen goods and embossed into patterned robes and trousers—are displayed on that day, [they] are caused to wear them.”

Lord Shijō (Kintō) was greatly satisfied with this explanation, and so forth.

They were interpreted as being exempt even from clothing prohibitions precisely because they were Outcasts.

As for what exactly constitutes an Outcast, I intend to provide a detailed explanation in this journal at a later date; in essence, Outcasts are none other than those excluded from citizen status.

Therefore, groups such as Riverbank Dwellers, Slope Dwellers, and Scattered Settlement Dwellers—unregistered vagrants inhabiting makeshift huts on vacant lands—were all fundamentally classified as Outcasts in principle.

Those who completed their sentences yet neither returned to their registered domiciles nor ceased drifting through the capital region inevitably came to be treated as Outcasts.

Among the discharged prisoners who did not return to their home provinces, those with relatively good fortune may have been employed as lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials or hired as miscellaneous servants for respectable households. Or perhaps others received the protection of so-called military households and became household retainers. However, the majority must have ended up joining the ranks of so-called Riverbank Dwellers, Slope Dwellers, and Scattered Settlement Dwellers, passing down to their descendants the undesirable designation of Outcasts. And their descendants were hereditarily made to remain Outcasts for generations, until they could seize an opportunity to wash their hands of those Outcast groups.

The fact that Discharged Prisoners (*hōmen*), serving as lower-ranking attendants of the Office, were also viewed as Outcasts was likely an unavoidable reality given the social conditions of the time. And unless there were special circumstances, they undoubtedly passed down their undesirable status and occupation to their descendants. However, the lower-ranking attendants of the Office must have had a fixed number of positions. Therefore, they could not all be employed in these positions. It goes without saying that they could not accommodate all of those newly discharged upon completing their sentences. It seems that although the Discharged Prisoners of the Office were originally recruited from discharged prisoners, over time this became a fixed hereditary position, and in practice, there were likely few cases where new individuals were actually adopted from discharged prisoners. Therefore, those Discharged Prisoners who participated in the Kamo Aoi Festival in extravagant attire during that era were not themselves ex-convicts in fact; it is likely that even their status as descendants of ex-convicts had been forgotten by society, and they may have simply acted arrogantly by flaunting their authority as hereditary lower-ranking police officers—much like the Night Outcasts of the Tokugawa period, commonly known as Night Watchmen.

Therefore, while those descendants of Discharged Prisoners who inherited their ancestors’ positions likely spent their lives as lower-ranking attendants of the Office, when considering what became of the others, it seems they too engaged in police affairs for other villages and cities through their forebears’ familiar occupation, receiving stipends from those villages and cities to sustain their livelihoods. Since ancient times, lower-ranking police and prison officials were derogatorily called “impure officials” even into the Tokugawa period—roles occupied by so-called eta and Outcasts. This was indeed a continuation of practices since the Heian period, where Riverbank Dwellers, Slope Dwellers, Scattered Settlement Dwellers, and others had performed these duties. The matter of employing scattered settlement miscellaneous servants in the Katsura Village area to guard against wild animal damage appears in Fujiwara no Akihira’s *Unshū Shōsoku*. Some Slope Dwellers served as Dog Deity People of Gion, while some Scattered Settlement Dwellers became Scattered Settlement Monks of Tō-ji Temple—facts already noted earlier. Though these individuals worked for noble shrines and temples, their presence remained equally essential when attached to villages and cities. The descendants of Discharged Prisoners—whose ancestors had served as lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials—naturally gravitated to these groups. Those riverbank dwellers, slope dwellers, and scattered settlement dwellers often became progenitors of later Ritual Performers, lodging managers, eta, and similar groups; there can be no doubt that Discharged Prisoners are counted among their origins. The “Discharged Prisoners” section of *Wakun no Shiori* cites *Jumyōin Shō* as stating: “If we were to speak in terms of the present-day Fukakusa Festival, [they] would resemble the Sakurachō Discharged Prisoner vendors.” Sakurachō—recorded in *The Diary of Lord Yamashina Tokitsugu* alongside Kitabatake as a residence of Ritual Performers—housed individuals still called Discharged Prisoners long afterward. This area near Muromachi Anegakoji in Kyoto lay close to the Imperial Palace; thus termed “neighborhood Ritual Performers,” they attended the Imperial Court annually on the eighteenth day of the first month for the Three-Ball Striking ceremony. Furthermore, *Inryōken Nichiroku* documents Scattered Settlements in Kitabatake and Yanagihara under Shōkoku-ji’s jurisdiction in its entry for the 22nd day of the 11th month of Chōroku 2 (1458). By recognizing this Kitabatake Scattered Settlement as identical to the Kitabatake Ritual Performers noted in *The Diary of Lord Yamashina Tokitsugu*, we may infer that both Discharged Prisoners and Scattered Settlements ultimately converged in the same social stratum.

8 The Attire of Discharged Prisoners

The fact that Discharged Prisoners participating in the Kamo Festival wore silk brocades and fine fabrics had already been raised as a topic in Ōe no Masafusa’s *Gōdanshō*. However, as time passed, their attire grew increasingly extravagant in its competition for opulence, to the extent described in the previously cited *Tsurezuregusa*—they became unable to manage their own bodies, requiring others to hold their left and right sleeves.
Moreover, this had already been a long-standing practice; even when attempts were frequently made to prohibit it, over time they would inevitably slacken again.
Among older records, the *Chūyūki*
In the entry for April 6, Eikyū 2 (during the reign of Emperor Toba),

This morning, Yukishige, Sukekiyo, and Tsunenori came and reported, stating...
They also stated:
Last year at the Kamo Festival, lower-ranking attendants of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials who accompanied [the procession] either attached mirrors, bells, and the like [to their attire] or wore brocade red stamped garments.
They wish to prohibit such excessiveness.
Last year, during the appointment of the new Director, [they] had already overlooked [the matter] due to unfamiliarity with the procedures.
[He] commanded: “It should be strictly prohibited.”
However, regarding matters that can be regulated and those that cannot, they must clearly distinguish [them] and issue directives.
In the evening, Akikane arrived; regarding the matter of regulating the attire of lower-ranking attendants of the Office during the festival period—[he] issued a command to prohibit brocade red stamped garments, gold and silver items, and ornamental elements such as bells and mirrors.
As for other matters, were they perhaps impossible to regulate by compulsion?

It states.
Thus, when they reached the eighth day, they finally submitted their report to that effect.

[They] submitted a report: During the festival period, the excessive attire of lower-ranking attendants of the Office should be prohibited in various respects—[including] gold and silver brocade red stamped garments, as well as ornamental items such as mirrors and bells.
[He] commanded: “It should be strictly prohibited.”
[They] should promptly convey [this order] to the Office of Police and Judicial Officials.

Next, in its entry for the sixteenth day,

Kamo Festival.

The attire of the Office’s lower-ranking attendants: all extravagance is hereby prohibited.
This is due to the imperial command issued on previous days.

As such, in that year, the prohibition had indeed been enforced; however, before long they seemed to begin vying with each other in extravagance again, as seen in an entry dated April 22 of the second year of Angen [1176] (during the reign of Emperor Takakura) in *Kikki*, which records the state of the Kamo Festival procession:

Right Fu Student Ki no Kaneyasu (riding a bay horse): Lower-ranking attendants (insect-patterned sleeveless jacket and trousers, red-ground brocade robe with gilt bronze crane-and-pine motifs).

Left Fu Student Ōe no Tsunehiro (riding a dun horse): Lower-ranking attendants (kamo-zone stamped [attire], with gilt bronze suhama aoi motifs, etc.)

Right Recorder Nakahara Shigenari (riding a dun horse): Lower-ranking attendants (white Chinese twill jacket and trousers, navy-blue robe with crane motifs).

Left Recorder Abe Sukenari (riding a black horse): Lower-ranking attendants (insect-patterned sleeveless jacket and trousers, with small bow bag featuring stretched leather fittings, etc.).

Kiyohara Suemitsu (riding a dun horse): Lower-ranking attendants (brown reversed-thread jacket and trousers, with gilt bronze muku tree upper fittings, etc.)

Nakahara Kiyoshige (riding a black horse): Lower-ranking attendants (flower-pattern stamped jacket and trousers, with brocade-woven implements and other accessories).

Nakahara Hiroki (riding a dun horse): lower-ranking attendants (blue-ground brocade jacket and trousers, fin-sleeve replaced red-ground brocade leggings, same brocade tie-dyed robe, with chrysanthemum fastenings).

Right Lieutenant Taira no Kanetaka (riding a black horse with an undecorated sword scabbard at the rear): Imperial Stable Attendants (wearing red jacket and trousers, kerria-yellow robe); Private Attendants (wearing light clogs, accompanying [the lieutenant], stationed as usual); Pages (thickly fragrant flower-patterned robes); Miscellaneous Servants (white robes with hibiscus patterns).

Lower-ranking attendants (flower-pattern stamped red robe, with gilt bronze loquat motifs); Equipment-Hanging Fire Chief (as per the document).

Left Lieutenant Heisei Kiyoshi (riding a bay horse): Attendants (incense); Pages (hibiscus); Miscellaneous Servants (white sleeveless jackets); lower-ranking attendants (brown reversed-thread jacket and trousers, with gilt bronze hawks and dogs, brocade hawks, dog handlers, etc.).

Left Lieutenant Koremune no Nobufusa (riding a black bay horse): Attendants (incense); Pages (hibiscus); Miscellaneous Servants (white sleeveless jackets); lower-ranking attendants (grape-dyed stamped jacket and trousers, with various pole-hanging garments).

Left Lieutenant Taira no Fukeyuki (riding a chestnut horse): Attendants (incense); Pages (hibiscus); Miscellaneous Servants (white sleeveless jackets with flower-patterned robes); lower-ranking attendants (blue stamped jacket and trousers, with gold and silver plate lions).

Right Senior Lieutenant Yasutsuna (chestnut horse): Attendants (incense); Pages (hibiscus); Miscellaneous Servants (white sleeveless jackets with flower-patterned robes); Lower-ranking attendants (flower-patterned jacket and trousers, with pole-hanging raw silk garments and wide ceremonial trousers).

It states.
According to this record, there was no fixed style for attendant Discharged Prisoners; it appears each vied in opulence and design according to their master’s preferences.
In the festivals of this time, not only the lower-ranking attendants of the Office but also other attendants, pages, miscellaneous servants, grooms, and others often wore various decorative attachments.
In the same entry,

The Imperial Ox’s Page (decayed-leaf-colored jacket and trousers, blue stamped robe with raw silk single-layer iris motifs).

Another imperial villa’s imperial ox’s lower-ranking attendant page (red jacket and trousers, coltsfoot-stamped robe with raw silk single-layer gilt bronze hollyhock motifs).

Imperial Decorated Horse’s Imperial Stable Attendant Tokikado (two-tone indigo jacket and trousers, coltsfoot-stamped robe with raw silk single layer, with gilt bronze hollyhock motifs).

Same Groom Right Close Escort Hata Kanekuni (sleeveless jacket and trousers as usual, with oak-patterned halberds, pole dance costumes, and other accoutrements).

Same Left Close Escort Student Shimotsuke no Atsusuke (sleeveless jacket and trousers as usual, with protective bags, etc.)

Imperial Stable Attendant Kunitsugu of the Processional Horses (decayed-leaf-colored jacket and trousers, grape-dyed stamped robe, raw silk single layer, with gilt bronze hollyhock motifs).

Same Groom Junior Assistant to the Minister of the Right under His Highness Shimotsuke no Atsukage (brown reversed-thread jacket and trousers, red stamped robe, with attached gilt bronze writing set [inkstone, brush, ink], etc.).

Same: Right Guard Captain Hata Kanenaga (two-tone indigo jacket and trousers, red stamped robe, with translucent sedge hat) ((omitted))

The explanation that *hōmen* were exempt from clothing regulations because they were *hinin* had once sufficed, but by this period, not only lowly individuals such as attendants, pages, and miscellaneous servants—but even officials bearing titles like *fushō* and *banchō*, those addressed as so-and-so of such-and-such—were imitating *hōmen* and participating in costume competitions, which could only be declared utterly farcical. Particularly when we observe that the author of *Kikki* meticulously recorded each instance in his diary, it became evident that this attire was a main attraction of the Aoi Festival at the time. Moreover, these attachments were not merely simple items like artificial flowers; when they extended to affixing gilt-bronze hawks, dogs, lions, and even objects such as brushes, ink, and inkstones, one had to declare that they had strayed far beyond all norms of propriety.

Even by the Kamakura period, the continued active use of decorative attachments was evident in the Discharged Prisoners depicted in the previously inserted *Bun’ei Kamo Festival Scroll*: one *hōmen* shown in the illustration wore a large artificial peony, while another was portrayed with artificial irises affixed to his attire.
Kenkō Hōshi writes in his *Tsurezuregusa*: “During the Kenji and Kōan eras, for the decorative attachments of festival Discharged Prisoners, they would fashion horses from four or five bolts of strange navy cloth, affix rush pith to the tail hair, attach *suikan* robes painted with spiderwebs, and parade about reciting poetic sentiments.” These Kenji and Kōan eras are the period names immediately following Bun’ei mentioned earlier, yet even within that brief interval, a significant transformation in their appearance could be observed.
They likely prided themselves on adding new designs year after year, astonishing spectators with their audacity.
In an imperial edict issued on the thirteenth day of the eighth month of the third year of Kōchō (immediately before Bun’ei),

"Discharged prisoners of the Office of Police and Judicial Officials must not wear silk fabrics such as *ashiginu*. Furthermore, regulations regarding excessive ornamentation shall conform to their designated status. Dark blue eyelet knots, along with double- and triple-layered dark blue cloths, are hereby entirely prohibited."

Even with such prohibitions enacted, their effectiveness proved short-lived.

By Kenkō Hōshi’s era, matters had deteriorated to the point of eliciting critiques like: "As years passed, their excessiveness grew beyond all measure—they burdened themselves with countless heavy ornaments, made others carry both their sleeves, could no longer wield their own halberds, and presented a pitiful spectacle of labored breath and disarray."

That this tendency persisted even into the Muromachi period finds confirmation in Ichijō Kaneyoshi’s *Sekiso Ōrai* [*Letters on Simple Matters*], particularly in its entry concerning the Kamo Festival.

The lower-ranking attendants of the Office are all of their designated status; the halberd-bearers have attached gold and silver ornaments in an ornate style to their garments.

This is evident from the aforementioned statement. The term *Saihoko-mochi* would likely refer to Discharged Prisoners who carried halberds. The current Kamo Aoi Festival procession likely continues the precedent of its Genroku-era revival, and even the attire of the Discharged Prisoners appears to follow the model of the *Bun’ei Festival Scroll*.