How the nengyoji was chosen

Chinjuhachimangu-kuso Hyojo-sho web page
Item (41) of Box-re, “Chinjuhachimangu-kuso Hyojo-sho,” June 16, 1344

Item (41) of Box-re is a record of hyojo held by Chinjuhachimangu-kata. The nengyoji (referred to as nenyo in this document) was elected by ballot from among kuso monks, the leading members of the organization.

Nijuikku-kata Bugyo Gaten-jo
Item (51-50) of Tenchi-no-bu, “Nijuikku-kata Bugyo Gaten-jo,” December 1496

Hyakugo Monjo includes records of elections of the nengyoji. The document of Nijuikku-kata above shows names of candidates for the following year’s nengyoji, including Yuju, the nengyoji of 1496. Not all members of the organization were qualified to become a candidate. Monks under 20 years of age were not qualified and monks over a certain age were exempted from the duty. Monks called komori-shu, who were supposed to be engaged in studying, were also excluded from the candidates. The diagonal lines beside the names were called gaten and represented votes. According to this document, Horin-in Sosho, who gained the most gaten, became the bugyo of the following year.

Nijuikku-kata Tefumibako-to Soshin-jo web page
Item (48-30) of Tenchi-no-bu, “Nijuikku-kata Tefumibako-to Soshin-jo,” December 31, 1496

The document above was drawn up when the post of the nengyoji was handed over from Yuju to Sosho to accompany the tefumibako, boxes in which documents necessary to carry out the duties were kept. The document reveals that 14 boxes of “Nijuikku-kata Tefumibako” and three boxes of “Hoshogonin-kata” were handed over to Sosho as the nengyoji of Nijuikku-kata also held the post of nengyoji of another organization, Hoshogonin-kata. The nengyoji of Nijuikku-kata was considered higher-ranking than the nengyoji of the other organizations and thus also called so-nenyo (the head of nenyo.) The nengyoji of Nijuikku-kata changed at the end of December while Kuze-kata (Chinju-kata) made out soshin-jo (a document accompanying tefumibako) at the end of June as its bugyo changed in July.