The Governor of Oki

...In the ancient Japanese relay system, bells were loaned to those on official business trips and messengers who were delivering official documents as proof of eligibility to use horses for relays. It is said that the bells had inscriptions called koku, which indicated the number of horses that could be used depending on the rank of the person, and bells with 10 koku were loaned to princes and first-ranked people, 8 koku to second- to third-ranked people, 6 koku to fourth-ranked people, 5 koku to fifth-ranked people, 3 koku to sixth- to eighth-ranked people, and 2 koku to first-ranked people and below. However, the eight-ridged bell handed down in the Oki no Kuni no Miyatsuko family does not have any inscriptions, so there is a question as to whether it is correct. Alternatively, it is possible that the inscriptions were actually present from the Yamato Imperial Court period to the early Ritsuryo period, and that they eventually stopped inscribing and instead attached a document indicating the number of horses. ...

*Some of the terminology used to refer to "Oki Kuni no Miyatsuko" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…日本古代の駅伝制で公務出張者や公文書伝送の駅使らに駅馬利用の資格証明として貸与された鈴。駅鈴には身分によって利用しうる駅馬の頭数を示した剋（こく）という刻みがあったといい，親王･一位に10剋，二～三位に8剋，四位に6剋，五位に5剋，六～八位に3剋，初位以下に2剋の駅鈴が貸与されるが，隠岐国造（おきのくにのみやつこ）家に伝わる八稜鈴には刻みがないので正しいものか否か問題になっている。あるいは大和朝廷時代から律令時代初期までは実際に刻みがあり，やがて刻みをやめて剋数を記した書類を添付することにした可能性がある。…

※「隠岐国造」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報