Toshima Tokimitsu (豊島時光)
Tokimitsu TOSHIMA (year of birth and death unknown) was a samurai during the Kamakura period. His father was Tomotsune TOSHIMA or Tomotsuna TOSHIMA. Tokimitsu was commonly known as Matataro.
The Toshima clan was a meritorious vassal in the formation of the Kamakura bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun), and had its territory in Musashi province, now around Tokyo.
Tokimitsu and Morikazu OMIYA (gokenin [immediate vassal of the shogunate] in Musashi province) disputed over a land of Toshima clan in Musashi Province. This was caused by shiichi-han (type of chohan tobaku, or gambling at a game of dice) whose bookmaker was Aritada OMIYA.
In the Kamakura period, gambling games of sugoroku and shiichi-han were popular among gokenin, and some of them even risked their residence or territory, which sometimes resulted in a killing fight, and became a social problem. The bakufu enacted bans on gambling a number of times in amendments to Goseibai-shikimoku (code of conduct for samurai), stipulating that people who violated the bans should be dismissed.
Both Tokimitsu and Morikazu OMIYA made appeals to the bakufu. The disputed land of Toshima was part of the territory of the Toshima clan, whose location has not been specified but is presumed to have been around Horinouchi, Adachi Ward, Minami-hirayamagi, Kawaguchi City, or Oku, Arakawa Ward.
On June 30 1241, Nakayasu TSUSHIMA issued a ruling as a bugyo (magistrate), thus Toshima's land was confiscated.
According to some records, the Toshima clan set up a business of water transport in Tosa and Kii provinces where Tokimitsu's father Tomotsune and his grand-father Aritsune TOSHIMA were governors, respectively. Therefore, some theories suggest that this affair was not a mere gambling but that Tokimitsu who involved in the water transport business gambled his territory.