How the Judge Divided Thirteen Horses

There are a lot of folk tales about Seikei's foster-father Judge Ooka that illustrate how smart he was. One of them was very like the story of King Solomon found in the Bible. Two women both claimed to be the mother of a young child. The Judge had each of them take hold one of the child's arms and then pull to see who would get the child. When the child cried out, one woman let go so she wouldn't hurt it. The Judge knew she was the mother, and gave her the child.

Another, more complicated, story concerned two powerful daimyos who had raised war horses on a farm they both owned. They quarreled and wanted to divide their property. The problem was that there were thirteen horses, and neither daimyo would sell his share to the other.

There was a second judge, named Kujo, who resented the fact that everyone said how wise Ooka was. When the argument between the two daimyos was given to Kujo, he delayed it until it was Ooka's turn to decide cases. Then he told Ooka, "This is one case you cannot solve." Ooka calmly replied, "I will do my best." Annoyed, Kujo offered to bet his own war horse that Ooka could not possibly settle the case in a way that would satisfy both men. Ooka was not normally a gambler, but he agreed, and promised to give a war horse to Kujo if the two daimyos were not satisfied with his decision.

Judge Ooka ordered the thirteen horses to be brought into a courtyard. He told Kujo to bring his own horse, and the Judge brought his best horse as well. "There are still fifteen horses," Kujo muttered, although he suspected that Ooka was going to play some trick.

When the two daimyos and their horses were assembled, the Judge said, "I thought at first that the two of you might agree to donate one horse to the shogun." The daimyos frowned, because it would be impossible to turn down such a suggestion. Kujo, however, smiled, because such a solution would not satisfy either man, and Kujo would win Ooka's horse.

"However," Ooka continued, "To do that would cause you both to lose financially, so I found another solution. I will donate my own horse to you both, making fourteen horses. Then you can divide them equally."

Both daimyos agreed to this, but Kujo interrupted. "The law says that a judge may not profit from his decisions. But you should not be required to lose anything either. If all judges did such a thing, we would all be poor."

"But I won't be losing anything," Judge Ooka replied. He pointed to the daimyos, who were already choosing which horses they wanted. "As you can see, both men are satisfied with my decision. That means I win our bet." With that he took hold of the bridle of Kujo's horse and walked away.