Those anecdotes include: a conflict over water for irrigating rice fields (Chapter 3, Volume 1), a thief selling stolen goods at market (Chapter 34 and Chapter 35, Volume 1 and Chapter 27, Volume 3), onus put on sakimori (soldiers deployed for boarder defenses) on long-term service (Chapter 3, Volume 2), Kokushi's (an officer of local government) using laborers to dig the government mine for his benefit (Chapter 13, Volume 3), a bureaucrat running a body search on a homeless to collect tax (Chapter 14, Volume 3) and a cheater using a doctored scale and measuring cup (Chapter 20 and Chapter 26, Volume 3).
田に引く水をめぐる争い（上巻第3）、盗品を市で売る盗人（上巻第34、第35、下巻第27）、長期勤務の防人の負担（中巻第3）、官営の鉱山を国司が人夫を使って掘ること（下巻第13）、浮浪人を捜索して税をとりたてる役人（下巻第14）、秤や桝を使い分けるごまかし（下巻第20、第26）などである。