Who was this person?
The second shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate. A son of Hōjō Tokimasa, his elder sister Masako was the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo. He served Yoritomo from his uprising and, after Yoritomo's death, prevailed in struggles among powerful vassals to become regent. In the Jōkyū War of 1221 he defeated the side of the retired emperor Go-Toba and secured warrior rule.
| Name | Hōjō Yoshitoki (北条義時) |
|---|---|
| Born–died | 1163 – 1224 |
| Period | Late Heian–Kamakura |
| Birthplace | Izu Province |
| Also known as | Ema Koshirō |
| Main achievements |
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He was born a son of Hōjō Tokimasa, a local landholder in Izu Province (Shizuoka). His elder sister Masako would marry Minamoto no Yoritomo, who had been exiled to Izu after his family's defeat in the Heiji Rebellion. The Hōjō were then a minor family, and in his youth Yoshitoki was called Ema Koshirō after the place Ema; he was not seen as the family heir.
When his brother-in-law Yoritomo, answering Prince Mochihito's call, raised troops to overthrow the Taira, Yoshitoki joined him with his father and his elder brother Munetoki. They were badly beaten at the Battle of Ishibashiyama, where Munetoki lost his life. Yoshitoki fled to Kai with his father and later rejoined Yoritomo, who regained strength in the Kantō.
Yoritomo chose trusted young retainers to guard him near his sleeping quarters, and Yoshitoki was one of them. According to the Azuma Kagami, Yoritomo is said to have called him the most dependable of his house retainers. This trust became the basis for Yoshitoki's later rise to the center of the shogunate.
He joined the army led by Yoritomo's brother Minamoto no Noriyori and pursued the Taira along the San'yō road and across to Kyushu. The campaign was hard because food supplies ran short, but Yoshitoki stayed with the army to the end. That year the Taira were destroyed at the Battle of Dan-no-ura, and the court allowed Yoritomo to appoint military governors and land stewards.
Through Yoritomo's mediation he married Hime no Mae, a woman of the Hiki clan. According to the Azuma Kagami, Yoshitoki sent her love letters for more than a year without success, and the marriage was arranged only after Yoritomo had him write a pledge never to divorce her. That same year Yoritomo was named seii taishōgun.
After Yoritomo died and his son Yoriie succeeded him, a system was set up in which thirteen powerful gokenin decided policy together. Yoshitoki joined it along with his father Tokimasa. He is said to have been the youngest of the thirteen, and from this point he became deeply involved in governing the shogunate.
When Hiki Yoshikazu, father of shogun Yoriie's wife, grew powerful, Tokimasa invited him to his residence and had him killed, and Yoshitoki and others attacked and destroyed the Hiki clan. Yoriie was removed as shogun and moved to Shuzen-ji in Izu, and his younger brother Sanetomo became the third shogun. Yoshitoki is said to have parted from his wife Hime no Mae because of this conflict.
An incident occurred in which his father Tokimasa and his second wife Maki no Kata are said to have tried to replace Sanetomo with their son-in-law Hiraga Tomomasa as shogun. Working with his sister Masako, Yoshitoki protected Sanetomo and sent Tokimasa away to Izu. Yoshitoki then became head of the administrative office and, as shikken, took charge of running the shogunate.
Wada Yoshimori, a senior retainer since the founding of the shogunate and head of the Board of Retainers, raised troops, partly provoked by Yoshitoki. Fierce fighting broke out in the streets of Kamakura, but the Wada clan was defeated, in part because Miura Yoshimura sided with Yoshitoki. Yoshitoki also took over the Board of Retainers, holding both it and the administrative office, and secured the Hōjō position.
At Tsurugaoka Hachimangū the third shogun Sanetomo was struck down by his nephew Kugyō. The Azuma Kagami says that on that day Yoshitoki suddenly handed his role of carrying the sword beside Sanetomo to someone else and so escaped harm. With the Minamoto line of shoguns ended, the shogunate brought the young Fujiwara no Yoritsune from a regent family in Kyoto to be the next shogun.
Retired Emperor Go-Toba issued an order to strike down Yoshitoki, and the Jōkyū War began. It is said that his sister Masako, facing the wavering gokenin, reminded them of what they owed Yoritomo and called for unity. Yoshitoki gave a large army to his son Yasutoki and his brother Tokifusa and sent them toward Kyoto, and they defeated the retired emperor's side in only about a month.
After the war, three retired emperors including Go-Toba were exiled to places such as Oki and Sado, and the lands of the nobles and warriors who had sided with them were confiscated and given to gokenin who had served well. The Rokuhara Tandai was set up in Kyoto to watch over the court, and the shogunate's power came to reach widely into western Japan.
Three years after the Jōkyū War, he died of a sudden illness in Kamakura. Because his death was so sudden, it is said there were rumors that he had been poisoned (accounts differ). His son Yasutoki succeeded him as shikken and later issued the Goseibai Shikimoku, stabilizing government under the Hōjō.
A. The second shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate. A son of Hōjō Tokimasa, his elder sister Masako was the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo. He served Yoritomo from his uprising and, after Yoritomo's death, prevailed in struggles among powerful vassals to become regent. In the Jōkyū War of 1221 he defeated the side of the retired emperor Go-Toba and secured warrior rule.
A. Period: Late Heian–Kamakura. Born in 1163, died in 1224.
A. Hōjō Yoshitoki was born in Izu Province.
A. The retired emperor Go-Toba ordered Yoshitoki's overthrow, but his sister Masako rallied the vassals, and the shogunate army attacked Kyoto and won. Afterward the retired emperors were exiled, the Rokuhara tandai was set up in Kyoto, and the shogunate's power spread to western Japan.
See also: Wikipedia (ja) / Wikipedia (en) / Wikipedia (fr) / Wikipedia (zh) / Wikidata
Follow this life (autoplay)Minamoto no YoritomoHōjō Yasutoki
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Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.