Hōjō Tokimasa
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Hōjō Tokimasa 北条 時政 | ||
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Shōgun Minamoto no Sanetomo | | |
Succeeded by | Hōjō Yoshitoki | |
Council of the Thirteen | ||
In office 1199–1200 | ||
Protector of Kyoto | ||
In office 1185–1186 | ||
Succeeded by | Ichijō Yoshiyasu | |
Personal details | ||
Born | 1138 | |
Died | February 6, 1215 (aged 76-77) | |
Spouse(s) | Daughter of Itō Sukechika Maki no Kata | |
Children |
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Parents |
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Signature | ||
Hōjō Tokimasa (北条 時政, 1138 – February 6, 1215) was a Japanese samurai lord who was the first shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate and head of the Hōjō clan.[1][2] He was shikken from 1203[3] until his abdication in 1205, and Protector of Kyoto from 1185 to 1186.
Background
The Hōjō clan is alleged to have been descended from the Taira clan. The Hōjō clan based themselves in a northern part of the Izu Province, which was in the east and quite far away from the center of power in Kyoto.
Early life
Not much is known about Hōjō Tokimasa's early life prior to Minamoto no Yoritomo's arrival in Izu. There is no information about his parents and early childhood, mainly because culture was not concentrated in Izu, but rather in Kyoto. Tokimasa was born in 1138 into the influential Hōjō clan in the province of Izu. It is believed that his father was either Hōjō Tokikata or Hōjō Tokikane.
Tokimasa, as the head of the Hōjō clan, chose to stay out of the civil strife engulfing western Japan based on court succession disputes between the
These two disturbances, known as the
The name of Tokimasa's first official wife is not known. She and Tokimasa had two sons, Hōjō Munetoki (his first son, the date of birth is not clear) and Hōjō Yoshitoki, who became his heir later, in 1163. Tokimasa later married to Maki no Kata, who became his second official wife, and they had another son, Hōjō Masanori, in 1189. Tokimasa also had another son, Hōjō Tokifusa, with an unknown woman. Tokifusa's date of birth is estimated to be in 1175. Tokimasa also had many daughters. His first daughter, Hōjō Masako, who was born in 1156, later married Yoritomo. Awa no Tsubone, probably born in 1169, later became Yoritomo's sister-in-law, as she married Ano Zenjo, Yoritomo's younger brother.
Yoritomo, at first, was just another political exile of the Taira living in Izu, but as Taira brutality grew against the Japanese people and the imperial court and nobles, the court itself grew weary of Taira rule, and particularly of the brutal Taira no Kiyomori.
In 1179, Minamoto no Yoritomo, the Minamoto exile from Kyoto, fell in love with Tokimasa's daughter, Masako. In around 1180, they wed. That same year, Prince Mochihito, a son of Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa and a brother of Cloistered Emperor Takakura and thus an uncle of Emperor Antoku, who was half-Taira and had been placed on the throne by the Taira, believed the Taira had denied him the throne and called on the exiled Minamoto leaders to go to war and oust the Taira. Yoritomo declared war on the Taira, thus gaining his father-in-law, Tokimasa's support and the support of the Hōjō clan. That same year, Masako and Yoritomo had a daughter, Ō-hime, Tokimasa's first grandchild.
Genealogy
Parents
- Father: Hōjō Tokikata (北条 時方)
- Mother: Daughter of Tomo no Tamefusa (伴 為房)
Consorts and issue:
- Wife: Daughter of Itō Sukechika (伊東 祐親, also known as Itō Nyūdō (伊東入道))
- Son: Hōjō Munetoki (北条 宗時; d.1180)
- Daughter: Awa no Tsubone (阿波局; d.1227), married to Ano Zenjō (阿野 全成), elder brother of Minamoto no Yoshitsune
- Son: Hōjō Yoshitoki (北条 義時; 1163–1224)
- Wife: Maki no Kata (牧の方)
- Son: Hōjō Masanori (北条 政範; 1189–1204)
- Daughter: married to Hiraga Tomomasa (平賀 朝雅), and later to Fujiwara no Kunimichi (藤原 国通)
- Daughter: married to Inage Shigenari (稲毛 重成)
- Daughter: married to Utsunomiya Yoritsuna (宇都宮 頼綱)
- Daughter: married to Bōmon Tadakiyo (坊門 忠清)
- Wife: Unknown women
- Son: Hōjō Tokifusa (北条 時房; d.1175-1240)
- Daughter: Hōjō Masako (北条 政子; 1157–1225), married to Minamoto no Yoritomo (源 頼朝)
- Daughter: Hōjō Tokiko (北条 時子; d.1196), daughter of the same mother as Masako, married to Ashikaga Yoshikane (足利 義兼)
- Daughter: married to Hatakeyama Shigetada (畠山 重忠), and later to Ashikaga Yoshizumi (足利 義純)
- Daughter (d.1216): married to Shigenoi Sanenobu (滋野井 実宣)
- Daughter: married to Kawano Michinobu (河野 通信)
- Daughter: married to Ōoka Tokichika (大岡 時親)
Genpei War
Yoritomo created his base and capital at
Things were going well for the Minamoto against the Taira. In 1183,
Minamoto no Yoritomo was then the undisputed ruler of Japan, and the Genpei War was over with a Minamoto victory. Hōjō no Tokimasa was then in a very good position. Yoritomo did not move to Kyoto, but remained in Kamakura with Tokimasa.
Tokimasa was sent to Kyoto and the court of Emperor Go-Toba and Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa. He received an imperial command for Yoritomo to "hunt down" Minamoto no Yukiie and Minamoto no Yoshitsune for their rebellion.[2]: 147
When he returned, the first appointments of shugo and jitō, the stewards and constables of the Kamakura bakufu, were apparently granted. In 1189, Yoritomo consolidated his power, executing his half brothers Yoshitsune and Noriyori.
In 1192, after the birth of Yoritomo's and Masako's second son,
Minamoto no Yoritomo assassination attempt
The
Hiroyuki Miura,[6][7][8] along with many others have debated that it was through Tokimasa's strong relation to the Soga brothers that led Tokimune to attack the shogun.[5]
Kamakura shogunate
In 1199, Minamoto no Yoritomo died. He was succeeded by his son and heir, Minamoto no Yoriie, who himself was considered a minor at the age of 18. Yoriie was closer with his father-in-law, Hiki Yoshikazu, than he was with his grandfather, Tokimasa. He despised his mother, his uncles and the Hōjō family in general.[citation needed] He was thus independent and rash, unlike his father who depended on the Hōjō.
In that year, a regency council was created by Tokimasa, Masako, and Yoshitoki. The most powerful person there (not counting the remaining Minamoto members and the Hōjō) was Kajiwara Kagetoki, the governor of Sagami. Though he was very close with Yoritomo and trusted by Tokimasa, Yoriie disliked him, and he was executed in Suruga by the shogunate army in 1200. Though it is generally accepted that Yoriie was responsible for the order, it is believed that Tokimasa and the Hōjō might have also been behind it since the Hōjō clan gained the province of Sagami after his death. Tokimasa was made daimyō of Ōmi Province in the same year.[9]
Tokimasa's scheming next turned towards his grandson's father-in-law, Hiki Yoshikazu, who his grandson listened to more than he listened to his regent, Tokimasa.[citation needed] Losing hope of getting either Yoriie or Yoshikazu on his side, Tokimasa focused his efforts on his other grandson, Yoriie's younger brother and Yoritomo's youngest son, Sanetomo.[citation needed]
In 1203, the 21-year-old Yoriie became extremely ill and weak, and Tokimasa produced a plan whereby Japan would be divided between Sanetomo and Minamoto no Ichiman, Yoriie's son, who was close to the Hōjō and expected to become the next shōgun.[citation needed] Yoshikazu began suspecting foul play based on the actions and behaviours of Tokimasa, Masako, Ichiman and Sanetomo. He began plotting to either capture or assassinate Tokimasa.[citation needed]
With the help of
Minamoto no Sanetomo
After the death of Yoriie and Ichiman, Tokimasa installed Yoritomo's second son, Minamoto no Sanetomo, as the next shōgun. Tokimasa began to chair the Mandokoro, while he and Ōe no Hiromoto exercised absolute power. In 1204, after the assassination of Yoriie, Hōjō Masako lost trust in her father, as she believed that he was behind the assassination of her son.
Soon afterwards, Tokimasa was convinced by one of his allies, Hiraga Tomomasa, that Hatakeyama Shigetada, who was married to Tokimasa's youngest daughter, was inciting rebellion in Kyoto against the Hōjō. Tokimasa, angered, ordered his two sons, Hōjō Yoshitoki, his heir, and his other son, Hōjō Tokifusa, to execute Hatakeyama. Yoshitoki and Tokifusa, who enjoyed good relations with their brother-in-law, protested, but Tokimasa ordered the execution of Hatakeyama himself. From then on, Yoshitoki, Tokifusa, and their younger sister lost trust in their father and his meddling. It is believed Hatakeyama was a rival power-holder to Tokimasa.
Later life
In 1205, Yoshitoki heard rumors from samurai that Tokimasa was planning to have Shogun Sanetomo assassinated. He heard that the heir was none other than Hiraga, who was responsible for the death of Hatakeyama. Yoshitoki, furious, and Masako, who was also scared about the fate of her last son, put Sanetomo under protective guard and had Hiraga executed in Kamakura in 1205. Yoshitoki then threatened to rebel against his father.
Tokimasa realized that Shogun Sanetomo was under protection, and he had no more allies left. He thus shaved his head, became a Buddhist monk, and retired from his post of shikken and head of the Hōjō family. He was succeeded by his eldest son and heir, Hōjō Yoshitoki, who became regent for Shogun Sanetomo and thus the second Hōjō shikken.
Tokimasa retired to a Buddhist monastery in
See also
- Kamakura, Kanagawa
References
- ISBN 0804705232.
- ^ ISBN 9781590207307.
- ^ Columbia chronologies of Asian history and culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000), 132.
- ISBN 978-4-6420-2921-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-4-6420-2921-6.
- ^ Miura, Hiroyuki (1915). Rekishi to Jinbutsu: Soga Kyōdai to Hōjō Tokimasa (曾我兄弟と北条時政 歴史と人物). Iwanami Shoten.
- ^ Ishii, Susumu (1974). Chusei Bushidan: Soga Monogatari no Sekai (曾我物語の世界 中世武士団). Kodansha.
- ISBN 978-4-6420-2921-6.
- ^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 224.
External links
- Samurai Archives: Hojo Tokimasa Archived 2008-07-19 at the Wayback Machine