Minamoto no Yoritomo
Minamoto no Yoritomo | |
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源 頼朝 | |
Shōgun | |
In office July 12, 1192 – February 9, 1199 | |
Monarch | Go-Toba |
Preceded by | Shogunate established |
Succeeded by | Minamoto no Yoriie |
Head of the Kawachi Genji (Minamoto clan) | |
Preceded by | Minamoto no Yoshitomo |
Succeeded by | Minamoto no Yoriie |
Personal details | |
Born | May 9, 1147[citation needed] Atsuta, Owari Province |
Died | February 9, 1199 (aged 51)[1] Kamakura, Kamakura shogunate |
Spouse | Hōjō Masako |
Relations |
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Children | |
Parents |
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Relatives |
|
Signature | Genpei war (1180 - 1185) |
Minamoto no Yoritomo (源 頼朝, May 9, 1147 – February 9, 1199) was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate and of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first shogun in the history of Japan.[2] He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (shikken) after his death.
Yoritomo was the son of
Early life
Yoritomo was the third son of
In 1156, factional divisions in the court erupted into open warfare within the
The
Yoritomo and the
Four years later, Kiyomori supported
In the aftermath, harsh terms were imposed on the Minamoto and their allies. Only Yoshitomo's three young boys remained alive, so that Kiyomori and the Taira clan were now the undisputed leaders of Japan.[6]: 258–260 Yoritomo, the new head of the Minamoto, was not executed by Kiyomori because of pleas from Kiyomori's stepmother but was exiled. Yoritomo's brothers, Minamoto no Noriyori and Minamoto no Yoshitsune were also allowed to live.[7]
Yoritomo grew up in exile. He married into the Hōjō clan, led by Hōjō Tokimasa, marrying Tokimasa's daughter, Hōjō Masako.[7]: 147 [6]: 371 Meanwhile, he was notified of events in Kyoto.[8]
Family
Parents
- Father: Minamoto no Yoshitomo (源 義朝, 1123 – February 11, 1160)
- Mother: Yura Gozen (由良御前, d. 1159), daughter of Fujiwara no Suenori (藤原 季範)
Consorts and issues
- Possible Wife: Yaehime (八重姫), daughter of Itō Sukechika (伊東 祐親)
- Chizurumaru (千鶴丸), possible first son
- Wife: Hōjō Masako[9] (北条 政子, 1156 – August 16, 1225), daughter of Hōjō Tokimasa (北条 時政)
- Ohime (大姫, 1178 – August 28, 1197), Fiance of Minamoto no Yoshitaka (源 義高), first daughter
- Minamoto no Yoriie (Japanese: 源 頼家, September 11 1182 – August 14, 1204), first son[2]
- Lady Mihata (三幡, 1186 – July 24, 1199), second daughter
- Minamoto no Sanetomo (源 実朝, September 12 1192 – February 12, 1219, r. 1203–1219), third son[10]
- Concubine: Kame no Mae (亀の前)[citation needed]
- Concubine: Daishin no Tsubone (大進局), daughter of Date Tomomune (伊達朝宗)
- Jōgyō (貞暁, March 18, 1186 – May 27, 1231 ), also known as Kamamura Hōin (鎌倉法印), second son
Call to arms and the Genpei War (1180–1185)
In 1180,
Yoritomo established himself as the rightful heir of the
In September 1180, Yoritomo was defeated at the
Taira no Kiyomori died in 1181 and the Taira clan was now led by Taira no Munemori.[6]: 287 Munemori took a much more aggressive policy against the Minamoto and attacked Minamoto bases from Kyoto in the Genpei War. Nonetheless, Yoritomo was well protected in Kamakura.
His brothers Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Noriyori defeated the Taira in several battles, but they could not stop Minamoto no Yoshinaka, Yoritomo's rival, from entering Kyoto in 1183 and chasing the Taira south. The Taira took Emperor Antoku with them.[6]: 289–305 In 1184, the Minamoto replaced Antoku with Emperor Go-Toba as the new emperor.[6]: 319
From 1181 to 1184, a de facto truce with the Taira-dominated court allowed Yoritomo the time to build an administration of his own, centered on his military headquarters in Kamakura. In the end he triumphed over his rival cousins, who sought to steal control of the clan from him, and over the
Later years and death
In December 1185, Go-Shirakawa granted Yoritomo the authority to collect the commissariat tax (the hyoro-mai or levy contribution of rice) and to appoint stewards (jito) and constables (shugo). Thus the Throne "handed to the leader of the military class effective jurisdiction in matters of land tenure and the income derived from agriculture".[attribution needed]
In the summer of 1189, Yoritomo invaded and subjugated
Yoritomo gathered his gokenin in May 1193 and arranged a grand hunting event, Fuji no Makigari. On May 16, Yoritomo's 12-year-old son Yoriie shot a deer for the first time. Hunting was stopped and a festival was held in the evening. Yoritomo rejoiced in his son's achievement and sent a messenger to his wife Masako, but Masako sent the messenger back, saying that a military commander's son being able to shoot a deer is nothing to celebrate.[12]
The
Yoritomo was ordained as a
Appearance and personality
According to The Tale of Heiji, Yoritomo was "more adult-like than others of his age", and the figure of a young warrior Yoritomo appears in the picture scroll of The Tale of Heiji. Genpei Jōsuiki describes Yoritomo saying "his face is large and appearance is beautiful." The imperial messenger Nakahara no Yasusada, who met Yoritomo in Kamakura in August 1183, said that "he is short and his face is large, his appearance is graceful and language is civilized."[14]
Historian Hideo Kuroda organized and examined the portraits and statues of Minamoto no Yoritomo and has concluded as follows. When comparing the statues of Minamoto no Yoritomo in Higashihirozo and
Legacy
In the words of
Yoritomo's wife's family, the Hōjō, took control after his death at Kamakura, maintaining power over the shogunate until 1333, under the title of shikken (regent to the shōgun). One of his brothers-in-law was Ashikaga Yoshikane.[18]
The stone pagoda traditionally believed to be his grave is still maintained today, adjacent to Shirahata Shrine, a short distance from the spot believed to be the site of the so-called Ōkura Bakufu, his shogunate's administrative-governmental offices.
Cultural references
He appears as a hero unit in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, and as a hero unit in Total War: Shogun 2.
A character named "Yoritomo" appears in Book 6: "The Lords of the Rising Sun" in the Fabled Lands adventure gamebook series, where Yoritomo is the self-proclaimed shōgun and on the verge of war with "Lord Kiyomori".
He appears as the final boss in
He also appears as a prominent character in the 2021 anime series The Heike Story.
Eras of Yoritomo's bakufu
The years in which Yoritomo was shōgun are more specifically identified by more than one
See also
- Seiwa Genji
- Eiji Yoshikawa, historical fiction writer
- Battle of Hojuji
Notes
- ^ a b Minamoto no Yoritomo at the Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ a b Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in Japan Encyclopedia, , p. 635, at Google Books.
- ^ "系図纂要(Keizusanyo)"
- ^ "尾張名所図会(Owarimeishozue)"
- ^ "尾張志(owarishi)"
- ^ ISBN 0804705232.
- ^ ISBN 9781590207307.
- ISBN 0026205408.
- ISBN 978-4-7517-4640-0.
- ^ Nussbaum, p. 634
- ISBN 1854095234.
- ^ Azuma Kagami (吾妻鏡). Japan. pp. Article May 22, 1193.
- ISBN 4096580538.
- OCLC 703759550.
- ISSN 1340-542X.
- ^ Homosexuality & Civilization by Louis Crompton. Published by the Belknap Press of Harvard University in 2003. Page 420.
- ISBN 978-4-04-703490-7.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Ashikaga Yoshikane" at Minamoto no Yoritomo, p. 56, at Google Books
References
- OCLC 41712279
- Nagahara Keiji 永原慶二. Minamoto no Yoritomo 源頼朝. Tokyo: Iwanami-shoten, 1995.
- Naramoto Tatsuya 奈良本辰也, et al. Minamoto no Yoritomo 源頼朝. Tokyo: Shisakusha, 1972.
- Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: OCLC 58053128
- OCLC 5850691
- Yamaji Aizan 山路愛山. Minamoto no Yoritomo: jidai daihyō Nihon eiyūden 源頼朝: 時代代表日本英雄伝. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1987.
- ISBN 978-4-06-196577-5
External links
- Ōmachi, by the Kamakura Citizen's Net, accessed on September 30, 2008
- Atsuta History Course, (include "Seigan-ji Temple" Birthplace of Minamoto-no Yoritomo)