First shogun of Japan and of the Kamakura Shogunate from 1192 to 1199
Minamoto no Yoritomo
(
源 ?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 ruling
shogun
in the
history of Japan
.
[2]
He was the husband of
H?j? Masako
who acted as regent (
shikken
) after his death.
Yoritomo was the son of
Minamoto no Yoshitomo
and belonged to
Seiwa Genji
's prestigious
Kawachi Genji
family. After successfully maneuvering himself to the position of rightful heir of the
Minamoto clan
, he led his clan against the
Taira
from his capital in
Kamakura
, beginning the
Genpei War
in 1180. After five years of civil war, the Minamoto clan finally defeated the Taira in the
Battle of Dan-no-ura
in 1185. Yoritomo established the supremacy of the
samurai
caste and the first shogunate (
bakufu
) which was to be centered around Kamakura, thus beginning the
feudal age in Japan
, which lasted until the 17th century.
[3]
Early life
[
edit
]
Yoritomo was the third son of
Minamoto no Yoshitomo
, heir of the
Minamoto
(
Seiwa Genji
) clan, and his official wife,
Yura-Gozen
, daughter of
Fujiwara no Suenori
, High Priest of
Atsuta Shrine
and a member of the powerful
Fujiwara clan
. Yoritomo was born in the family villa, on the western side of Atsuta Shrine, in
Atsuta
,
Nagoya
,
Owari Province
[4]
[5]
[6]
(present-day
Seigan-ji
). At the time, his grandfather
Minamoto no Tameyoshi
was the head of the Minamoto clan. His childhood name was
Oniwakamaru
(鬼武丸). He was a descendant of
Emperor Seiwa
.
[1]
In 1156, factional divisions in the court erupted into open warfare within the
capital
. The
cloistered
Emperor Toba
and his son
Emperor Go-Shirakawa
sided with the son of Fujiwara regent
Fujiwara no Tadazane
,
Fujiwara no Tadamichi
as well as
Taira no Kiyomori
(heir of the
Taira
clan at the time), while
Cloistered Emperor Sutoku
sided with Tadazane's younger son,
Fujiwara no Yorinaga
. This is known as the
H?gen Rebellion
.
[7]
: 210?211, 255
The
Minamoto
clan were split. The head of the clan, Tameyoshi, sided with Sutoku. However, his son, Yoshitomo (father of Yoritomo), sided with Toba and Go-Shirakawa, as well as Kiyomori. In the end, the supporters of Go-Shirakawa won the civil war, thus ensuring victory for Yoshitomo and Kiyomori. Sutoku was placed under house arrest, and Yorinaga was fatally wounded in battle. Tameyoshi was executed by the forces of Yoshitomo. Nonetheless, Go-Shirakawa and Kiyomori were ruthless, and Yoshitomo found himself as the head of the
Minamoto
clan, while Yoritomo became the heir.
[7]
Yoritomo and the
Minamoto
clan descended from the imperial family on his father's side. Nonetheless, in
Kyoto
, the
Taira
clan, now under the leadership of Kiyomori, and the Minamoto clan, under the leadership of Yoshitomo, began to factionalize again.
[7]
: 239?241, 256?257
Four years later, Kiyomori supported
Fujiwara no Michinori
, also known as Shinzei. However, Yoshitomo supported
Fujiwara no Nobuyori
. This was known as the
Heiji Rebellion
. Nonetheless, the
Minamoto
were not well prepared, and the
Taira
took control of
Kyoto
. Shinzei's mansion was attacked by the Taira; Shinzei escaped, only to be captured and decapitated shortly thereafter. The Taira then
burned
the ex-emperor's palace, defeating the Minamoto. Yoshitomo fled the capital but was later betrayed and executed by a retainer.
[7]
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.
[7]
: 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.
[8]
Yoritomo grew up in exile. He married into the
H?j? clan
, led by
H?j? Tokimasa
, marrying Tokimasa's daughter,
H?j? Masako
.
[8]
: 147
[7]
: 371
Meanwhile, he was notified of events in
Kyoto
.
[9]
Family
[
edit
]
Parents
Consorts and issues
- Possible Wife: Yaehime (八重?), daughter of
It? Sukechika
(伊東 祐親)
- Chizurumaru (千鶴丸), possible first son
- Wife:
H?j? Masako
[10]
(北? 政子, 1156 ? August 16, 1225), daughter of
H?j? Tokimasa
(北? 時政)
- Ohime (大?, 1178 ? August 28, 1197), Fiance of Minamoto no Yoshitaka (源 義高), first daughter
- Minamoto no Yoriie
(Japanese: 源 ?家, September 11 1182 ? August 14, 1204), first son
[2]
- Lady Mihata (三幡, 1186 ? July 24, 1199), second daughter
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
(源 ?朝, September 12 1192 ? February 12, 1219, r. 1203?1219), third son
[11]
- Concubine: Kame no Mae (?の前)
[
citation needed
]
- Concubine: Daishin no Tsubone (大進局), daughter of Date Tomomune (伊達朝宗)
- J?gy? (貞?, March 18, 1186 ? May 27, 1231 ), also known as Kamamura H?in (鎌倉法印), second son
Call to arms and the Genpei War (1180?1185)
[
edit
]
In 1180,
Prince Mochihito
, a son of Cloistered
Emperor Go-Shirakawa
, made a national call to arms of the Minamoto clan all over Japan to rebel against the
Taira
. Yoritomo took part in this, especially after tensions escalated between the Taira and Minamoto after the death of
Minamoto no Yorimasa
and
Prince Mochihito
himself.
[7]
: 278?281, 291
Yoritomo established himself as the rightful heir of the
Minamoto
clan and set up a capital in
Kamakura
to the east. Not all Minamoto thought of Yoritomo as rightful heir, however. His uncle,
Minamoto no Yukiie
, and his cousin
Minamoto no Yoshinaka
, conspired against him.
[7]
: 296
In September 1180, Yoritomo was defeated at the
Battle of Ishibashiyama
, his first major battle, when
?ba Kagechika
led a rapid night attack.
[12]
After his defeat in Mt. Ishibashiyama, Minamoto no Yoritomo fled into the Hakone mountains, stayed in
Yugawara
, then escaped from
Manazuru
-Iwa to
Awa
(south of present-day
Chiba
). Yoritomo spent the next six months raising a new army.
[7]
: 289?291
Taira no Kiyomori
died in 1181 and the Taira clan was now led by
Taira no Munemori
.
[7]
: 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.
[7]
: 289?305
In 1184, the Minamoto replaced Antoku with
Emperor Go-Toba
.
[7]
: 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
Taira
, who suffered a terrible defeat at the
Battle of Dan-no-ura
in 1185. Yoritomo established the supremacy of the
samurai
caste and the first shogunate (
bakufu
) at Kamakura, thus beginning the feudal age in Japan, which lasted until the 17th century.
[13]
Later years and death
[
edit
]
As he rose to a position of power, Yoritomo began to defy and undermine the authority of Emperor Go-Shirakawa by appointing his own
jit?
(district stewards) and
shugo
(constables), thus eroding the central government's local administrative power.
[14]
In the summer of 1189, Yoritomo invaded and subjugated the northern provinces of
Mutsu
and
Dewa
. In December 1190 Yoritomo took up residence in his Rokuhara mansion at the capital, the former headquarters of the Taira clan. When his old rival, Emperor Go-Shirakawa died in the spring of 1192, there was no longer anyone standing in the way of his ultimate ambition. Thus, Yoritomo gave himself the title of
Sei-i Tai Sh?gun
(Barbarian-quelling Generalissimo) which formally placed all the feudal lords and both the
jit?
and
shugo
under his direct control. Thus creating a new
feudal state
organized around
Kamakura
while
Kyoto
was relegated to the role of "national ceremony and ritual".
[7]
: 317?318, 327, 329, 331
[15]
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.
[16]
The
Revenge of the Soga Brothers
took place on May 28 of the same year at the Fuji no Makigari hunting event. The brothers
Soga Sukenari
and
Soga Tokimune
murdered the killer of their father,
Kud? Suketsune
. The brothers managed to kill 10 other participants until
Nitta Tadatsune
killed Sukenari. Then, Tokimune raided Yoritomo's mansion attempting to attack Yoritomo, but was finally taken down by
Gosho no Gor?maru
, thus saving Yoritomo from a possible
assassination
attempt and ending the massacre. After this, Yoritomo took Tokimune in for questioning and had him
executed
later.
[17]
Yoritomo was ordained as a
Buddhist monk
in 1199 and left his home. He received the
Buddhist name
Buk?sh?gendaizenmon
(武皇嘯厚大?門). He died two days later at the age of 51.
Appearance and personality
[
edit
]
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 J?suiki
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."
[18]
Kuj? no Kanezane
writes in his diary
Tamaha
that "Yoritomo's body is of rigorous power, and his fierce nature is accompanied with a clear distinction and firm resolution of the judgement of right and wrong."
[19]
Yoritomo practiced
shud?
with Yoshinao
[
who?
]
, a member of the Imperial Guard.
[20]
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
H?j? Tokiyori
in
Kench?-ji
, from the facial expression to size, they are almost identical, and there is evidence that the
kariginu
was remodeled into a
sokutai
, the formal dress of the shogun, by adding a
hirao
and
sekitai.
Kuroda argues that the statue was originally a statue of H?j? Tokiyori sculpted in Kamakura in the 14th century, but after the original statue of Yoritomo was lost, an altered statue of Tokiyori was used as a replacement. On the other hand, he considers the inscription on the statue of Minamoto no Yoritomo in
Kai Province
,
Zenk?-ji
to be the name of the repairer instead of the name of the sculptor, and that it was made at the request of
H?j? Masako
in the first quarter of the 13th century. Thus, Kuroda concludes that this statue is the only accurate depiction of Minamoto no Yoritomo.
[21]
Legacy
[
edit
]
In the words of
George Bailey Sansom
, "Yoritomo was a truly great man … his foresight was remarkable, but so was his practical good sense in setting up machinery to match his own expanding power."
[7]
: 334?335
Yoritomo's wife's family, the
H?j?
, took control after his death at
Kamakura
, maintaining power over the shogunate until 1333, under the title of
shikken
(regent to the
sh?gun
). One of his brothers-in-law was
Ashikaga Yoshikane
.
[22]
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
?kura Bakufu
, his shogunate's administrative-governmental offices.
Cultural references
[
edit
]
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
sh?gun
and on the verge of war with "Lord Kiyomori".
He appears as the final boss in
Genpei Toma Den
, an arcade game created by
Namco
in which the player character is
Taira no Kagekiyo
, another Japanese historical figure.
He also appears as a prominent character in the 2021 anime series
The Heike Story
.
Eras of Yoritomo's
bakufu
[
edit
]
The years in which Yoritomo was
sh?gun
are more specifically identified by more than one
era name
or
neng?
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Minamoto no Yoritomo
at the
Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^
a
b
Nussbaum, Louis-Frederic. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in
Japan Encyclopedia
,
, p. 635, at
Google Books
.
- ^
"Feudalism in Medieval Japan"
.
- ^
"系?纂要(Keizusanyo)"
- ^
"尾張名所??(Owarimeishozue)"
- ^
"尾張志(owarishi)"
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
Sansom, George (1958).
A History of Japan to 1334
. Stanford University Press. pp. 210?211, 255?258.
ISBN
0804705232
.
- ^
a
b
Sato, Hiroaki
(1995).
Legends of the Samurai
. Overlook Duckworth. p. 30.
ISBN
9781590207307
.
- ^
Turnbull, Stephen (1977).
The Samurai, A Military History
. MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. pp. 40, 50?51.
ISBN
0026205408
.
- ^
Hotate, Michihisa (2015).
Inseiki Azuma-no-kuni to Runin?Minamoto no Poritomo no Tachiitchi (院政期東?と流人?源?朝の位置) & Chusei no Kokudokoken to Tenno?Buke (中世の?土高?と天皇?武家)
. Japan: Azekurashobo.
ISBN
978-4-7517-4640-0
.
- ^
Nussbaum, p. 634
- ^
Turnbull, Stephen (1998).
The Samurai Sourcebook
. Cassell & Co. p. 200.
ISBN
1854095234
.
- ^
"Feudalism in Medieval Japan"
.
- ^
"Minamoto Yoritomo | Facts, History, & Kamakura Shogunate | Britannica"
. March 27, 2024.
- ^
"Minamoto Yoritomo | Facts, History, & Kamakura Shogunate | Britannica"
. March 27, 2024.
- ^
Azuma Kagami (吾妻鏡)
. Japan. pp. Article May 22, 1193.
- ^
Soga Monogatari (?我物語)
. Japan: Shogakukan. 2002.
ISBN
4096580538
.
- ^
Ichiko, Teiji (1975).
Nihon Koten Bungaku Zensh?
. Vol. 30. Japan: Sh?gakkan. Heike Monogatari 2.
OCLC
703759550
.
- ^
"熊野?史?究" [Kumano Historical Research].
Kumano Rekishi Kenky?: Kumano Rekishi Kenky?kai Kiy?
(15). Japan: Kumano Rekishi Kenky?kai, Iwata Shoin: 14. 2008.
ISSN
1340-542X
.
- ^
Homosexuality & Civilization by Louis Crompton. Published by the Belknap Press of Harvard University in 2003. Page 420.
- ^
Kuroda, Hideo (2011).
源?朝の?像
[
The True Image of Minamoto no Yoritomo
]. Japan: Kadokawa.
ISBN
978-4-04-703490-7
.
- ^
Nussbaum, "Ashikaga Yoshikane" at
Minamoto no Yoritomo
, p. 56, at
Google Books
References
[
edit
]
- Mass, Jeffrey P.
(1999).
Yoritomo and the Founding of the First Bakufu: the Origins of Dual Government in Japan
. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
ISBN
978-0804735919
,
OCLC
41712279
- Nagahara Keiji 永原慶二.
Minamoto no Yoritomo
源?朝. Tokyo: Iwanami-shoten, 1995.
- Naramoto Tatsuya 奈良本辰也, et al.
Minamoto no Yoritomo
源?朝. Tokyo: Shisakusha, 1972.
- Nussbaum, Louis-Frederic and Kathe Roth. (2005).
Japan Encyclopedia
.
Cambridge:
Harvard University Press
.
ISBN
978-0-674-01753-5
,
OCLC
58053128
- Titsingh, Isaac.
(1834).
Nihon ?dai Ichiran
; ou,
Annales des empereurs du Japon
.
Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
OCLC
5850691
- Yamaji Aizan 山路愛山.
Minamoto no Yoritomo: jidai daihy? Nihon eiy?den
源?朝: 時代代表日本英雄?. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1987.
- Yoshikawa, Eiji
. (1989)
Yoshikawa Eiji Rekishi Jidai Bunko
(
Eiji Yoshikawa's Historical Fiction
), Vols. 41?42:
Minamoto Yoritomo
(源?朝). Tokyo: Kodansha.
ISBN
978-4-06-196577-5
External links
[
edit
]
- ?machi
, by the Kamakura Citizen's Net, accessed on September 30, 2008
- Atsuta History Course
, (include "Seigan-ji Temple" Birthplace of Minamoto-no Yoritomo)
Military offices
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Shogunate established
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Sh?gun
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Minamoto no Yoritomo
1192?1199
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