Minamoto no Yoritomo | |
|---|---|
源 頼朝 | |
 Portrait byFujiwara no Takanobu, 1179 | |
| Shōgun | |
| In office July 12, 1192 – February 9, 1199 | |
| Monarch | Go-Toba |
| Preceded by | Shogunate established |
| Succeeded by | Minamoto no Yoriie |
| Head of theKawachi 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] |
| Spouse | Hōjō Masako |
| Relations |
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| Children | |
| Parents |
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| Relatives |
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| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Emperor of Japan |
| Rank | Commander-in-Chief |
| Battles/wars | Genpei war (1180 - 1185) |
Minamoto no Yoritomo (源 頼朝;Japanese pronunciation:[mʲi.na.mo.tono(|)jo.ɾʲi.to.mo],[2][3] May 9, 1147 – February 9, 1199) was the founder and the firstshogun of theKamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the firstshogun in thehistory of Japan to holdde-facto power over Japan.[4] He was married toHōjō Masako, who acted as regent (shikken) after his death.
Yoritomo was the son ofMinamoto no Yoshitomo and belonged toSeiwa Genji's prestigiousKawachi Genji family. After successfully maneuvering himself to the position of rightful heir of theMinamoto clan, he led his clan against theTaira from his capital inKamakura, beginning theGenpei War in 1180. After five years of civil war, the Minamoto clan finally defeated the Taira in theBattle of Dan-no-ura in 1185. Yoritomo established the supremacy of thesamurai caste and the first shogunate (bakufu) which was to be centered around Kamakura, thus beginning thefeudal age in Japan, which lasted until the 17th century.[5]
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Yoritomo was the third son ofMinamoto no Yoshitomo, heir of theMinamoto (Seiwa Genji) clan, and his official wife,Yura-Gozen, daughter ofFujiwara no Suenori, High Priest ofAtsuta Shrine and a member of the powerfulFujiwara clan. Yoritomo was born in the family villa, on the western side of Atsuta Shrine, inAtsuta,Nagoya,Owari Province[6][7][8] (present-daySeigan-ji). At the time, his grandfatherMinamoto no Tameyoshi was the head of the Minamoto clan. His childhood name wasOniwakamaru (鬼武丸). He was a descendant ofEmperor Seiwa.[1]
In 1156, factional divisions in the court erupted into open warfare within thecapital. ThecloisteredEmperor Toba and his sonEmperor Go-Shirakawa sided with the son of Fujiwara regentFujiwara no Tadazane,Fujiwara no Tadamichi as well asTaira no Kiyomori (heir of theTaira clan at the time), whileCloistered Emperor Sutoku sided with Tadazane's younger son,Fujiwara no Yorinaga. This is known as theHōgen Rebellion.[9]: 210–211, 255
TheMinamoto 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 theMinamoto clan, while Yoritomo became the heir.[9]
Yoritomo and theMinamoto clan descended from the imperial family on his father's side. Nonetheless, inKyoto, theTaira clan, now under the leadership of Kiyomori, and the Minamoto clan, under the leadership of Yoshitomo, began to factionalize again.[9]: 239–241, 256–257
Four years later,Fujiwara no Nobuyori made request for a greater position in the government, Ex-Emperor Go-Shirakawa denied the request under the advice of theTaira backedFujiwara no Michinori (Also known as Shinzei). This led to Nobuyori joining forces with Yoshitomo and the Minamoto clan to prepare for a coup d'état. This would spark the conflict known as theHeiji rebellion.[10]
In December 1159, Kiyomori left Heian-kyō on a pilgrimage. Seeing an oppertunity, Minamoto gathered hundreds of men, attacked Sanjō Palace, and kidnapped Ex-Emperor Go-Shirakawa and current Emperor Nijō. Next the Minamoto attacked Shinzei's mansion. Shinzei was able to escape, but was captured and decapitated shortly thereafter. Kiyomori returned, freed both the retired and current Emperor, and defeated the Minamoto at the Battle at Rokuhara. Yoshitomo fled the capital but was later betrayed and executed by a retainer.[11][12]
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.[9]: 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 andMinamoto no Yoshitsune were also allowed to live.[13]
Yoritomo grew up in exile. He married into theHōjō clan, led byHōjō Tokimasa, marrying Tokimasa's daughter,Hōjō Masako.[13]: 147 [9]: 371 Meanwhile, he was notified of events inKyoto.[14]
Parents
Consorts and issues
In 1180,Prince Mochihito, a son of CloisteredEmperor Go-Shirakawa, made a national call to arms of the Minamoto clan all over Japan to rebel against theTaira. Yoritomo took part in this, especially after tensions escalated between the Taira and Minamoto after the death ofMinamoto no Yorimasa andPrince Mochihito himself.[9]: 278–281, 291
Yoritomo established himself as the rightful heir of theMinamoto clan and set up a capital inKamakura to the east. Not all Minamoto thought of Yoritomo as rightful heir, however. His uncle,Minamoto no Yukiie, and his cousinMinamoto no Yoshinaka, conspired against him.[9]: 296
In September 1180, Yoritomo was defeated at theBattle of Ishibashiyama, his first major battle, whenŌba Kagechika led a rapid night attack.[17] After his defeat in Mt. Ishibashiyama, Minamoto no Yoritomo fled into the Hakone mountains, stayed inYugawara, then escaped fromManazuru-Iwa toAwa (south of present-dayChiba). Yoritomo spent the next six months raising a new army.[9]: 289–291
Taira no Kiyomori died in 1181 and the Taira clan was now led byTaira no Munemori.[9]: 287 Munemori took a much more aggressive policy against the Minamoto and attacked Minamoto bases fromKyoto in theGenpei War. Nonetheless, Yoritomo was well protected inKamakura.
His brothersMinamoto no Yoshitsune andMinamoto no Noriyori defeated the Taira in several battles, but they could not stopMinamoto no Yoshinaka, Yoritomo's rival, from enteringKyoto in 1183 and chasing the Taira south. The Taira tookEmperor Antoku with them.[9]: 289–305 In 1184, the Minamoto replaced Antoku withEmperor Go-Toba.[9]: 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 theTaira, who suffered a terrible defeat at theBattle of Dan-no-ura in 1185. Yoritomo established the supremacy of thesamurai caste and the first shogunate (bakufu) at Kamakura, thus beginning the feudal age in Japan, which lasted until the 17th century.[18]
As he rose to a position of power, Yoritomo began to defy and undermine the authority of EmperorGo-Shirakawa by appointing his ownjitō (district stewards) andshugo (constables), thus eroding the central government's local administrative power.[19]
In the summer of 1189, Yoritomo invaded and subjugated the northern provinces ofMutsu andDewa. 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 ofSei-i Tai Shōgun (Barbarian-quelling Generalissimo) which formally placed all the feudal lords and both thejitō andshugo under his direct control. Thus creating a newfeudal state organized aroundKamakura whileKyoto was relegated to the role of "national ceremony and ritual".[9]: 317–318, 327, 329, 331 [20]
Yoritomo gathered hisgokenin 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.[21]
TheRevenge of the Soga Brothers took place on May 28 of the same year at the Fuji no Makigari hunting event. The brothersSoga Sukenari andSoga Tokimune murdered the killer of their father,Kudō Suketsune. The brothers managed to kill 10 other participants untilNitta Tadatsune killed Sukenari. Then, Tokimune raided Yoritomo's mansion attempting to attack Yoritomo, but was finally taken down byGosho no Gorōmaru, thus saving Yoritomo from a possibleassassination attempt and ending the massacre. After this, Yoritomo took Tokimune in for questioning and had himexecuted later.[22]
Yoritomo was ordained as aBuddhist monk in 1199 and left his home. He received theBuddhist nameBukōshōgendaizenmon (武皇嘯厚大禅門). He died two days later at the age of 51.
According toThe 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 ofThe 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 inKamakura in August 1183, said that "he is short and his face is large, his appearance is graceful and language is civilized."[23]
Kujō no Kanezane writes in his diaryTamaha 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."[24] Yoritomo practicedshudō with Yoshinao[who?], a member of the Imperial Guard.[25]
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 andHōjō Tokiyori inKenchō-ji, from the facial expression to size, they are almost identical, and there is evidence that thekariginu was remodeled into asokutai, the formal dress of the shogun, by adding ahirao andsekitai. Kuroda argues that the statue was originally a statue of Hōjō 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 inKai Province,Zenkō-ji to be the name of the repairer instead of the name of the sculptor, and that it was made at the request ofHōjō Masako in the first quarter of the 13th century. Thus, Kuroda concludes that this statue is the only accurate depiction of Minamoto no Yoritomo.[26]
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In the words ofGeorge 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."[9]: 334–335
Yoritomo's wife's family, theHōjō, took control after his death atKamakura, maintaining power over the shogunate until 1333, under the title ofshikken (regent to theshōgun). One of his brothers-in-law wasAshikaga Yoshikane.[27]
Thestone pagoda traditionally believed to behis grave is still maintained today, adjacent to Shirahata Shrine, a short distance from the spot believed to be the site of the so-calledŌkura Bakufu, his shogunate's administrative-governmental offices.
He appears as a hero unit inAge of Empires II: The Age of Kings, and as a hero unit inTotal War: Shogun 2.
A character named "Yoritomo" appears in Book 6: "The Lords of the Rising Sun" in theFabled Lands adventure gamebook series, where Yoritomo is the self-proclaimedshōgun and on the verge of war with "Lord Kiyomori".
He appears as the final boss inGenpei Toma Den, an arcade game created byNamco in which the player character isTaira no Kagekiyo, another Japanese historical figure.
He also appears as a prominent character in the 2021 anime seriesThe Heike Story.
The years in which Yoritomo wasshōgun are more specifically identified by more than oneera name ornengō.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)| Military offices | ||
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| Shogunate established | Shōgun: Minamoto no Yoritomo 1192–1199 | Succeeded by |
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