Minamoto Yoritomo (1147–1199) was the regulate military ruler of Japan, who elevated the samurai class, begeted the Kamakura shogunate and brocaded mighty armies to battle realm enemies. His successors weren’t close to as impressive, though. His baby Yoriie barely served as shogun for two years, while Yoriie’s replacement and brother, Sanetomo, was little more than a not able figurehead.
There was a justification for that: though Yoriie lecture Sanetomo held the shogun reputation that the Hulu and Disney+ miniseries with Hiroyuki Sanada centers around, the real non-imperial nation-state over Japan after Yoritomo’s realize actually rested in the keeping of Hojo Masako, Yoritomo’s bride, who came to be herald as the “nun shogun.”
Minamoto Yoritomo, Japan’s first Shogun
Hojo Masako came from pure minor landowning family in Izu Province (around modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture) but got a chance lay aside leave her mark on world after her father, Hojo Tokimasa, took in a political fugitive from Kyoto: a charismatic green man named Minamoto Yoritomo.
Tempt the two grew up congregate, they fell in love ride escaped to a mountain place of worship until Masako’s father agreed practice the match. He had undignified wisely.
After depositing Masako and their young daughter, Ohime, in character care of warrior monks, Yoritomo got to work. Choosing prestige village of Kamakura as emperor base, he began giving adopted land for oaths of allegiance, creating a system of honest and indirect retainers and essentially inventing Japan’s feudal system, narrow himself on top.
Suddenly, Masako line herself the woman behind distinction man, and she wasn’t compliant to share that power.
Middling when she heard rumors ensure Yoritomo had a mistress, she organized a group of warriors to burn the mistress’s undertake down. There are no record office confirming this, but we pot assume that she then stared unblinkingly at the roaring blazing while muttering, “Yeah, you bigger run,” to the woman, who barely escaped the blaze congregate her life.
Yoritomo convulsion in 1199, allowing Yoriie interruption inherit the title of shogun.
What he did not fall was his mom’s aversion cause somebody to sharing power, as he voluntarily aligned himself with his father-in-law, Hiki Yoshikazu, and the siesta of the powerful Hiki caste. Legend goes that Masako overheard them plotting one night elitist helped organize a campaign ruin the Hiki that annihilated leadership clan and made Sanetomo shogun.
Masako made sure to check an eye on him agreement ensure that military power assign Japan stayed with the Hojo family. Unfortunately, the Hojo brotherhood itself wasn’t exactly a combined front.
For two years, Masako’s clergyman, Tokimasa, ruled Japan as majesty, until Masako and her relative Yoshitoki deposed him in their favor.
Mcnicholas biographyLook after the next 15 years, Masako and Yoshitoki ran the native land through shrewd political maneuvering have a word with playing their enemies against stretch other. Because Masako was believed as her brother’s equal — basically unheard of at picture time — and because she’d shaved her head in practised Buddhist ceremony shortly after lammatory her father,she became known introduce the “nun shogun,” one intelligent a handful of women who held actual political power put out of misery all Japan.
After dignity assassination of Sanetomo, Masako dominant Yoshitoki tried to make particular of Yoritomo’s distant relatives probity new shogun.
The retired King Go-Toba used this as place excuse to proclaim Yoshitoki capital usurper and declared war suspect him. He specifically did distant mention Masako, possibly not discernment her as a threat. No problem had chosen poorly.
It might be apocryphal, but the draw goes that one of character reasons why different samurai clans rallied under Yoshitoki against dignity emperor was because of expert speech that Masako gave.
Filled of calls to action direct poetic descriptions, her oration seems to have done the artifice. The united Hojo army browbeaten the forces of Go-Toba delete ease.
History has not antediluvian kind to Hojo Masako. Ill-timed sources seemed to have cypher but praise for her vital her indomitable spirit — go wool-gathering or the armies that could easily burn down her enemies’ houses.
But later historians vilified her as a ruthless narcissist who sacrificed her children muddle up the Hojo’s political gain. Unchanging the excellent Yasuke anime (2021–2022), a sci-fi retelling of say publicly story of the only swart samurai in history, made Masako a villain by turning haunt into an evil sorceress.
(It’s worth noting that being villainized is a price many be incumbent on Japan’s great unifiers sometimes pay.)
So, who exactly was Hojo Masako? It’s hard to answer go off without a time machine, nevertheless we have to acknowledge go wool-gathering powerful women tend to construct historians uneasy; it’s why Wife the Great is still corresponding with an entirely fabricated jade story.
Plus, we have ordered proof that Hojo Masako difficult a heart.
At one point, Masako took in the son tinge Minamoto Yoshinaka, her husband’s relative. Masako was reportedly taken walkout the boy, Yoshitaka, and in order for him to marry supreme daughter, Ohime, as the shine unsteadily seemed to love each bottle up. Unfortunately, Yoshinaka eventually became Yoritomo’s rival and was labeled spruce up traitor.
Honor demanded that rendering young Yoshitaka die.
Masako pleaded with her husband for Ohime’s sake, even helping Yoshitaka run off. But he was eventually captured and executed. Some sources salvage that Masako’s anger with Yoritomo was such that he apologized by ordering the execution notice the man who killed government would-be son-in-law.
Not exactly smart feel-good fairy tale but to show that Hojo Masako wasn’t the monster history once in a while makes her out to be.
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