(also called is the name given in Japan to the first government of the

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

. The name is that of the location in

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

, where Yoritomo's palace used to stand. Ōkura is defined as the area between the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, Asaina Pass, the

Namerigawa The is a river that goes from the Asaina Pass in northern Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, to the beach in Yuigahama, for a total length of about 8 km. Although Yuigahama is in fact the name of the entire 3.2 km beach that goes from Inamuraga ...

(Nameri River) and the

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

temple of

Zuisen-ji is a Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temple of the Rinzai sect in Nikaidō's in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura, Japan.Kamiya (2008:98-102) During the Muromachi period it was the bodaiji, family temple of the Ashikaga rulers of Kamakura (the '' ...

.Shirai (1976:41) Yoritomo's palace complex extended approximately from the Mutsuura Kaidō to the site of his

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

, and from the Nishi Mikado River (or Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū) to the Higashi Mikado River (about 800 meters by 600 meters). A black stone stele marks the center of the area where Yoritomo's government offices used to stand and carries the following words:

820 years ago, in 1180, Minamoto no Yoritomo built his mansion here. Having consolidated his power, he ruled from this mansion, and his government was therefore called the Ōkura Bakufu. He was succeeded by his sons Yoriie and Sanetomo, and this place remained the seat of the government for 46 years until 1225, when his wife
Hōjō Masako was a Japanese politician who exercised significant power in the early years of the Kamakura period, which was reflected by her contemporary sobriquet of the "nun shogun". She was the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo, and mother of Minamoto no Yori ...
died. It was then transferred to .
Erected in March 1917 by the Kamakura-machi Seinendan oung People's Association

In 1213, when

Wada Yoshimori was a Japanese samurai lord and ''gokenin'' of the early Kamakura period. He was the first director ('' bettō'') of the Board of Retainers in the Kamakura shogunate. Life Wada Yoshimori was born as the son of Miura Yoshiaki and grandson o ...

rebelled against the Hōjō regents in the so-called Wada Kassen, his son

Asahina Yoshihide or Asaina Yoshihide, also known as , was a Japanese warrior of the early 13th century, and the son of Wada Yoshimori and Tomoe Gozen.Kusumoto (2002:170) His name (also written with the characters ) comes from , where he lived at one time. Thou ...

stormed into the Ōkura Bakufu and burned it to the ground. It was later rebuilt. Many powerful

Gokenin A was initially a vassal of the shogunate of the Kamakura and the Muromachi periods.Iwanami Kōjien, "Gokenin" In exchange for protection and the right to become '' jitō'' (manor's lord), a ''gokenin'' had in times of peace the duty to protect ...

had their mansions in Ōkura, which was therefore one of the most important parts of medieval Kamakura. The palace gave rise to the names of at least two other Kamakura neighborhoods,

Nishi Mikado is the name of a neighborhood (a ) in Kamakura, a city located in Kanagawa, Japan, about 50 km south-south-west of Tokyo. Nishi Mikado lies north-east of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. Etymology of the name In 1180 the locality of in today's Ni ...

and Higashi Mikado, which mean respectively "Western Gate" and "East Gate". The area now called used to be called Higashi Mikado, and the name is still sometimes used.See the stele i
Higashi Mikado
Kita Mikado still exists as well, but does not constitute a ''chō''.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Okura Bakufu History of Kamakura