, also known as , was the fourth ''
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 ...
'' of the
Kamakura shogunate of
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. His father was ''
kanpaku''
Kujō Michiie and his grandmother was a niece of
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 ...
. His wife was a granddaughter of Yoritomo and daughter of
Minamoto no Yoriie. He was born in the year, month and on the day (according to
Chinese astrology) of the
Tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...
, and so was given the birth name Mitora (三寅, "Triple Tiger").
The
Kujō family was one of the five branches of the historically powerful
Fujiwara clan
The was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...
of courtiers.
Family
* Father:
Kujō Michiie
* Mother: Saionji Rinko
* Wife: Minamoto no Yoshiko (1202–1234)
* Concubine: Omiya no Tsubone
* Children:
**
Kujō Yoritsugu by Omiya
** Kujō Michijo by Omiya
** Minamoto no Meguhime by Omiya
Events of Yoritsune's ''bakufu''
At the age of seven, in 1226, Yoritsune became
''Sei-i Taishōgun'' in a political deal between his father and the
Kamakura shogunate regent
In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
Hōjō Yoshitoki and
Hōjō Masako who set him up as a puppet shogun.
* 1225 (''
Karoku 1, 11th month''): At Kamakura, Yoritsune's coming of age ceremonies took place at age 8; but control of all bakufu affairs remained entirely in the hands of
Hōjō Yasutoki, the regent (''
shikken'').
[ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ]
* 25 February 1226 (''Karoku 2, 27th day of the 1st month''):
Emperor Go-Horikawa raised Yoritsune to the first rank of the fifth class in the apex of artistocratic court hierarchy (the ''dōjō
kuge
The was a Japanese Aristocracy (class), aristocratic Social class, class that dominated the Japanese Imperial Court in Kyoto. The ''kuge'' were important from the establishment of Kyoto as the capital during the Heian period in the late 8th ce ...
'').
* 1230 (''
Kangi 2, 12th month''): Yoritsune is married to the daughter of
Minamoto no Yoriie. She is 15 years older than he is.
[Titsingh, ]
* 1231 (''Kangi 3, 2nd month''): Yoritsune is raised to the second rank of the 4th class in the ''dōjō kuge''.
* 1231 (''Kangi 3, 3rd month''): Yoritsune is created a general of the left.
* 1231 (''Kangi 3, 4th month''): Yoritsune is raised to the first rank of the 4th class in the ''dōjō kuge''.
* 20 March 1232 (''
Jōei 1, 27th day of the 2nd month''): Yoritsune is raised to the second rank of the 3rd class in the ''dōjō kuge''.
* 1233 (''
Tenpuku 1, 1st month''): Yoritsune is granted the court post of provisional
* 1234 (''
Bunryaku 1, 12th month''): Yoritsune is raised to the first rank of the 3rd class in the ''dōjō kuge''.
[Titsingh, ]
* 1235 (''
Katei 1, 11th month''): Yoritsune is raised to the second rank of the second class in the ''dōjō kuge''.
* 23 August 1236 (''Katei 2, 20th day of the 7th month''): Yoritsune is raised to the first rank of the second class in the ''dōjō kuge''.
* 1237 (''Katei 3, 8th month''): Yoritsune ordered the building of a mansion in the
Rokuhara section of Miyako.
* 1238 (''
Ryakunin 1, 1st month''): Yoritsune leaves Kamakura en route to Miyako, accompanied by Yaskutoki and the troupes of several provinces. Fujiwara no Yukimitis stays at Kamakura to preserve order in the land.
* 1238 (''Ryakunin 1, 2nd month''): Yoritsune arrives in Miyako and begins to live in his new palace at Rokuhara.
[Titsingh, ]
* 1238 (''Ryakunin 1, 10th month''): Yoritsune leaves Miyako to return to Kamakura.
* 14 July 1242 (''
Ninji 3, 15th day of the 6th month''):
Hōjō Yasutoki died at age 60. From ''Gennin'' 1, or during 19 years, Yasutoki had been the regent or prime minister (''shikken'') of the Kamakura shogunate. Yasutoki's son,
Hōjō Tsunetoki succeeded him as ''shikken'', but Yoritsune himself took charge of the bakufu.
* 1244 (''
Kangen 2''): In the spring of this year, a number of extraordinary phenomena in the skies over Kamakura troubled Yoritsune deeply.
[Titsingh, ]
* 1244 (''Kangen 2, 4th month''): Yoritsune's son, Yoritsugu, had his coming-of-age ceremonies at age 6. In the same month, Yoritsune asked Emperor Go-Saga for permission to give up his responsibilities as shogun in favor of his son,
Kujō Yoritsugu.
* 11 September 1245 (''Kangen 3, 7th month''): Yoshitsune shaved his head and became a Buddhist priest.
* 1246 (''Kangen 4, 7th month''): Yoritsune's son, now Shogun Yoritsugu marries the sister of
Hōjō Tsunetoki.
* 1 September 1256 (''
Kōgen 1, 11th day of the 8th month''): Kujō Yoritsune, also known as
Fujiwara Yoritsune, dies at the age of 38.
* 14 October 1256 (''Kōgen 1, 24th day of the 9th month''): Yoritsune's son and successor as Kamakura shogun,
Fujiwara Yoritsugu, dies at the age of 16.
[Titsingh, ]
Eras of Yoritsune's ''bakufu''
The years in which Yoritsune was shogun are more specifically identified by more than one
era name or ''
nengō''.
* ''
Karoku'' (1225–1227)
* ''
Antei'' (1227–1229)
* ''
Kangi'' (1229–1232)
* ''
Jōei'' (1232–1233)
* ''
Tenpuku'' (1233–1234)
* ''
Bunryaku'' (1234–1235)
* ''
Katei'' (1235–1238)
* ''
Ryakunin'' (1238–1239)
* ''
En'ō'' (1239–1240)
* ''
Ninji'' (1240–1243)
* ''
Kangen'' (1243–1247)
Notes
References
*
Mass, Jeffrey P. (1976). ''The Kamakura bakufu: a study in documents''. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
* __________. (1974). ''Warrior government in early medieval Japan: a study of the Kamakura Bakufu, shugo and jitō'' New Haven: Yale University Press.
*
Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia''.Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
OCLC 58053128* Ōyama Kyōhei. ''Kamakura bakufu'' 鎌倉幕府. Tokyo: Shōgakkan 小学館, 1974.
*
Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''
Nihon Ōdai Ichiran''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon''. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 5850691
*
Varley, H. Paul. (1980). ''A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa''. New York:
Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...
.
OCLC 6042764
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kujo, Yoritsune
1218 births
1256 deaths
13th-century Japanese people
13th-century shōguns
Kamakura shōguns
People of the Kamakura period
Fujiwara clan
People from Kyoto