was the
Hōjō clan
The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of '' shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this perio ...
's family temple (''
bodaiji
A in Japanese Buddhism is a temple which, generation after generation, takes care of a family's dead, giving them burial and performing ceremonies in their soul's favor.Iwanami kojien The name is derived from the term , which originally meant ju ...
'') 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 ...
during the
Kamakura period
The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...
.
Its founder was Taikō Gyōyū and it was constructed in 1237 by
Hōjō Yasutoki
Hōjō Yasutoki (; 1183 – July 14, 1242) was the third ''shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate in Japan. He strengthened the political system of the Hōjō regency.
Life
He was the eldest son of second ''shikken'' Hōjō Yoshitoki. A ...
in memory of his mother, who had her tomb there.
According to the
Taiheiki, from its foundation until the end of the
Kamakura shogunate
The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459.
The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yori ...
every regent (''
shikken
The was a senior government post held by members of the Hōjō clan, officially a regent of the shogunate. From 1199 to 1333, during the Kamakura period, the ''shikken'' served as the head of the ''bakufu'' (shogun's government). This era was ref ...
'') was buried there.
The temple no longer exists, since it was set on fire by the Hōjō themselves when the entire family committed suicide after
Nitta Yoshisada
also known as Minamoto no Yoshisada was a samurai lord of the Nanboku-chō period Japan. He was the head of the Nitta clan in the early fourteenth century, and supported the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in the Nanboku-chō period. He famo ...
's invasion of Kamakura on July 4, 1333.
Its ruins were found in the Kasaigayatsu valley in today's
Ōmachi.
[Kamiya Vol. 1 (2006/08: 53- 55)] Tōshō-ji very probably used to occupy the entire valley.
Standing at the top of a narrow valley shut off at its base by the
Nameri river's deep gorge and by steep hills on the other three sides, and besides offering a clear view of the only road that crossed the river, it was a fortress surely valuable to the family also from the military point of view.
At the site is a plaque that reads:
National Historic Sites - The remains of Toshoji as designated on July 31, 1998
Toshoji is a Buddhist temple founded in the first half of the 13th Century by Yasutoki Hojo, the third vice-shogun of the Kamakura shogunate. In 1333, when Yoshisada Nitta and his troops attacked Kamakura, Takatoki Hōjō, all members of his clan, and his followers shut themselves up in this temple, set it on fire, and there, met their death.
The temple was restored soon after this incident, and in the Muromachi Era (1392-1467) it came to rank third among the ten most renowned temples in the Kanto area. However, it was said to have been later abandoned in the Sengoku Era (1467-1573).
The site is extremely important from an historical viewpoint as the remains of the main temple of the Hojo dynasty, and as the final resting place of the Kamakura Shogunate. By a series of excavations conducted in 1976, 1996, and 1997, part of the remains of the temple has been confirmed.
Board of Education, Kamakura City, March 2000
Excavations ''in situ'' have revealed the basic structure of the temple, shards of Chinese pottery, and roof tiles bearing the Hōjō family crest.
Stones and other surfaces singed by fire were also found, confirming the presence of a fire.

About a hundred meters uphill after the temple, inside the forest lies the Hōjō Takatoki Harakiri ''
Yagura'', the cave where, according to tradition, the last of the Hōjō regents disemboweled himself.
There are however other locations in Kamakura that make the same claim.
The black stele in front of Takatoki's ''yagura'' reads:.
[Original Japanese text availabl]
here
/ref>
In May 1333, when Nitta Yoshisada invaded Kamakura, Regent Hōjō Takatoki
was the last '' Tokusō'' and ruling Shikken (regent) of Japan's Kamakura shogunate; the rulers that followed were his puppets. A member of the Hōjō clan, he was the son of Hōjō Sadatoki, and was preceded as ''shikken'' by Hōjō Mototo ...
left his residence in Komachi and barricaded himself in Tōshō-ji, the family temple where all his ancestors were buried. After that, while watching from afar the lights and smoke of the fires consuming the shops and residences of the entire city of Kamakura that his family had ruled for 150 years, he and his whole family, composed of over 870 people, committed suicide. This tragic act that ended the Hojo's power forever took place here.
Erected in March 1918 by the Kamakuracho Seinendan
Ashikaga Takauji
also known as Minamoto no Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. ...
, the first of the Ashikaga shōguns, was ordered by Emperor Go-Daigo to transfer the temple and the Hōjō's remains to a new location, renaming it Hōkai-ji.[Mutsu (1995/06:279-80)] Because the neighborhood was said to be still haunted by the ghosts of the Hōjō, a shrine called Tokusō Gongen was erected within the new temple to placate them. The shrine still exists and can be seen to the right of Hōkai-ji's main hall.
On the Shakadōgayatsu side of the Shakadō Pass, just before the first houses, a small street to the left takes to a large group of ''yagura'' called ''Shakadōgayatsu Yagura-gun''.[Kamiya Vol. 1 (2006/08: 71 - 72)] There rest the bones of some of the Hōjō who killed themselves at Tōshō-ji that day. Their identity has been confirmed by the presence of a gorintō dated exactly eight days after the invasion, eight days being the time required by Buddhism before a funeral can be performed.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tosho-Ji
Buddhist temples in Kamakura, Kanagawa
History of Kanagawa Prefecture
Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan