THE KAMAKURA BAKUFU
ABDICATION OF GO-TOBA
IN the year 1198, the Emperor Go-Toba abdicated the throne in favour
of his son, who reigned during twelve years (1199-1210) under the
name of Tsuchi-mikado, eighty-third sovereign. Of Go-Toba much will
be said by and by. It will suffice to note here, however, that his
abdication was altogether voluntary. Ascending the throne in 1184, at
the age of four, he had passed the next eight years as a mere puppet
manipulated by his grandfather, Go-Shirakawa, the cloistered Emperor,
and on the latter's death in 1192, Go-Toba fell into many of the
faults of youth. But at eighteen he became ambitious of governing in
fact as well as in name, and as he judged that this could be
accomplished better from the Inchu (retired palace) than from the
throne, he abdicated without consulting the Kamakura Bakufu. It is
more than probable that Yoritomo would have made his influence felt
on this occasion had any irregularity furnished a pretext. But the
advisers of the Kyoto Court were careful that everything should be in
order, and the Kamakura chief saw no reason to depart from his
habitually reverent attitude towards the Throne.
YORIIYE, THE LADY MASA, AND HOJO TOKIMASA
On the demise of Yoritomo (1199), his eldest son, Yoriiye, succeeded
to the compound office of lord high constable and chief land-steward
(so-shugo-jito), his investiture as shogun being deferred until
Kyoto's sanction could be obtained. Yoriiye was then in his
eighteenth year, and he had for chief adviser Hatakeyama Shigetada,
appointed to the post by Yoritomo's will. He inherited nothing of his
father's sagacity. On the contrary, he did not possess even average
ability, and his thoughts were occupied almost uniquely with physical
pleasures. His mother, Masa, astute, crafty, resourceful, and heroic,
well understood the deficiency of his moral endowments, but as her
second son, Sanetomo, was only seven years old, Yoriiye's accession
presented itself in the light of a necessity. She therefore
determined to give him every possible aid. Even during her husband's
life she had wielded immense influence, and this was now greatly
augmented by the situation. She shaved her head--after the manner of
the cloistered Emperors--and taking the name of Ni-i-no-ama,
virtually assumed charge of the Bakufu administration in association
with her father, Hojo Tokimasa.
Exactly what part this remarkable man acted in the episodes of
Yoritomo's career, can never be known. He exerted his influence so
secretly that contemporary historians took little note of him; and
while, in view of his final record, some see in him the spirit that
prompted Yoritomo's merciless extirpation of his own relatives,
others decline to credit him with such far-seeing cruelty, and hold
that his ultimately attempted usurpations were inspired solely by
fortuitous opportunity which owed nothing to his contrivance.
Wherever the truth may lie as between these views, it is certain that
after Yoritomo's death, Hojo Tokimasa conspired to remove the
Minamoto from the scene and to replace them with the Hojo.
THE DELIBERATIVE COUNCIL
The whole coterie of illustrious men--legislators, administrators,
and generals--whom Yoritomo had assembled at Kamakura, was formed
into a council of thirteen members to discuss the affairs of the
Bakufu after his death. This body of councillors included Tokimasa
and his son, Yoshitoki; Oye no Hiromoto, Miyoshi Yasunobu; Nakahara
Chikayoshi, Miura Yoshizumi, Wada Yoshimori, Hiki Yoshikazu, and five
others. But though they deliberated, they did not decide. All final
decision required the endorsement of the lady Masa and her father,
Hojo Tokimasa.
DEATH OF YORIIYE
Yoriiye had been at the head of the Bakufu for three years before his
commission of shogun came from Kyoto, and in the following year
(1203), he was attacked by a malady which threatened to end fatally.
The question of the succession thus acquired immediate importance.
Yoriiye's eldest son, Ichiman, the natural heir, was only three years
old, and Yoritomo's second son, Sanetomo, was in his eleventh year.
In this balance of claims, Hojo Tokimasa saw his opportunity. He
would divide the Minamoto power by way of preliminary to supplanting
it. Marshalling arguments based chiefly on the advisability of
averting an armed struggle, he persuaded the lady Masa to endorse a
compromise, namely, that to Sanetomo should be given the office of
land-steward in thirty-eight provinces of the Kwansai; while to
Ichiman should be secured the title of shogun and the offices of lord
high constable and land-steward in twenty-eight provinces of the
Kwanto.
Now the maternal grandfather of Ichiman was Hiki Yoshikazu, a captain
who had won high renown in the days of Yoritomo. Learning of the
projected partition and appreciating the grave effect it must produce
on the fortunes of his grandson, Hiki commissioned his daughter to
relate the whole story to Yoriiye, and applied himself to organize a
plot for the destruction of the Hojo. But the facts came to the lady
Masa's ears, and she lost no time in communicating them to Tokimasa,
who, with characteristic promptitude, invited Hiki to a conference
and had him assassinated. Thereupon, Hiki's son, Munetomo, assembled
all his retainers and entrenched himself in Ichiman's mansion, where,
being presently besieged by an overwhelming force of Tokimasa's
partisans, he set fire to the house and perished with the child,
Ichiman, and with many brave soldiers. The death of his son, of his
father-in-law, and of his brother-in-law profoundly affected Yoriiye.
He attempted to take vengeance upon his grandfather, Tokimasa, but
his emissaries suffered a signal defeat, and he himself, being now
completely discredited, was constrained to follow his mother, Masa's,
advice, namely, to take the tonsure and retire to the monastery
Shuzen-ji in Izu. There he was followed and murdered by Tokimasa's
agents. It is apparent that throughout these intrigues the lady Masa
made no resolute attempt to support her first-born. She recognized in
him a source of weakness rather than of strength to the Minamoto.
SANETOMO
After Yoriiye's retirement, in 1204, to the monastery in Izu, Masa,
with the concurrence of her father, Tokimasa, decided on the
accession of her second son, Sanetomo, then in his twelfth year, and
application for his appointment to the office of shogun having been
duly made, a favourable and speedy reply was received from Kyoto. The
most important feature of the arrangement was that Hojo Tokimasa
became shikken, or military regent, and thus wielded greater powers
than ever--powers which he quickly proceeded to abuse for
revolutionary purposes. His policy was to remove from his path, by
any and every measure, all potential obstacles to the consummation of
his ambition.
Among these obstacles were the lady Masa and the new shogun,
Sanetomo. So long as these two lived, the Yoritomo family could count
on the allegiance of the Kwanto, and so long as that allegiance
remained intact, the elevation of the Hojo to the seats of supreme
authority could not be compassed. Further, the substitution of Hojo
for Minamoto must be gradual. Nothing abrupt would be tolerable. Now
the Hojo chief's second wife, Maki, had borne to him a daughter who
married Minamoto Tomomasa, governor of Musashi and lord constable of
Kyoto, in which city he was serving when history first takes
prominent notice of him. This lady Maki seems to have been of the
same type as her step-daughter, Masa. Both possessed high courage and
intellectual endowments of an extraordinary order, and both were
profoundly ambitious. Maki saw no reason why her husband, Hojo
Tokimasa, should lend all his great influence to support the
degenerate scions of one of his family in preference to the able and
distinguished representative of the other branch. Tomomasa was both
able and distinguished. By a prompt and vigorous exercise of military
talent he had crushed a Heike rising in Ise, which had threatened for
a time to become perilously formidable. His mother may well have
believed herself justified in representing to Hojo Tokimasa that such
a man would make a much better Minamoto shogun than the half-witted
libertine, Yoriiye, or the untried boy, Sanetomo. It has been
inferred that her pleading was in Tokimasa's ears when he sent a band
of assassins to murder Yoriiye in the Shuzen-ji monastery. However
that may be, there can be little doubt that the Hojo chief, in the
closing episodes of his career, favoured the progeny of his second
wife, Maki, in preference to that of his daughter, Masa.
Having "removed" Yoriiye, he extended the same fate to Hatakeyama
Shigetada, one of the most loyal and trusted servants of Yoritomo.
Shigetada would never have connived at any measure inimical to the
interests of his deceased master. Therefore, he was put out of the
way. Then the conspirators fixed their eyes upon Sanetomo. The
twelve-year-old boy was to be invited to Minamoto Tomomasa's mansion
and there destroyed. This was the lady Maki's plan. The lady Masa
discovered it, and hastened to secure Sanetomo's safety by carrying
him to the house of her brother, Yoshitoki. The political career of
Hojo Tokimasa ended here. He had to take the tonsure, surrender his
post of regent and go into exile in Izu, where he died, in 1215,
after a decade of obscurity. As for Minamoto Tomomasa, he was killed
in Kyoto by troops despatched for the purpose. This conflict in 1205,
though Hojo Tokimasa and Minamoto Tomomasa figured so largely in it,
is by some historians regarded as simply a conflict between the
ladies Maki and Masa. These two women certainly occupied a prominent
place on the stage of events, but the figure behind the scenes was
the white-haired intriguer, Tokimasa. Had the lady Maki's son-in-law
succeeded Sanetomo, the former would have been the next victim of
Tokimasa's ambition, whereafter the field would have been open for
the grand climacteric, the supremacy of the Hojo.
HOJO YOSHITOKI
Crafty and astute as was Hojo Tokimasa, his son Yoshitoki excelled
him in both of those attributes as well as in prescience. It was to
the mansion of Yoshitoki that Sanetomo was carried for safety when
his life was menaced by the wiles of Tokimasa. Yet in thus espousing
the cause of his sister, Masa, and his nephew, Sanetomo, against his
father, Tokimasa, and his brother-in-law, Tomomasa, it is not to be
supposed that Yoshitoki's motive was loyalty to the house of
Yoritomo. On the contrary, everything goes to show that he would have
associated himself with his father's conspiracy had he not deemed the
time premature and the method clumsy. He waited patiently, and when
the occasion arrived, he "covered his tracks" with infinite skill
while marching always towards the goal of Tokimasa's ambition.
The first to be "removed" was Wada Yoshimori, whom Yoritomo had
gratefully appointed betto of the Samurai-dokoro. Yoritomo's eldest
son, Yoriiye, had left two sons, Kugyo and Senju-maru. The former had
taken the tonsure after his father's and elder brother's deaths, in
1204, but the cause of the latter was espoused with arms by a Shinano
magnate, Izumi Chikahira, in 1213. On Wada Yoshimori, as betto of the
Samurai-dokoro, devolved the duty of quelling this revolt. He did so
effectually, but in the disposition of the insurgents' property, the
shikken, Yoshitoki, contrived to drive Wada to open rebellion. He
attacked the mansion of the shogun and the shikken, captured and
burned the former, chiefly through the prowess of his giant son,
Asahina Saburo; but was defeated and ultimately killed, Senju-maru,
though only thirteen years old, being condemned to death on the
pretext that his name had been used to foment the insurrection! After
this convenient episode, Yoshitoki supplemented his office of shikken
with that of betto of the Samurai-dokoro, thus becoming supreme in
military and civil affairs alike.
DEATH OF SANETOMO
How far Sanetomo appreciated the situation thus created there is much
difficulty in determining. The sentiment of pity evoked by his tragic
fate has been projected too strongly upon the pages of his annals to
leave them quite legible. He had seen his elder brother and two of
the latter's three sons done to death. He had seen the "removal" of
several of his father's most trusted lieutenants. He had seen the
gradual upbuilding of the Hojo power on this hecatomb of victims.
That he perceived something of his own danger would seem to be a
natural inference. Yet if he entertained such apprehensions, he never
communicated them to his mother, Masa, who, from her place of high
prestige and commanding intellect, could have reshaped the issue.
The fact would appear to be that Hojo Yoshitoki's intrigues were too
subtle for the perception of Sanetomo or even of the lady Masa.
Yoshitoki had learned all the lessons of craft and cunning that his
father could teach and had supplemented them from the resources of
his own marvellously fertile mind. His uniformly successful practice
was to sacrifice the agents of his crimes in order to hide his own
connexion with them, and never to seize an opportunity until its
possibilities were fully developed. Tokimasa had feigned ignorance of
his daughter's liaison with Yoritomo, but had made it the occasion to
raise an army which could be directed either against Yoritomo or in
his support, as events ordered. There are strong reasons to think
that the vendetta of the Soga brothers was instigated by Tokimasa and
Yoshitoki, and that Yoritomo was intended to be the ultimate victim.
This was the beginning of a long series of intrigues which led to the
deaths of Yoriiye and two of his sons, of Hatakeyama Shigetada, of
Minamoto Tomomasa, of Wada Yoshimori, and of many a minor partisan of
the Yoritomo family. In the pursuit of his sinister design, there
came a time when Yoshitoki had to choose between his father and his
sister. He sacrificed the former unhesitatingly, and it is very
probable that such a choice helped materially to hide from the lady
Masa the true purport of his doings. For that it did remain hidden
from her till the end is proved by her failure to guard the life of
Sanetomo, her own son, and by her subsequent co-operation with his
slayer, Yoshitoki, her brother. A mother's heart would never
wittingly have prompted such a course.
There is a tradition that Sanetomo provoked the resentment of Masa
and Yoshitoki by accepting high offices conferred on him by
Kyoto--chunagon, and general of the Left division of the guards--in
defiance of Yoritomo's motto, "Wield power in fact but never in
name," and contrary to remonstrances addressed to him through the
agency of Oye no Hiromoto. There is also a tradition that, under
pretense of visiting China in the company of a Chinese bonze, Chen
Hosiang, he planned escape to the Kinai or Chugoku (central Japan),
there to organize armed resistance to the Hojo designs. But it is
very doubtful whether these pages of history, especially the latter,
should not be regarded in the main as fiction. Sanetomo was too much
of a littérateur to be an astute politician, and what eluded the
observation of his lynx-eyed mother might well escape his perception.
In 1217, Yoshitoki invited Kugyo from Kyoto and appointed him to be
betto of the shrine of Hachiman (the god of War) which stood on the
hill of Tsurugaoka overlooking the town of Kamakura. Kugyo was the
second and only remaining legitimate son of Yoriiye. He had seen his
father and his two brothers done to death, and he himself had been
obliged to enter religion, all of which misfortunes he had been
taught by Yoshitoki's agents to ascribe to the partisans of his
uncle, Sanetomo. Longing for revenge, the young friar waited. His
opportunity came early in 1219. Sanetomo, having been nominated
minister of the Left by the Kyoto Court, had to repair to the
Tsurugaoka shrine to render thanks to the patron deity of his family.
The time was fixed for ten o 'clock on the night of February 12th.
Oye no Hiromoto, who had cognizance of the plot, hid his guilty
knowledge by offering counsels of caution. He advised that the
function should be deferred until daylight, or, at any rate, that the
shogun should wear armour. Minamoto Nakaakira combatted both
proposals and they were rejected. Sanetomo had a vague presentiment
of peril. He gave a lock of his hair to one of his squires and
composed a couplet:
Though I am forth and gone,
And tenantless my home;
Forget not thou the Spring,
Oh! plum tree by the eaves.
Then he set out, escorted by a thousand troopers, his sword of State
borne by the regent, Yoshitoki. But at the entrance to the shrine
Yoshitoki turned back, pretending to be sick and giving the sword to
Nakaakira. Nothing untoward occurred until, the ceremony being
concluded, Sanetomo had begun to descend a broad flight of stone
steps that led from the summit of the hill. Then suddenly Kugyo
sprang out, killed Sanetomo and Nakaakira, carrying off the head of
the former, and, having announced himself as his father's avenger,
succeeded in effecting his escape. But he had been the agent of
Yoshitoki's crime, and his survival would have been inconvenient.
Therefore, when he appealed to the Miura mansion for aid, emissaries
were sent by the regent's order to welcome and to slay him. Sanetomo
perished in his twenty-eighth year. All accounts agree that he was
not a mere poet--though his skill in that line was remarkable--but
that he also possessed administrative talent; that he strove
earnestly to live up, and make his officers live up, to the ideals of
his father, Yoritomo, and that he never wittingly committed an
injustice.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HOJO REGENCY
Thus, after three generations occupying a period of only forty years,
the Minamoto family was ruined, and the reins of power were
effectually transferred to Hojo hands. It would seem natural, in the
sequence of events, that the office of shogun should now descend to
the Hojo. But Yoshitoki understood that such a measure would convict
him of having contrived the downfall of Yoritomo's progeny in Hojo
interests. Therefore a step was taken, worthy of the sagacity of the
lady Masa and her brother, the regent. The Bakufu petitioned the
Kyoto Court to appoint an Imperial prince to the post of shogun. That
would have invested the Kamakura Government with new dignity in the
eyes of the nation. But the ex-Emperor, Go-Toba, upon whom it
devolved to decide the fate of this petition, rejected it
incontinently.
His Majesty, as will presently be seen, was seeking to contrive the
downfall of the Bakufu, and the idea of associating one of his own
sons with its fortunes must have revolted him. In the face of this
rebuff, nothing remained for the Bakufu except recourse to the
descendants of the Minamoto in the female line. Yoritomo's elder
sister had married into the Fujiwara family, and her greatgrandson,
Yoritsune, a child of two, was carried to Kamakura and installed as
the head of the Minamoto. Not until 1226, however, was he invested
with the title of shogun, and in that interval of seven years a
momentous chapter was added to the history of Japan.
THE SHOKYU STRUGGLE
The Shokyu era (1219-1222) gave its name to a memorable conflict
between Kyoto and Kamakura. Affairs in the Imperial capital were
ruled at that time by the ex-Emperor, Go-Toba. We have seen how, in
1198, he abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Tsuchimikado. It is
not impossible that the idea of rebelling, sooner or later, against
the Bakufu had begun to germinate in the mind of Go-Toba at that
date, but the probability is that, in laying aside the sceptre, his
dominant aim was to enjoy the sweets of power without its
responsibilities, and to obtain leisure for pursuing polite
accomplishments in which he excelled. His procedure, however,
constituted a slight to the Bakufu, for the change of sovereign was
accomplished without any reference whatever to Kamakura. Tsuchimikado
was a baby of three at the time of his accession. He had been chosen
by lot from among three sons of Go-Toba, but the choice displeased
the latter, and in 1210, Tsuchimikado, then in his fifteenth year,
was compelled to abdicate in favour of his younger brother, Juntoku,
aged thirteen, the eighty-fourth occupant of the throne. Again,
Kamakura was not consulted; but the neglect evoked no remonstrance,
for Sanetomo held the post of shogun at the time, and Sanetomo always
maintained an attitude of deference towards the Imperial Court which
had nominated him to high office.
Juntoku held the sceptre eleven years, and then (1221) he, too,
abdicated at his father's request. Very different considerations,
however, were operative on this occasion. Go-Toba had now definitely
resolved to try armed conclusions with the Bakufu, and he desired to
have the assistance of his favourite son, Juntoku. Thus three
cloistered Emperors had their palaces in Kyoto simultaneously. They
were distinguished as Hon-in (Go-Toba), Chu-in (Tsuchimikado) and
Shin-in* (Juntoku). As for the occupant of the throne, Chukyo
(eighty-fifth sovereign) he was a boy of two, the son of Juntoku.
Much has been written about Go-Toba by romanticists and little by
sober historians. The pathos of his fate tends to obscure his true
character. That he was gifted with exceptional versatility is
scarcely questionable; but that he lacked all the qualities making
for greatness appears equally certain. That his instincts were so
cruel as to make him derive pleasure from scenes of human suffering,
such as the torture of a prisoner, may have been due to a neurotic
condition induced by early excesses, but it must always stand to his
discredit that he had neither judgment to estimate opportunities nor
ability to create them.
*Shin-in signifies the "original recluse;" Chu-in, the "middle
recluse;" and Shin-in "the new recluse."
Briefly summarized, the conditions which contributed mainly to the
Shokyu struggle had their origin in the system of land supervision
instituted by Yoritomo at the instance of Oye no Hiromoto. The
constables and the stewards despatched by the Bakufu to the provinces
interfered irksomely with private rights of property, and thus there
was gradually engendered a sentiment of discontent, especially among
those who owed their estates to Imperial benevolence. A well-known
record (Tai-hei-ki) says: "In early morn the stars that linger in the
firmament gradually lose their brilliancy, even though the sun has
not yet appeared above the horizon. The military families did not
wantonly show contempt towards the Court. But in some districts the
stewards were more powerful than the owners of the estates, and the
constables were more respected than the provincial governors. Thus
insensibly the influence of the Court waned day by day and that of
the military waxed."
There were other causes also at work. They are thus summarized by the
Kamakura Jidaishi: "The conditions of the time called two parties
into existence: the Kyoto party and the military party. To the former
belonged not only many officials of Shinto shrines, priests of
Buddhist temples, and managers of private manors, but also a few
nominal retainers of the Bakufu. These last included men who, having
occupied posts in the Imperial capital for a long time, had learned
to regard the Court with gratitude; others who had special grievances
against the Bakufu, and yet others who, having lost their estates,
were ready to adopt any means of recovering them. The family system
of the time paid no heed to primogeniture. Parents fixed the
succession by favouritism, and made such divisions as seemed
expedient in their eyes. During a parent's lifetime there could be no
appeal nor any remonstrance. But no sooner was a father's tombstone
about to be erected, than his children engaged in disputes or
appealed to the courts. Therefore the Bakufu, seeking to correct this
evil state of affairs, issued an order that the members of a family
should be subservient to the directions of the eldest son; which
order was followed, in 1202, by a law providing that disputes between
brothers must be compromised, and by another, in 1214, ruling that
applications for official posts must have the approval of the members
of the applicants' family in conclave instead of being submitted
direct, as theretofore. Under such a system of family autocracy it
frequently happened that men were ousted from all share in their
paternal estates, and these men, carrying their genealogical tables
constantly in their pockets, were ready to join in any enterprise
that might better their circumstances. Hence the Shokyu struggle may
be said to have been, politically, a collision between the Imperial
Court and the Bakufu, and, socially, a protest against family
autocracy."
The murder of Sanetomo inspired the Court with strong hope that a
suicidal feud had commenced at Kamakura, and when the Fujiwara baby,
Yoritsune, was sent thither, peace-loving politicians entertained an
idea that the civil and the military administration would soon be
found co-operating. But neither event made any change in the
situation. The lady Masa and her brother remained as powerful as ever
and as careless of the Court's dignity.
Two events now occurred which materially hastened a rupture. One was
connected with an estate, in the province of Settsu, conferred by
Go-Toba on a favourite--a shirabyoshi, "white measure-marker," as a
danseuse of those days was called. The land-steward of this estate
treated its new owner, Kamegiku, with contumely, and Go-Toba was
sufficiently infatuated to lodge a protest, which elicited from
Kamakura an unceremonious negative. One of the flagrant abuses of the
time was the sale of offices to Court ladies, and the Bakufu's
attitude in the affair of the Settsu estates amounted to an indirect
condemnation of such evil practices. But Go-Toba, profoundly
incensed, applied himself from that day to mustering soldiers and
practising military tactics. The second incident which precipitated
an appeal to arms was the confiscation of a manor owned by a bushi
named Nishina Morito, who, though a retainer (keriin) of the Bakufu,
had taken service at the Imperial Court. Go-Toba asked that the
estate should be restored, but Yoshitoki flatly refused. It was then
(1221) that Go-Toba contrived the abdication of his son, Juntoku, a
young man of twenty-four, possessing, apparently, all the qualities
that make for success in war, and thereafter an Imperial decree
deprived Yoshitoki of his offices and declared him a rebel. The die
was now cast. Troops were summoned from all parts of the Empire to
attack Kamakura, and a motley crowd mustered in Kyoto.
STEPS TAKEN BY THE BAKUFU
It was on June 6, 1221, that the Imperial decree outlawing Hojo
Yoshitoki appeared, and three days later Kamakura was informed of the
event. The lady Masa at once summoned the leading generals of the
Bakufu to her presence and addressed them thus: "To-day the time of
parting has come. You know well what kind of work the late shogun, my
husband, accomplished. But slanderers have misled the sovereign and
are seeking to destroy the Kwanto institutions. If you have not
forgotten the favours of the deceased shogun, you will join hearts
and hands to punish the traducers and to preserve the old order. But
if any of you wish to proceed to the west, you are free to do so."
This astute appeal is said to have moved the generals greatly. There
was not one instance of disaffection; a sufficiently notable fact
when we remember that the choice lay between the Throne and the
Bakufu. A military council was at once convened by Yoshitoki to
discuss a plan of campaign, and the view held by the great majority
was that a defensive attitude should be adopted by guarding the
Ashigara and Hakone passes.
Alone, Oye no Hiromoto opposed that programme. Regarding the
situation from a political, not a strategical, standpoint, he saw
that every day they remained unmolested must bring an access of
strength to the Imperial forces, and he strenuously urged that a dash
should be made for Kyoto at once. Even the lady Masa did not rise to
Hiromoto's height of discernment; she advocated a delay until the
arrival of the Musashi contingent. Another council was convened, but
Hiromoto remained inflexible. He went so far as to urge that the
Musashi chief--Yoshitoki's eldest son, Yasutoki--ought to advance
alone, trusting his troops to follow. Then the lady Masa summoned
Miyoshi Yasunobu and asked his opinion. He said: "The fate of the
Kwanto is at stake. Strike at once." Thereupon Hojo Yoshitoki ordered
Yasutoki, his son, to set out forthwith from Kamakura, though his
following consisted of only eighteen troopers.
Thereafter, other forces mustered in rapid succession. They are said
to have totalled 190,000. Tokifusa, younger brother of Yasutoki, was
adjutant-general, and the army moved by three routes, the Tokai-do,
the Tosan-do, and the Hokuriku-do, all converging upon the Imperial
capital. On the night of his departure from Kamakura, Yasutoki
galloped back all alone and, hastening to his father's presence,
said: "I have my orders for the disposition of the forces and for
their destination. But if the Emperor in person commands the western
army, I have no orders to guide me." Hojo Yoshitoki reflected for a
time and then answered: "The sovereign cannot be opposed. If his
Majesty be in personal command, then strip off your armour, cut your
bow-strings, and assume the mien of low officials. But if the Emperor
be not in command, then fight to the death. Should you be defeated I
will never see your face again."
THE STRUGGLE
When they learned that a great army was advancing from the Kwanto,
the courtiers in Kyoto lost heart at once. There was no talk of
Go-Toba or of Juntoku taking the field. Defensive measures were alone
thought of. The Imperialist forces moved out to Mino, Owari, and
Etchu. Their plan was to shatter the Bakufu columns separately, or,
if that might not be, to fall back and cover the capital. It was a
most unequal contest. The Kyoto troops were a mere mob without
intelligence or coherence. They broke everywhere under the onset of
the Kwanto veterans. At the river Uji, where their last stand was
made, they fought gallantly and obstinately. But their efforts only
deferred the result by a few hours. On the twenty-fifth day (July 6,
1221) after he had marched out of Kamakura, Yasutoki entered Kyoto.
The Throne had no hesitation as to the course to be pursued in such
circumstances. From the palace of the Shin-in a decree was issued
restoring the official titles of the Hojo chief, and cancelling the
edict for his destruction, while, through an envoy sent to meet him,
he was informed that the campaign against the Bakufu had been the
work of irresponsible subjects; that the sovereign did not sanction
it, and that any request preferred by Kamakura would be favourably
considered.
Yasutoki received these gracious overtures with a silent obeisance,
and taking up his quarters at Rokuhara, proceeded to arrest the
leaders of the anti-Bakufu enterprise; to execute or exile the
courtiers that had participated in it, and to confiscate all their
estates. In thus acting, Yasutoki obeyed instructions from his
implacable father in Kamakura. He himself evinced a disposition to be
merciful, especially in the case of the Court nobles. These he sent
eastward to the Bakufu capital, which place, however, very few of
them reached alive, their deaths being variously compassed on the
way.
To the Imperial family no pity was shown. Even the baby Emperor* was
dethroned, and his place given to Go-Horikawa (1221-1232), the
eighty-sixth sovereign, then a boy of ten, son of Morisada, Go-Toba's
elder brother. Go-Toba, himself was banished to the island of Oki,
and Juntoku to Sado, while Tsuchimikado, who had essayed to check the
movement against the Bakufu, might have remained in Kyoto had not the
exile of his father and brother rendered the city intolerable. At his
own request he was transferred, first, to Tosa, and then, to Awa. The
three ex-Emperors died in exile. Go-Toba seems to have suffered
specially from his reverse of fortunes. He lived in a thatched hut
barely impervious to rain, and his lot is said to have been pitiful,
even from the point of view of the lower orders.
*To this child, Kanenari, who lived a virtual prisoner in Kyoto for
thirteen years subsequently, the Bakufu declined to give the title of
Emperor. Not until the Meiji Restoration (1870) was he enrolled in
the list of sovereigns under the name of Chukyo.
YASUTOKI'S EXPLANATION
There had not been any previous instance of such treatment of the
Imperial family by a subject, and public opinion was not unnaturally
somewhat shocked. No little interest attaches, therefore, to an
explanation given by Yasutoki himself and recorded in the Biography
of Saint Myoe (Myoe Shonin-deri). Visiting the temple after his
victory, Yasutoki was thus addressed by Myoe:
The ancients used to say, "When men are in multitude they may
overcome heaven for a moment, but heaven in the end triumphs." Though
a country be subdued by military force, calamities will soon overtake
it unless it be virtuously governed. From time immemorial in both
Japan and China sway founded on force has never been permanent. In
this country, since the Age of Deities down to the present reign, the
Imperial line has been unbroken through ninety generations. No prince
of alien blood has ascended the throne. Everything in the realm is
the property of the Crown. Whatever the Throne may appropriate, the
subject must acquiesce. Even life must be sacrificed if the cause of
good government demands it. But you have broken an Imperial army;
destroyed Imperial palaces; seized the persons of sovereigns;
banished them to remote regions, and exiled Empresses and princes of
the Blood. Such acts are contrary to propriety. Heaven will inflict
punishment.
These words are said to have profoundly moved Yasutoki. He replied: I
desire to express my sincere views. The late shogun (Yoritomo) broke
the power of the Heike; restored peace of mind to the Court; removed
the sufferings of the people, and rendered loyal service to the
sovereign. Among those that served the shogun there was none that did
not reverence the Emperor. It seems that his Majesty recognized these
meritorious deeds, for he bestowed ranks and titles. Yoritomo was not
only appointed dainagon and taisho, but also given the post of
so-tsuihoshi with powers extending to all parts of the empire.
Whenever such honours were offered, he firmly declined to be their
recipient, his contention being that not for personal reward but for
the sake of the Throne he had striven to subdue the insurgents and to
govern the people mercifully. Pressed again and again, however, he
had been constrained finally to accede, and thus his relatives also
had benefitted, as my grandfather, Tokimasa, and my father,
Yoshitoki, who owed their prosperity to the beneficence of the
cloistered Emperor.
But after the demise of his Majesty and of the shogun, the Court's
administration degenerated. The loyal and the faithful were not
recognized and often the innocent were punished. When it was reported
that an Imperial army numbering tens of thousands was advancing
against the Kwanto, my father, Yoshitoki, asked my views as to
dealing with it. I replied: "The Kwanto has been loyal and has erred
in nothing. Yet we are now to be punished. Surely the Court is in
error? Still the whole country belongs to the sovereign. What is now
threatened must take its course. There is nothing for us but to bow
our heads, fold our hands, and supplicate for mercy. If,
nevertheless, death be our portion, it will be lighter than to live
disloyal. If we be pardoned, we can end our lives in mountain
forests." My father, after reflecting for a space, answered: "What
you say may be right, but it applies only when the sovereign has
properly administered the country. During the present reign, however,
the provinces under Imperial sway are in confusion; the peace is
disturbed, and the people are in misery; whereas those under the
Bakufu are peaceful and prosperous. If the administration of the
Court be extended to all the land, misrule and unhappiness will be
universal. I do not resist the mandate for selfish reasons. I resist
it in the cause of the people. For them I sacrifice my life if heaven
be not propitious. There are precedents. Wu of Chou and Kao-tsu of
Han acted similarly, but, when victorious, they themselves ascended
the throne, whereas if we succeed, we shall merely set up another
prince of the same dynasty. Amaterasu and Hachiman will not reproach
us. We will punish only the evil councillors who have led the Throne
astray. You will set out with all expedition."
Thus instructed, I took the road to Kyoto. But before departing, I
went to worship at the shrine of Hachiman. There I prayed that if my
taking the field was improper, I might be struck dead forthwith; but
that if my enterprise could in any wise aid the country, bring peace
to the people, and contribute to the prosperity of the shrines and
temples, then might I receive the pity and sympathy of heaven. I took
oath before the shrine of Mishima Myojin, also, that my purpose was
free from all selfish ambition. Thus, having placed my life in the
hand of heaven, I awaited my fate. If to this day I have survived all
peril, may I not regard it as an answer to my prayer?
A difference will be detected between the views here attributed to
Yoshitoki and his previously narrated instructions to his son,
Yasutoki. There can be little doubt that the record in the Myoe
Shonin-den is the correct version. Yoshitoki obeyed the Chinese
political ethics; he held that a sovereign had to answer for his
deeds at the bar of public opinion. Yasutoki's loyalty was of a much
more whole-hearted type: he recognized the occupant of the throne as
altogether sacrosanct. If he obeyed his father's instructions in
dealing with the Court, he condemned himself to the constant
companionship of regret, which was reflected in the excellence of his
subsequent administration.
ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES
By the Shokyu war the camera system of administration (Insei) at the
Court was destroyed, and a great change took place in the relations
of the Throne to the Bakufu. For, whereas the latter's authority in
Kyoto had hitherto been largely nominal, it now became a supreme
reality. Kamakura had been represented in the Imperial capital by a
high constable only, whereas two special officials, called
"inquisitors" (tandai) were now appointed, and the importance
attaching to the office becomes apparent when we observe that the
first tandai were Yasutoki himself and his uncle, Tokifusa. They
presided over administrative machinery at the two Rokuhara--in the
northern and southern suburbs of the city--organized exactly on the
lines of the Kamakura polity; namely, a Samurai-dokoro, a Man-dokoro,
and a Monju-dokoro. Further, in spite of imposing arrangements in
Kyoto, no question was finally decided without previous reference to
Kamakura, which thus became, in very truth, the administrative
metropolis of the empire.
THE SHIMPO-JITO
When Yoritomo appointed retainers of his own to be land-stewards in
the various manors, these officials did not own the estates where
they were stationed; they merely collected the taxes and exercised
general supervision. After the Shokyu struggle, however, some three
thousand manors, hitherto owned by courtiers hostile to the Bakufu,
were confiscated by the latter and distributed among the Minamoto,
the Hojo, and their partisans. The recipients of these estates were
appointed also to be their land-stewards, and thus there came into
existence a new class of manor-holders, who were at once owners and
jito, and who were designated shimpo-jito, or "newly appointed
land-stewards," to distinguish them from the hompo-jito, or
"originally appointed."
These shimpo-jito, in whom were vested at once the rights of
ownership and of management, were the first genuine feudal chiefs in
Japan--prototypes of the future daimyo and shomyo. It should be here
noted that, in the distribution of these confiscated estates, the
Kamakura regent, Yoshitoki, did not benefit to the smallest extent;
and that the grants made to the two tandai in Kyoto barely sufficed
to defray the charges of their administrative posts. Yoshitoki is, in
truth, one of the rare figures to whom history can assign the credit
of coveting neither wealth nor station. Out of the three thousand
manors that came into his hands as spolia opima of the Shokyu war, he
might have transferred as many as he pleased to his own name; and
wielding absolute authority in Kyoto, he could have obtained any
title he desired. Yet he did not take a rood of land, and his
official status at the time of his death was no higher than the
fourth rank.
THE BUILDERS OF THE BAKUFU
The great statesmen, legislators, and judges who contributed so much
to the creation of the Bakufu did not long survive the Shokyu
struggle. Miyoshi Yasunobu, who presided over the Department of
Justice (Monju-dokoro) from the time of its establishment, had been
attacked by mortal sickness before the Imperial army commenced its
march eastward. His last advice was given to the lady Masa when he
counselled an immediate advance against Kyoto. Soon afterwards he
died at the age of eighty-two. The great Oye no Hiromoto, who
contributed more than any other man to the conception and
organization of the Kamakura system, and of whom history says that
without him the Minamoto had never risen to fame, survived his
colleague by only four years, dying, in 1225, at the age of
seventy-eight. The lady Masa, one of the world's heroines, expired in
the same year, and 1224 had seen the sudden demise of the regent,
Hojo Yoshitoki. Fortunately for the Bakufu, the regent's son,
Yasutoki, proved himself a ruler of the highest ability, and his
immediate successors were not less worthy of the exalted office they
filled.
ENGRAVING: SILK TASSEL
ENGRAVING: ITSUKUSHIMA JINJA (SHRINE), AT MIYAJIMA