Hōjō Masako

Hōjō Masako (1156 –1225) was the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo, and mother of Minamoto no Yoriie and Minamoto no Sanetomo, the first, second and third shōguns of the Kamakura period.  She was the daughter of Hōjō Tokimasa and sister of Hōjō Yoshitoki, regents, shikken, of the Kamakura shogunate.

Hōjō Masako’s father was Hōjō Tokimasa the leader of the Hōjō clan of Izu province. The Hōjō family was descended from the Taira clan and thus was related to the imperial family

Masako was born into a world of war and strife. The Hōgen Rebellion in 1156 pitted Cloistered Emperor Toba against Emperor Sutoku over the deceased Emperor Konoe’s successor. A few years later, in 1560 the Heiji Rebellion saw the Taira clan under Taira no Kiyomori defeat the Minamoto clan. Minamoto no Yoshitomo, leader of the Minamoto clan, was executed. Of his surviving sons, Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Noriyori were forced into priesthood, while Minamoto no Yoritomo, at the age of thirteen, was exiled to Izu in the domain of Hōjō Tokimasa. The Hōjō clan chose to stay out of the rebellions.

Masako’s fate changed forever due to the Genpei War (1180-1185). The Genpei War began when Imperial Prince Mochihito, son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa, enlisted the Minamoto clan to overthrow the Taira clan. Minamoto no Yoritomo, as head of the Minamoto clan, responded to the call and eventually the Minamoto destroyed the Taira clan and became the dominant clan.

The Hōjō under her father, Hōjō Tokimasa, stayed loyal to the Minamoto clan and most importantly, loyal to Yoritomo. The Hōjō benefitted greatly from their loyalty.

In the ensuing years, Yoritomo consolidated his power. His new allegiance to his wife’s family and Masako’s dislike of her brothers-in-law, as well as an internal power struggle brought up by the three brothers, eventually resulted in the arrest and execution of Yoritomo’s remaining brothers, Yoshitsune and Noriyori.

In 1192 Yoritomo was named shōgun becoming the most powerful man in Japan, and Masako and the Hōjō clan benefitted as well.

Masako married Yoritomo around 1177. In 1182, Masako and Yoritomo had their first son, Minamoto no Yoriie, who would be the heir. In 1192 Masako and Yoritomo had another son, Minamoto no Sanetomo.

In 1199, Minamoto no Yoritomo died. He was succeeded as shōgun by his son, Minamoto no Yoriie. Since Yoriie was young, Hōjō Tokimasa proclaimed himself shikken or regent for Yoriie. Masako also had a strong position since her son was shōgun. Since her husband was dead, she shaved her head and became a Buddhist nun, receiving tonsure. However, she did not take up residence in a monastery or a nunnery but remained involved in politics. Along with her father Tokimasa and her brother Yoshitoki, Masako created a council of regents for the eighteen-year-old Yoriie.

The headstrong shōgun hated his mother’s family and preferred his wife’s family, the Hiki clan, and his father-in-law, Hiki Yoshikazu. Minamoto no Yoriie had married the daughter of Hiki Yoshikazu. Yoriie preferred the Hiki clan to the Hōjō.

One day Masako overheard a conversation between Yoriie and Yoshikazu. Yoriie was seriously ill and was considering naming both his brother Minamoto no Sanetomo successor and his son Minamoto no Ichiman as his successors. They would split the country and Yoshikazu could be the regent for Ichiman. Yoshikazu suggested that Sanetomo should be killed. Unfortunately for them, after overhearing the conversation, Masako told Hōjō Tokimasa about this. Tokimasa had Yoshikazu executed and the rest of his clan, including the five-year-old Minamoto no Ichiman, Yoriie’s son, Masako’s grandson, and Tokimasa’s great grandson, because he was part Hiki. Yoriie abdicated and retired to convalesce in Izu Province. He was murdered in 1204, probably on orders from Tokimasa.

After Yoriie’s abdication, his younger brother Sanetomo became the third shōgun, with Tokimasa as regent. Hōjō Tokimasa was by 1205 the most powerful man in Kamakura and perhaps, in Japan as well.

Hōjō Tokimasa’s rule came to an end in 1205.  Masako and her brother, Yoshitoki, tired of Tokimasa’s excesses, especially the execution of Masako’s brother-in-law and a rumor of Tokimasa planning to execute Sanetomo, forced him to step down, retire to a monastery, shave his head, and become a monk. He died in 1215.

After the ouster of Tokimasa, Hōjō Yoshitoki succeeded as shikken for Sanetomo, and Masako was in a powerful position as a negotiator with the court. In 1218, Masako was awarded the Junior Second Rank by the imperial government, and continued to work towards the creation of an advisory council for Sanetomo.

In 1219, Sanetomo was slain by his nephew Kugyō, the son of his murdered elder brother Yoriie. Kugyō was then executed, ending the direct Minamoto line of shōguns. This did not stop Masako and Yoshitoki from expanding the power of the Hōjō. Masako and Yoshitoki selected Kujō Yoritsune, also known as Fujiwara no Yoritsune, as the next shōgun. Kujō Yoritsune was a member of the Kujō branch of the Fujiwara clan, and his grandmother was the niece of Minamoto no Yoritomo. He was adopted by Masako, and since he was still an infant, Masako acted for him as shōgun and looked over him until her death.

The Hōjōs kept Tokimasa’s title of shikken or head of council, first acquired in 1203.

During the Jōkyū War of 1221, Go-Toba rebelled against the Hōjō with the goal of restoring power to the emperor. The rebellion was put down by Yoshitoki and his eldest son, Hōjō Yasutoki, sending Go-Toba into exile. Masako continued to consolidate rule under the advisory council, manage the relationships and connections between imperial and aristocratic families, and administer judgments and postwar rewards.

Masako’s actions enabled the Hōjō clan to dominate the Kamakura Shogunate until its downfall in 1333.  Hōjō Masako died in 1225 at the age of 69. She was popularly known as the ama-shōgun, or the “nun-shogun”.