Minamoto no Yoritomo

Minamoto no Yoritomo, first Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate

Minamoto no Yoritomo ( Japanese 源 頼 朝 ; * May 9, 1147 ; † February 9, 1199 ) was Minamoto no Yoshitomo's third son . He managed to push through with the Emperor, he granted special powers title Sei-i-Taishōgun ( 征夷大将軍 ) hereditary transmitted. Until then, the title with his powers of attorney had only been granted to a general for a limited period in the event of a national emergency (this meant the fight against the Ebisu ).

The name and life of Minamoto no Yoritomo are associated with the end of the Heian period (794–1185 / 1192), an epoch in Japanese history , and the beginning of the Kamakura period (1185–1333).

In a five-year war against the Taira , who dominated court politics, the Taira forces were destroyed in the sea ​​battle of Dan-no-ura ( Gempei War ). As a result of these events, Minamoto no Yoritomo became the most powerful man in Japan on April 25, 1185: He ousted the then emperor and founded the samurai state, although his brother Minamoto no Yoshitsune had actually fought all the important battles for him. He was appointed shogun by the Tennō Go-Toba in 1192 and founded not only the Kamakura shogunate , but also the Ashikaga and Tokugawa shogunate - both families could be traced back to the Minamoto.

In the Heian period , the imperial court in Kyoto dominated politics. During this phase, local warlords gradually emerged in the provinces. These leaders were descendants of the emperors who sought public office in the province. The political center was still in the capital Kyoto, but real political power shifted more and more to the provinces to local aristocrats with descent from the Japanese imperial family. The imperial court neutralized this newly formed warrior class by 1185 by playing off their members against each other, as Friday (1992) explains. With Yoritomo, not only did the political focus finally shift away from the imperial court to the shoguns ; the geographical epicenter of politics also resettled in the province. The person of the Tennō was not shaken, but he was politically disempowered.

origin

Minamoto no Yoritomo was a descendant of the Minamoto clan , more precisely the family branch of the Seiwa Genji . The Minamoto family is one of the four great Japanese noble families, which also included the Taira , Fujiwara, and Tachibana , who dominated court politics during the Heian period. These families all trace their ancestor back to a member of the Japanese imperial family. In the case of the Minamoto, the family can be traced back to the emperor Seiwa (850–880).

Yoritomo was the third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo . This in turn was the eldest son of Minamoto no Tameyoshi . Yoritomo's father did a great job during the Hōgen rebellion in 1156; however, he is not given as generous consideration as Taira no Kiyomori .

Early years and exile

Yoritomo was born in Atsuta ( Nagoya ).

In January 1160, when Yoritomo was 13 years old, during a brief absence of the Taira no Kiyomori from Kyoto, his father Yoshitomo decided to participate in the Heiji rebellion . The secondary sources are not uniform in the dating. Some give 1160 as the date, some put the beginning of the rebellion in 1159, as Kiyomori and his family set out on a pilgrimage to his favorite shrine in December 1159. These sources do not calculate from January, but from December, when Kiyomori left Kyoto. Yoritomo served in his father's troops. The rebellion lasted only a short time and Kiyomori drove the rebels out of the city, who sought their salvation in a flight to the east (The Taira had their power base in the west of the island archipelago, especially the island of Kyushu , while the ancestral lands of the Minamoto in the east , North-east). Yoshitomo was killed while fleeing. In a blizzard on Mount Ibuki of Mino Province (now Gifu Prefecture ) Yoritomo is separated from his companions. Followers of the Taira family picked him up and took him to the Taira headquarters.

Kiyomori spared Yoritomo's life due to the intercession of Ike no Zenni, the stepmother of Kiyomori, a Taira noblewoman. Instead, Yoritomo was sent into exile in Izu Province (today: Shizuoka Prefecture ). His brothers were housed in temples. Yoritomo and his brothers were still children. Yoshitomo, like his brothers, perished in the Hogen or Heiji rebellion. For Kiyomori, the youngest members of the Minamoto family were no longer a threat.

As a guard Kiyomori initially determined Itō Sukechika, later it became Hōjō Tokimasa from a branch of the Taira family. Yoritomo is said to have romances with the daughters of both guards. While still in exile, Yoritomo married Hōjō Masako , the daughter of Tokimasa. Tokimasa granted Yoritomo some freedoms so that he was informed about current political events in the capital, could practice military activities and finally could even keep in touch with local leaders.

When the conflict between the Taira and Minamoto broke out again, Tokimasa supported Yoritomo.

The Taira Minamoto War

The Taira Minamoto War, also known as the Gempei War , lasted from 1180 to 1185. The trigger was an appeal by Prince Mochihito to the Minamoto, loyal warriors and temples to revolt against Kiyomori and the Taira.

The call reached Yoritomo in May 1180 and he immediately began preparations for a campaign. Even though the prince was killed in July, Yoritomo decided to attack the local Taira governor anyway. In September 1180, Yoritomo crossed the Hakone Pass in Izu at the head of a small group of Hōjō warriors . This attack turns into a fiasco, but Yoritomo escaped. In the months that followed, Yoritomo received a large number of supporters and in further disputes he was able to successfully assert himself militarily against the Taira. In doing so, Yoritomo initially concentrated on unifying the east before he could set out to carry the war into the western provinces and fight against the Taira.

From 1180 to 1183 Yoritomo moved into headquarters in Kamakura and expanded it into a political and economic base, with a focus on the Kanto region . During this time, Yoritomo laid the foundation for the later military administration. The first was the selection of followers regardless of bloodline or traditional association. He offered protection against loyalty and certain services to the various local nobles. The protection was already expressed in the fact that Yoritomo confirmed his domain to the nobles or even gave new land for fief. The next step was the expansion of Kamakura as a rulership center with administrative, religious and representative buildings.

Minamoto no Yoshinaka, a relative of Yoritomo, was on Yoritomo's side, but refused to submit to him, which made him suspicious of both Yoritomo and the Taira. Yoshinaka managed to defeat the Taira troops in 1183, who took the child emperor Antoku with them while fleeing west . Yoshinaka did not pursue the Taira, but settled in Kyoto. Thereupon Yoritomo sent his brothers Noriyori and Yoshitsune in January 1184 to subjugate Yoshinaka. With the conquest of the Kyoto region, Yoritomo's status changed to the protector of the imperial court.

In order to attack the Taira in the west and on the islands of Shikoku and Kyushu , Yoritomo had a fleet built, which expired in March 1185.

In the sea ​​battle of Dan-no-ura , on the southern tip of Honshū in Nagato province , the final and decisive sea battle between Taira and Minamoto forces took place, which the Minamoto won. The child emperor Antoku drowned.

Consolidation of rule

After the elimination of the taira as a power factor, Yoritomo was the most powerful man in Japan. The relationship with his brother Yoshitsune remained problematic, and the northern part of Honshu was not under his control. In addition, his de facto rule was not yet confirmed by the court. Yoritomo exerted "political pressure", in turn his former guard Hōjō Tokimasa was helpful, who acted for him on site.

All of these problems should be resolved with Yoshitsune's flight from the captors of Yoritomo to the north. Yoshitsune was classified as a rebel. In addition, the imperial court followed Yoritomo's request to give him the authority to use a Shugo for the provinces and a Jitō for the fiefs , as well as a rice tax, the Hyōrōmai, in the amount of five Shō per tan on all land. In addition to the presence of troops, the general unrest in the country after the five years of war and unrest was helpful in persuading the imperial court to grant Yoritomo these rights. Yoritomo was the only one who had the ability not only to appoint Shugo and Jito, but also to enforce it. Although Fujiwara no Hidehira had Yoshitsune killed, Yoritomo sent troops, which then conquered the northern provinces.

It was possible to use Yoritomo Tennō Kujō Kanezane as imperial ruler and in the following time to impress the imperial court with his abundance of power at several meetings in Kyoto from 1190. In 1192 Yoritomo was finally awarded the title of Shogun .

Death and the time after

In 1199, Yoritomo, now 52 years old, returned from a public ceremony. On the way home, Yoritomo was thrown from his horse and succumbed to his injuries.

After his death, his sons were appointed successively as shoguns, most recently Sanemoto, with whose death in 1219 Yoritomo's own bloodline ended. The shogunate in Kamakura had established itself and was to continue in a similar form until 1868. This continuity was guaranteed during the time of Kamakura Bakufu by the Hōjō family, who secured important positions in the shogunate early on and ultimately determined politics, while the shogun hardly had any representative function. One irony of the story is that the Hōjō were a branch of the Taira family.

The achievements of Minamoto no Yoritomo

An essential achievement of the Minamoto no Yoritomo is the founding of the first shogunate government in Japan, whose structures lasted until 1868 and which replaced those of the old capital city administration of Kyoto. Within 20 years, Yoritomo managed to rise to rulership of Japan without following the usual political paths. Perhaps hardly anyone else could accomplish this feat at the time. Growing up in Kyoto, Yoritomo had grown into court life. From the age of 13 he lived as a provincial warrior. It combined the characteristics of the Heian period and those of the new era of the samurai.

However, the time that Yoritomo remained was not enough to transfer his charisma as a leader into appropriate institutions that would have allowed his descendants to rule independently of their personal charisma.

useful information

Archery

Minamoto no Yoritomo is considered the founder of Yabusame , a ritualized form of mounted archery .

Religious engagement

Yoritomo was a generous donor to many Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines . He is venerated as a Kami in the Kamakura Shirahata Shrine and in two Hanawo shrines in Kagoshima Prefecture.

literature

• Farris, William W .: Heavenly Warriors - The Evolution of Japan's Military, 500-1300 , Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press 1992
• Friday, Karl F .: Hired Swords - The Rise of Private Warrior Power in Early Japan , Stanford: Stanford University Press 1992
• Itasaka, Gen (Ed.): Kōdansha Encyclopedia of Japan , Tokyo and New York: Kôdansha International Ltd. 1983 (Volume V)
• Mass, Jeffrey P .: The Emergence of the Kamakura Bakufu . Published in Medieval Japan - Essays in Institutional History . Yale University Press, New Haven and London 1974, pp. 127-156
• Shinoda, Minoru: The Founding of the Kamakura Shogunate 1180–1185 , New York: Columbia University Press 1960
• Oyler, Elizabeth: Swords, Oaths, and Prophetic Visions - Authoring Warrior Rule in Medieval Japan , Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press 2006
• Sansom, George Bailey: Japan in world history , New York: Inst. Of Pacific Relations 1951
• Sugimoto, Masayoshi; Swain, David L .: Science and Culture in Traditional Japan , Cambridge and London: MIT Press 1978

Web links

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