, also known as , was the fourth shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan. His father was kanpaku Kujō Michiie and his grandmother was a niece of Minamoto no Yoritomo. 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, 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 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 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).
  • 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).
  • 1231 (Kangi 3, 2nd month): Yoritsune is raised to the second rank of the 4th class in the dōjō kuge.
  • 1234 (Bunryaku 1, 12th month): Yoritsune is raised to the first rank of the 3rd class in the dōjō kuge.
  • 1235 (Katei 1, 11th month): Yoritsune is raised to the second rank of the second class in the dōjō kuge.
  • 1238 (Ryakunin 1, 10th month): Yoritsune leaves Miyako to return to Kamakura.
  • 1244 (Kangen 2): In the spring of this year, a number of extraordinary phenomena in the skies over Kamakura troubled Yoritsune deeply.
  • 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.

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. ; OCLC 6042764