Japanese history overview Pt. 3: The Kamakura era

Welcome to part three of this overview of Japanese history. As always, if you haven’t read the previous parts, I suggest you do, as they’ll give you a background into the samurai culture we’re bout to explore. This part covers the Kamakura era, where the samurai came into their own, usurping power from the court and beginning what would turn out to be a 600-plus year rule of the country. Impressive as this number may sound, though, it wasn’t always smooth sailing; it took a while for the shōgunate to find its feet, and constant rebellions and financial issues that occurred during the Muromachi era eventually led to a nationwide battle royale known as Sengoku. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; let’s begin where we took off in Part 2, with Minamoto no Yoritomo having set up his brand new shōgunate in Kamakura.

The Kamakura era: 1185 – 1333

The Kamakura shōgunate got off to a good start; having won the war against the Taira, Yoritomo went on to defeat the Fujiwara in the north, giving him control over the entire country. He awarded the titles of shugo and jitō to a number of the men who had fought alongside him, and spread them around the country to create a samurai network. The initial shōgunate system was extremely basic: the shōgunate acknowledged the right of certain samurai to rule over certain regions of the country, and it agreed to help them out if anyone tried to invade their territory. In return, each samurai was expected to answer the shōgunate’s call to arms and help them take down their enemies. In short: you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Samurai who agreed to this contract with the shōgunate were known as go-kenin(御家人). Unlike later shōgunates, the go-kenin didn’t report directly to the shōgun; they simply held a gentleman’s agreement with him.

The rise of the Hōjō

All went well until 1199, when Minamoto no Yoritomo suddenly fell off his horse and died on the road to Kamakura. (For reasons I can’t understand, there are very few details regarding this pivotal incident in the history books, and yet almost no conspiracy theories exist regarding it.) As his son, Yoriie, was still too young to control the shōgunate by himself, a group of thirteen advisors was established to rule over Kamakura until he came of age. However, one of the key figures in this group, Hōjō Tokimasa―who happened to be Yoritomo’s father-in-law―slowly usurped power from the other members, found an excuse to have Yoriie killed, and replaced him with his more subservient younger brother, Sanetomo. Tokimasa assumed the position of shikken―a position similar to the court-appointed position of kanpaku. Over the next few years, Tokimasa used his newfound power to take down anyone who threatened his position until, in 1205, his son and daughter decided enough was enough and had him exiled to his home town.

Elimination of the Minamoto

Tokimasa’s son, Yoshitoki, took over as shikken and slowly began to go down the same path his father had taken, finding any excuse to wipe out his enemies. He did a better job of it, though, and managed to keep his position until he died in 1224. Sanetomo also did a good job as shōgun, keeping his head down and not causing too much trouble for the council. For all his diligence and subservience, though, he too ended up getting himself killed in 1219 at the hand of his nephew, who had spent his life plotting revenge for his father, Yoriie, whose death he believed Sanetomo played a part in. Since Yoriie’s death was actually orchestrated by Hōjō Tokimasa, I suppose you could say the Hōjō had a hand in the deaths of both Minamoto brothers.

As Sanetomo didn’t have any children, the shōgunate decided to elect a distant relation of Yoritomo’s from the Fujiwara family as the next shōgun. By this point, the Hōjō had taken complete control of the shōgunate, and the shōgun was nothing more than a puppet―Anyone from a noble family willing to keep their head down was more than qualified for the job. And so, Fujiwara no Yoritsune became the 4^th shōgun. Unfortunately, however, he kicked up more of a fuss than the Hōjō family were willing to accept and was eventually forced to pass the position to his son, Yoritsugu. He too caused unexpected problems, leading the shōgunate to send both him and his father home and replace them with an Imperial prince. The custom of selecting a prince as shōgun would continue until the end of the shōgunate.

The Jōkyū War

It wasn’t until 1221 that the shōgunate faced its first real challenge. Up until that point, it hadn’t had to deal with anything more difficult than a few minor internal struggles. But that all changed when retired Emperor Go-Toba decided to try to take back control of the country in an event that would be remembered by history as The Jōkyū War. He gathered his men and got as many samurai on side as he could before proceeding to march towards Kamakura. Yoshitoki gathered his own army of samurai and marched west. The two armies clashed at Uji river to the south of Kyōto and fought a long battle which ended with the shōgunate army driving the Imperial army back to Kyōto and finishing them off. This victory was as unexpected as it was unprecedented. Despite their superior power, few believed the shōgunate could actually defeat the Emperor. The samurai had earned their place as undisputed rulers of Japan.

Division of the Imperial line

After defeating the court, Yoshitoki had retired Emperor Go-Toba exiled to Oki Island, and his sons to Sado island and the Tosa province. The throne was passed to a nephew of Go-Toba, who passed it to his son, Emperor Shijō, after his death. That’s where the court’s problems began; Emperor Shijō died before he could produce an heir. And so the shōgunate decided to return the Imperial line to Go-Toba’s branch via his one remaining son, who had opposed his plan to take down the shōgunate. Emperor Go-Saga became the 88^th Emperor of Japan. However, after his death, his two sons ended up in a succession dispute that even the shōgunate couldn’t successfully resolve. After much debate and compromise, it was decided that the Imperial line would be split into two branches: the Daikakuji line and the Jimyōin line. From that point forth, Imperial succession would alternate between the two branches. It was a complicated and unsustainable solution that would go on to create even greater problems in the court, but the shōgunate wasn’t thinking that far ahead; it simply wanted a quick solution that everyone could agree to.

Kamakura Buddhism

The Kamakura era also introduced six new forms of Buddhism to Japan. Towards the end of the 12^th century, numerous famines and the Genpei war fought between the Minamoto and the Taira left people feeling scared and hopeless. At that time, Buddhism’s main followers were noblemen. Considering the cost of donations to temples and the money required for having rituals performed by priests, the religion simply wasn’t economically viable for the common man. The Kamakura era changed all that; new and simple sects popped up which required relatively little money or participation. There were few rules, and, if followed, they awarded anyone the opportunity to become a Buddha after they died. This allowed Buddhism to grow and spread, overtaking Shintō as Japan’s main religion.

Six new Buddhist sects

The first Mongol invasion

Perhaps what the Kamakura era is most famous for is the Mongol invasions of Japan. Kublai Khan first sent his massive army over in 1274. Recent historical discoveries, however, suggest that Khan didn’t initially intend to attack Japan; certain words and phrases used in his correspondences suggest that he was aiming for an equal partnership. Historians now believe that most likely, Khan was focussed solely on taking over the Southern Song dynasty. As Japan was engaged in trading with Song at the time, it made sense to ally with Japan and get a foot in the door rather than attack Song head-on. Khan sent six messengers to Japan, and all were refused an audience with the shōgun. Infuriated, he finally resorted to an all-out attack.

It didn’t go as smoothly as Khan had expected, however; despite their initial successes of taking over Tsushima and Iki islands, the Mongol army barely managed to set foot on mainland Japan before one of their top generals was killed. They regrouped, managed to overwhelm Kyūshū’s samurai army and drive them back to their castle so they could take up camp for the night. However, the next day when the Japanese army awoke―dreading the prospect of another day of facing the might of the Mongol legion―they found no trace of their enemy. The entire Mongol army had run back to their ships and sailed home in the middle of the night. The reason for this sudden change of heart baffles historians even to this day, but the death of a star general is believed to have played a big part; the Mongol army wasn’t used to defeat, so watching one of their leaders die so easily in battle may have dealt a serious to blow to their morale.

The second Mongol invasion

Whatever the reason for their sudden departure, Mongol decided to try again in 1281. By then, Khan’s army had succeeded in taking down Southern Song. He sent messengers from both Goryeo and Song to talk with the shōgun, but all were beheaded before they could even make it to Kamakura. Khan sent the bulk of his fleet to the western coast of Kyūshū, but Japan was fully prepared this time; not only had they established a private army in the west for the distinct purpose of fending off a Mongol attack, but they had even gone so far as to construct a 20-mile long wall along the coastline! Unwilling to face this new and reinforced Japanese army, the Mongol fleet decided to take over the nearby islands until the rest of their army arrived.

During this time, adverse weather and an epidemic killed thousands of their men, damaging their morale once more, until finally a typhoon destroyed a large number of their hastily and poorly-constructed ships, forcing the survivors to have to brave the storm and return home. And so, with an extreme amount of luck and the fact that an ocean separated them from their enemies, Japan succeeded twice in driving off one of the most formidable empires in history.

The downfall of the shōgunate

These victories did not come without a cost, however. As the battles had been fought on Japanese turf and anything of value brought over by the Mongol army was now resting at the bottom of the East China Sea, the shōgunate had nothing to reward their soldiers with. More and more samurai began to become disillusioned and break off their agreement with the shōgunate. It finally all came to a head in 1331, when Emperor Go-Daigo decided he wanted to continue being emperor rather than passing the throne to his nephew, as was agreed at the time of his ascension. Rather than listen to the shōgunate and step down, he opted for a war. The timing was right as enough samurai had now cut off ties with the shōgunate to allow him to amass a sizeable army. Two men in particular, Nitta Yoshisada and Ashikaga Takauji, played pivotal roles in this war, taking down Kamakura and the shōgun’s men in the capital respectively in 1333.

With the shōgunate’s army defeated, Emperor Go-Daigo brought the country back under the control of the court for the first time in almost 150 years. However, it only took him a mere three years to botch it all up. After neglecting the samurai who had helped him take the country back and giving all the top positions within the court to his friends and high-ranking members of the aristocracy, Takauji decided enough was enough and gathered a small army to seize control of Kamakura. Yoshisada remained on the emperor’s side and took on Takauji in a series of battles, from which Takauji emerged the victor. Go-Daigo fled to Yoshino in the south of the Yamato province and started what would become known as the Southern Court. Meanwhile, Takauji appointed a new emperor, Emperor Kōgen, from the Jimyōin line and had his new puppet proclaim him shōgun. This marked the beginning of the Muromachi shōgunate, which, of course, meant that Japan had entered the Muromachi era. Join me in part four of this overview of Japanese history to find out if Takauji’s shōgunate managed to learn from the mistakes of its predecessor.

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