Succession as Shikken: How Hōjō Yoshitoki Took the Power of Kamakura by Banishing His Father, 1205

In the intercalary seventh month of 1205 (Genkyū 2), in Kamakura. Hōjō Yoshitoki turned to the side that banished his own father Tokimasa (this site's id 70) from Kamakura.

In the Maki-shi Incident, in which his father Tokimasa and his second wife Maki-no-kata plotted to remove the third shōgun Sanetomo, Yoshitoki joined with his sister Masako (this site's id 24) to bring his father down.

He was forty-three. The severe decision to drive out his father and succeed to the substantive power of the shogunate opened the second stage of Hōjō regency politics.

Yoshitoki was born a son of Hōjō Tokimasa in 1163. His sister was Masako, the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo (this site's id 23).

He joined Yoritomo's uprising of 1180 while young and, together with his father Tokimasa, supported the founding process of the Kamakura shogunate thereafter.

Yoritomo's trust in him was deep, and Yoshitoki gained a position set apart even among the gokenin.

After Yoritomo's death, the substantive power of the shogunate shifted from the shōgun to the council of powerful gokenin, and the Hōjō were positioned at its center.

Yoshitoki grew politically in the midst of this transfer of power.

In 1203, Tokimasa removed the second shōgun Yoriie, raised up Sanetomo, and became Mandokoro Bettō (the origin of the shikken).

But in 1205, Tokimasa and Maki-no-kata now schemed to remove Sanetomo as well and to set up their son-in-law Hiraga Tomomasa as shōgun.

Yoshitoki and Masako would not permit this; they protected Sanetomo and forced their father into retirement in Izu.

This choice to banish his own father shows the merciless political judgment of the Hōjō, who prioritized the survival of the shogunate over blood ties.

In the wake of his father's fall, Yoshitoki succeeded to the office of Mandokoro Bettō (shikken).

In tandem with his sister Masako, he built a system that led the rule of the shogunate.

Yoshitoki avoided standing out alone as his father Tokimasa had done, and carried out a skillful rule that grasped substantive power while respecting the council of gokenin.

This caution, in contrast to Tokimasa's fall within a single generation, stabilized Yoshitoki's power over the long term.

His later victory in the Jōkyū War would be built upon this foundation.