SUBJECT FILE NO. SA-0024
BUSHI ARCHIVE
Hōjō Masako
Hōjō Masako
Nun Shogun of Kamakura
SECTION I -- SUBJECT PROFILE
| Name | Hōjō Masako |
|---|---|
| English | Hōjō Masako |
| Origin | Japan |
| Lifespan | 1157–1225 |
| Gender | Female |
| Century | 12th C. |
| Clan / Role | Daimyo |
| Title | Nun Shogun of Kamakura |
SECTION II -- OVERVIEW
Born in 1157 to the Hōjō clan of Izu Province, Masako met the exiled Minamoto no Yoritomo when he was placed under her family's supervision and married him in 1177 against her father's initial wishes.When Yoritomo died in 1199 their son Yoriie became shogun in name, but Masako and her father Hōjō Tokimasa controlled the actual decisions through an emerging council of senior retainers.
After her son Yoriie was deposed and killed in 1204, and her younger son Sanetomo was assassinated by his own nephew in 1219, Masako adopted a young Fujiwara noble as the next shogun and ruled the bakufu in fact for the next six years.She is conventionally called the Ama Shōgun — the Nun Shogun — for the period after her tonsure following Sanetomo's death.
In 1221 she rallied the Kamakura warrior class to defeat Emperor Go-Toba's revolt against bakufu power; the speech she gave to the gathered warriors before the campaign is one of the most-quoted political speeches of the Japanese middle ages.She died in 1225, having effectively run the realm for twenty-six years.
SECTION III -- CHRONOLOGY
SECTION IV -- NOTABLE STATEMENTS
“Remember the favor your masters did for you, and do not betray them now for the easy reward of the Court.”
SECTION V -- FIELD NOTES
[A]The Speech Before Jōkyū
When Emperor Go-Toba called on samurai to revolt against Kamakura in 1221, Masako gathered the bakufu's senior retainers and reminded them, in a speech preserved by the Azuma Kagami, of every gift Yoritomo had given them and every favor that had built their houses. By the end of the speech the bakufu cause was won. The Imperial revolt collapsed within a month.
SECTION VI -- LEGACY & IMPACT
Masako is the founding figure of female political power in Japanese samurai history. Her position as widow, mother, and de facto ruler set the precedent for the prominent role women would play behind the scenes throughout subsequent samurai politics — the Hōjō female regents, the Tokugawa Ōoku, the modern Imperial household consorts. The phrase Ama Shōgun is still in modern Japanese, used to describe powerful behind-the-throne women.
SECTION VII -- MAJOR DEEDS
- [01]De facto rule of Kamakura Bakufu (1199–1225)
- [02]Speech rallying the bakufu in the Jōkyū War (1221)
- [03]Establishment of the Hōjō regency
- [04]Adoption of Fujiwara child as the Sekkan Shogun