Kamakura shogunate

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Kamakura shogunate was Japan’s first strong military government, ruling from around 1185 to 1333. It began after the Genpei War when Minamoto no Yoritomo defeated the Taira and named himself shōgun, moving power to Kamakura. The emperor and the imperial court in Kyoto remained as ceremonial figureheads.

How power worked
- Real control lay with the Hōjō clan, who acted as regents (shikken) from 1203 and guided government.
- The Minamoto shoguns and later puppet rulers from Fujiwara or imperial lines kept the title, but the Hōjō family held the true power.
- Yoritomo’s widow, Masako, was a dominant figure; at times she was called the “nun shogun.”

Important events
- 1221: Emperor Go-Toba tried to regain power in the Jōkyū War but failed.
- The regime faced two Mongol invasions (1274 and 1281) but repelled them, aided by defenses and storms blamed as the “divine wind.”
- 1333: Emperor Go-Daigo rebelled, and the Kamakura shogunate fell, ending real military rule and leading to imperial restoration for a time.

Administration and law
- The government used a dual system reaching into the countryside: shugo (military governors) and jitō (manor stewards) controlled lands under the shogun’s authority.
- The mandokoro was the central government office, and the hyōjō-shū was a main ruling body.
- Goseibai Shikimoku (1232) was the legal code, guiding law for generations, with a court of appeals called Monchō-jo.

Capitals and culture
- Capital was Kamakura; the emperor’s seat remained in Heian-kyō (Kyoto).
- Late Middle Japanese was spoken; Buddhism flourished (Zen, True Pure Land, Nichiren), and religious ideas mixed with daily life (shinbutsu-shūgō).

Aftermath
- The Kamakura period ended with the Kenmu Restoration (1333), when imperial rule briefly returned.
- In 1336, Ashikaga Takauji started the Ashikaga shogunate, beginning the Muromachi period.