Masako was one of the most influential and powerful political figures of the era of military rule in Japan. She was the daughter of Hōjō Tokimasa and the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo.
After the death of her husband Yoritomo, who from 1192 had been the first shogun of the Minamoto clan, Masako took Buddhist vows, donned monastic robes, and received ordination from the priest Gyōyū in 1199. This, however, by no means signified her withdrawal from state affairs: on the contrary, she continued to take an active part in political life and assisted her father in maintaining the power of the Hōjō clan in Kamakura.
Masako’s first major step was the creation of a council of “elders” (shukuro), whose main purpose was to restrain the authority of her own son—the second shogun, Yoriie—who was known for his willful nature. These measures enraged Yoriie, and he decided to seek support from the Hiki clan, which at that time was the principal political rival of the Hōjō.
According to the chronicle Azuma Kagami, Masako happened to overhear a conversation involving Yoriie, from which she concluded that he had entered into a conspiracy with the Hiki with the aim of killing Hōjō Tokimasa. She immediately informed her father of this. Whether this story is entirely accurate or whether the information reached Tokimasa by some other means is difficult to determine, but the outcome is clear: Tokimasa struck first and in the fall of 1203 eliminated the leadership of the Hiki clan.
Deprived of his allies, Yoriie was exiled to Izu Province, where he was later killed. He was succeeded by the eleven-year-old Sanetomo, and it was at this point that the beginning of a rift between Masako and Tokimasa became evident. Tokimasa took Sanetomo into his own household, even though the boy had previously lived with Masako, and soon became the most powerful individual in the Kamakura government.
He established the administrative office known as the mandokoro, from which he exercised de facto control over the state as regent to the young shogun. However, this period of his dominance did not last long. Masako, together with her brother Yoshitoki, overthrew Tokimasa, accusing him of plotting against Sanetomo. Yoshitoki himself, despite continuing to suffer from the consequences of the unjust accusation and destruction of the Hatakeyama clan on charges of treason, publicly declared his support for Sanetomo and considered it wisest to withdraw temporarily from active political life.
Once again, Masako proved indispensable, assisting her brother just as effectively as she had previously assisted their father. In 1218 she was sent to Kyoto with the mission of proposing to Emperor Go-Toba that one of his sons be given up for adoption as the heir to the childless Sanetomo.
The following year Sanetomo was assassinated, and the emperor refused to recognize the proposed heir and in 1221 attempted to restore the former imperial authority, but this attempt ended in failure. Yoshitoki died in 1224, and his death inspired a secret conspiracy by the Iga family, who hoped, with the support of the powerful Miura Yoshimura, to overthrow the Hōjō clan and replace them in Kamakura.
Upon learning of this threat, Masako personally hurried to meet with Yoshimura and succeeded in extracting assurances of his loyalty to the Hōjō, thereby skillfully thwarting the conspiracy before it could be carried out. The regency passed smoothly to her brother Yasutoki, and Masako herself died the following year at the age of sixty-nine. Masako remains in history as an outstanding and iconic figure: her power and influence within the Kamakura government were so great that she earned the nickname Ama-shōgun, the “Nun Shogun.”
See also
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Honda Masazumi
Masazumi was the eldest son of Honda Masanobu. From a young age, he served Tokugawa Ieyasu alongside his father, taking part in the affairs of the Tokugawa house and gradually gaining experience in both military and administrative matters. At the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Masazumi was part of the core Tokugawa forces, a clear sign of the high level of trust Ieyasu placed in him. After the campaign ended, he was given a highly sensitive assignment—serving in the guard of the defeated Ishida Mitsunari, one of Tokugawa’s principal enemies—an obligation that required exceptional reliability and caution.
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Hojo Shigetoki
Hōjō Shigetoki, the third son of Hōjō Yoshitoki, was still very young—only five years old—when his grandfather Tokimasa became the first member of the Hōjō clan to assume the position of shogunal regent.
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Hojo Soun
Hōjō Nagaudji was one of the prominent military commanders of the late Muromachi period. Thanks to a successful marriage alliance and skillful use of political intrigue, he managed to concentrate full power over the provinces of Suruga, Izu, and Sagami in his own hands. His origins remain unclear, but there is a possibility that he was connected to the Heiji clan of Ise Province, since early in his life he bore the name Ise Shinkurō.
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Hirano Nagayasu
From an early age, Hirano Nagayasu was in the service of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, since Nagayasu’s father, Nagaharu, had faithfully served Hideyoshi during Hideyoshi’s own childhood. Thus, the connection between the Hirano family and the Toyotomi house was established long before Hideyoshi’s rise to power and took the form of hereditary vassal loyalty.
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Hattori Hanzo
Hattori Hanzō, also known by the name Hattori Masanari, was the third son of Hattori Yasunaga, a samurai who served the Matsudaira clan. In his childhood he was called Tigachi Hanzō. His father held the highest rank in the shinobi hierarchy, that of jōnin, and Hanzō followed in his father’s footsteps, choosing the same path.
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Hatano Hideharu
Hatano Hideharu was the eldest son of Hatano Harumichi, the head of the Hatano clan. However, in childhood he was adopted by his uncle, Hatano Motohide, and was therefore formally regarded as Motohide’s heir. From the time of Hideharu’s grandfather, Hatano Tanemichi, the Hatano clan had been a vassal of the powerful Miyoshi house, which exerted considerable influence over the Ashikaga shoguns and effectively shaped the political situation in the region. Early in his career, Hideharu served Miyoshi Nagayoshi and, judging by surviving records, held a fairly high position within his lord’s hierarchy, as he was among the select group invited to the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Ōgimachi in 1557.
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Fukushima Masanori
Fukushima Masanori, a samurai from Owari Province, served Toyotomi Hideyoshi and took part in the Battle of Shizugatake, where he distinguished himself so conspicuously that he was awarded the honorary title of one of the “Seven Spears of Shizugatake,” meaning the warriors who had shown the greatest valor in the battle. As a reward for his courage and martial prowess, he was granted land producing an income of 5,000 koku of rice.
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Uemura Masakatsu
Masakatsu was a member of the Uemura clan and the son of Uemura Masatada; from an early age he served Tokugawa Ieyasu. During the Ikkō-ikki uprising in Mikawa Province in 1563, having converted from the Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist sect to the Jōdoshū sect, he took part in suppressing the rebels. After these events, Masakatsu was appointed a military governor and was granted land holdings. According to a number of sources, he was one of the so-called “Three Governors of Mikawa” (Mikawa sanbugyō), together with Amano Yasukage (1537–1613) and Koriki Kiyonaga (1530–1608).
