Hōjō Tokimasa

Hōjō Tokimasa (1138-1215) was a warrior of the early Kamakura period who, as the first shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate, established the political foundation of the Hōjō clan. Hailing from the Hōjō clan, a local power family of Izu, he became deeply involved in the core of shogunate power when his daughter Masako married Minamoto no Yoritomo.

Tokimasa joined Yoritomo's uprising when Yoritomo raised arms in response to Prince Mochihito's call to arms in 1180 (Jishō 4). He led the warriors of Izu in support and played an indispensable role in establishing the Kamakura shogunate. As Yoritomo's father-in-law, he consolidated his position within the shogunate. In 1185 (Bunji 1) he traveled to the capital and secured the court's approval for the appointment of shugo and jitō (the Bunji Imperial Sanction, Bunji no chokkyo). After Yoritomo's death (1199), he was among the members of the Council of Thirteen and rose to prominence as a powerful figure within the shogunate.

In 1203 (Kennin 3), Tokimasa destroyed Hiki Yoshikazu and eliminated the Hiki clan's power within the shogunate (the Hiki Yoshikazu Incident). He exiled Yoriie to Izu and installed Minamoto no Sanetomo, his grandson through his daughter, as the third shogun. The following year, 1204, Yoriie was murdered at Shuzen-ji in Izu, and Tokimasa strengthened his unchecked dominance within the shogunate. In 1205 (Genkyū 2) he had his son-in-law Hatakeyama Shigetada assassinated (the Hatakeyama Shigetada Rebellion). Following this incident, his conflict with his second son, Hōjō Yoshitoki, deepened. In the same year, a scheme by Tokimasa and his second wife, Maki no Kata, to install his son-in-law Hiraga Tomomasa as shogun was thwarted by Masako and Yoshitoki. Tokimasa took the tonsure and was forced into retirement in Izu (the Maki Incident, Makishi Jiken).

With regard to its connection to the Japanese sword, the era of Tokimasa was an important period in which the sword culture of the early Kamakura period flourished. The Taiheiki contains an anecdote in which Tokimasa's tachi cut off the horns of a demonic figure cast into a hibachi, and this tale is recounted as the origin of the name "Onimaru Kunitsuna," one of the Tenka Goken (Five Swords under Heaven). The regent-led system of government established by the Hōjō clan continued until the fall of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333, and it became the foundation for the development of Japan's warrior culture and sword culture.