Hōjō Tokiyuki

Hōjō Tokiyuki was the second son of Hōjō Takatoki, the last tokusō of the Kamakura shogunate; his elder brother was Kunitoki. His childhood name was Kamejumaru, and he was commonly called Sagami Jirō. His birth is placed around 1329 (Gentoku 1) on the basis of a letter of Kanazawa Sadaaki. After the fall of the shogunate he rose in Shinano, briefly retook Kamakura, and later fought for the Southern Court. He was captured in 1353 and executed at Tatsunokuchi in Kamakura.

Fall of the shogunate and escape

On the 22nd day of the 5th month of Genkō 3 (1333), Takatoki and others killed themselves at the battle of Tōshōji, and the shogunate fell. According to the Taiheiki, as Takatoki took his own life he gave the young Kamejumaru the family sword Onimaru and sent him away to Shinano. Helped by Suwa Moritaka, Tokiyuki escaped and is said to have been sheltered by the Suwa shrine confraternity.

The Nakasendai Rebellion

He raised troops in Shinano on the 14th day of the 7th month of Kenmu 2 (1335). From the 18th of that month he defeated the army of Ashikaga Tadayoshi at Onnakagehara, Kotesashigahara, Fuchū and other places in Musashi, and he entered Kamakura on the 25th. However, he was defeated by Ashikaga Takauji at Hashimoto in Tōtōmi on the 9th day of the 8th month, and on the 19th Suwa Yorishige and his son Tokitsugu took their own lives (Baishōron). Tokiyuki escaped, and his hold on Kamakura had lasted about twenty days.

Fighting for the Southern Court

He obtained an imperial edict pardoning him as an enemy of the court and submitted to the Southern Court; the date is unknown, but by the Taiheiki's account it was before 1337. On the 23rd day of the 12th month of Kenmu 4 (1337) he attacked Kamakura with Kitabatake Akiie and Nitta Yoshioki and brought about the death of Ashikaga Ienaga (Shiba Ienaga), according to the Tsurugaoka Shamu Kiroku. In 1338 (Engen 3) he went west with Akiie's army and won at the battle of Aonogahara against Kō no Morofuyu and Toki Yoritō. At the battle of Ishizu in Izumi on the 22nd day of the 5th month he suffered a heavy defeat and Akiie fell, but Tokiyuki survived.

Musashino and his end

In the intercalary second month of 1352 (Shōhei 7) he joined the battle of Musashino with Nitta Yoshioki and others, invaded Kamakura and defeated Ashikaga Motouji. On the 28th of that month, however, Takauji defeated Prince Munenaga and Nitta Yoshimune at Kotesashigahara, and Kamakura returned to the Ashikaga. On 21 June 1353 (Shōhei 8, 5th month, 20th day) he was captured by the Ashikaga side and executed at Tatsunokuchi in Kamakura (present-day Tatsunokuchi, Fujisawa). The sources are the Tsurugaoka Shamu Kiroku, the Shoke Keizu San and the Sano-bon Keizu. His age at death is estimated to have been in his mid-twenties.

The sword and later memory

The Taiheiki says that his father Takatoki gave Kamejumaru the heirloom tachi Onimaru. In Ōkawara in Ōshika Village, Nagano, stands a tomb traditionally attributed to Hōjō Tokiyuki.