Kujō Yoritsune


Kujō Yoritsune, also known as Fujiwara no Yoritsune, was the fourth shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan. His father was kanpaku Kujō Michiie and his grandmother was a niece of Minamoto no Yoritomo. His wife was a granddaughter of Yoritomo and daughter of Minamoto no Yoriie. He was born in the year, month and on the day of the Tiger, and so was given the birth name Mitora.
The Kujō family was one of the five branches of the historically powerful Fujiwara clan of courtiers.

Family

  • Father: Kujō Michiie
  • Mother: Saionji Rinko
  • Wife: Minamoto no Yoshiko
  • Concubine: Omiya no Tsubone
  • Children:
  • * Kujō Yoritsugu by Omiya
  • * Kujō Michijo by Omiya
  • * Minamoto no Meguhime by Omiya

    Events of Yoritsune's ''bakufu''

At the age of seven, in 1226, Yoritsune became Sei-i Taishōgun in a political deal between his father and the Kamakura shogunate regent Hōjō Yoshitoki and Hōjō Masako who set him up as a puppet shogun.
  • 1225 : At Kamakura, Yoritsune's coming of age ceremonies took place at age 8; but control of all bakufu affairs remained entirely in the hands of Hōjō Yasutoki, the regent.
  • 25 February 1226 : Emperor Go-Horikawa raised Yoritsune to the first rank of the fifth class in the apex of artistocratic court hierarchy.
  • 1230 : Yoritsune is married to the daughter of Minamoto no Yoriie. She is 15 years older than he is.
  • 1231 : Yoritsune is raised to the second rank of the 4th class in the dōjō kuge.
  • 1231 : Yoritsune is created a general of the left.
  • 1231 : Yoritsune is raised to the first rank of the 4th class in the dōjō kuge.
  • 20 March 1232 : Yoritsune is raised to the second rank of the 3rd class in the dōjō kuge.
  • 1233 : Yoritsune is granted the court post of provisional Middle Counselor
  • 1234 : Yoritsune is raised to the first rank of the 3rd class in the dōjō kuge.
  • 1235 : Yoritsune is raised to the second rank of the second class in the dōjō kuge.
  • 23 August 1236 : Yoritsune is raised to the first rank of the second class in the dōjō kuge.
  • 1237 : Yoritsune ordered the building of a mansion in the Rokuhara section of Miyako.
  • 1238 : Yoritsune leaves Kamakura en route to Miyako, accompanied by Yaskutoki and the troupes of several provinces. Fujiwara no Yukimitis stays at Kamakura to preserve order in the land.
  • 1238 : Yoritsune arrives in Miyako and begins to live in his new palace at Rokuhara.
  • 1238 : Yoritsune leaves Miyako to return to Kamakura.
  • 14 July 1242 : Hōjō Yasutoki died at age 60. From Gennin 1, or during 19 years, Yasutoki had been the regent or prime minister of the Kamakura shogunate. Yasutoki's son, Hōjō Tsunetoki succeeded him as shikken, but Yoritsune himself took charge of the bakufu.
  • 1244 : In the spring of this year, a number of extraordinary phenomena in the skies over Kamakura troubled Yoritsune deeply.
  • 1244 : Yoritsune's son, Yoritsugu, had his coming-of-age ceremonies at age 6. In the same month, Yoritsune asked Emperor Go-Saga for permission to give up his responsibilities as shogun in favor of his son, Kujō Yoritsugu.
  • 11 September 1245 : Yoshitsune shaved his head and became a Buddhist priest.
  • 1246 : Yoritsune's son, now Shogun Yoritsugu marries the sister of Hōjō Tsunetoki.
  • 1 September 1256 : Kujō Yoritsune, also known as Fujiwara Yoritsune, dies at the age of 38.
  • 14 October 1256 : Yoritsune's son and successor as Kamakura shogun, Fujiwara Yoritsugu, dies at the age of 16.

    Eras of Yoritsune's ''bakufu''

The years in which Yoritsune was shogun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.