Elaboration re Masako if interested
Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2003 18:57 -0700
Here is a quick bio of Masako. Sorry it reads a bit like a soap opera. If just elaboarates on the comments posted by Stan Sensei with some personal details. She is an incedible character from any standard, but especially in my opinion for Japan. She disobeyed her father, argued violently with her husband and went against his direct orders to try and save people he had condemned. After his death she took government and along with other politically capable women successfully ran the country for the rest of her life. The Samurai of the time preferred to be commanded by a woman rather than by her brother.
Masako’s husband was Yoritomo Minamoto, who is considered a great example of a Samurai, and is acclaimed as the first Shogun and the man who unified Japan under a central government. He was a hard man who executed many, including women, children and his own brothers. That is what makes it particularly interesting that his wife repeatedly defied him, took armies to his mistresses and after his death took over government. Although not a warrior by conventional definition, Masako was an able general, and maintained the loyalty of the Samurai in preference to male leaders.
Masako Hojo was Yoritomo's wife, the daughter of the man appointed as his guardian durring his exile. Historical and popular opinion has been divided on Masako, who is seen as "either one of the most tragic or one of the most Machiavellian figures in Japanese history" . Her family was quite insignificant, ruling only a small area, and although descended from the Taira the Hojo were not of distinguished lineage . Masako was only three when the thirteen year-old Yoritomo was exiled into the care of her father . Her mother had died when she was young , and when she was twenty her father met and married a woman the same age as her while on guard duty in Kyoto . On his return Masako and her stepmother Maki began an enmity which would eventually result in her father’s disgrace and exile . At the same time her father, Tokimasa, also discovered that Masako and Yoritomo had begun a relationship .
Although some authors have maintained that Masako married Yoritomo because of political ambition, her father's reaction shows the foolishness of the idea. He was angry at the affair for good reason; Yoritomo was an exile with no prospects, an alliance with the Minamoto would seriously jeopardize the position of the Hojo and not least Yoritomo had already fathered a child with the daughter of another local lord of superior power to Tokimasa, and this lord had killed the child to maintain good relations with the Taira . Masako and Yoritomo eloped .
Their first son, Yoriie, was born in 1181 . Yoritomo appointed the daughter of his own Menoto (Menoto = wet nurse, but was far more significant. This family would raise the child and as such stood to gain great influence over him and his family, as well as political power, prestige and wealth) as Yoriie's menoto. This was a great honor, as "the family of his nurse would stand to gain tremendous power and influence...the choice would later prove to have been a poor one" . The family spoilt the child and grew "arrogant in their assumption of power" . Menoto relationships were crucial, providing "an undeniably influential force in Kamakura politics" . Masako, coming from a provincial and unimportant family, had not experienced this system . She was already raising her daughter , and as the eldest child had probably raised her brothers after her mother's death. Her life and that of her family was radically changed, as she went from being the wife of an exile to the wife of the most powerful man in eastern Japan was . While she had been pregnant Yoritomo had established a house for a mistress, Lady Kame . Under Masako's orders, a small army belonging to Masako's stepmother's brother destroyed the house, although the mistress escaped . Yoritomo was furious and snubbed his wife, resulting in the Hojo faction marching back to Izu . Unable to lose their support, Yoritomo was reconciled with Masako . The importance of their marital harmony to politics and to the course of Japanese history seems bizarre in retrospect. This was the first incident of the conflict which would continue throughout their marriage over the issue of Yoritomo's mistresses. It is also the most famous recorded incident of uwanari-uchi, the right of a first wife to defend her interests against others.
Yoshinaka sent his eldest son Yoshitaka to Yoritomo, hoping to marry him to Masako's eldest child, Ohime . Masako and Ohime were pleased with the idea and continued to grow fonder of the boy over time, but Yoritomo considered him a hostage . Keeping the example of his own life in mind, Yoritomo decided to kill him . Masako and Ohime tried to help Yoshitaka escape, but the plan failed and he was killed . Ohime became seriously ill in grief and this caused another rift between Masako and Yoritomo . Another event which pitted mother/daughter against Yoritomo was the sentencing of Shizuka. Both Masako and Ohime visited Shizuka while she was captive, and according to the Azuma Kagami Masako is supposed to have justified the woman's defiance to her husband after the dance, pointing out that she would have done the same . Ohime went further, offering to help Shizuka escape, an offer the dancer turned down as she was resolved to die . In 1194 Ohime's parents tried to marry her to her cousin, but she refused and threatened suicide .
Ohime died in 1197 aged nineteen . In 1199 Yoritomo died . In the same year Masako's second daughter Sanman, aged fourteen, also died . Yoriie succeeded as Shogun, only to be assassinated in 1204 at the instigation of Masako's father . His brother Sanetomo, who was a minor, replaced Yoriie . This gave rise to the position of regent for the Shogun, filled first by his grandfather Tokimasa . The son of Yoriie, who was in turn killed by Masako’s younger brother, the second Regent Hojo Yoshitoki, had purportedly assassinated Sanetomo in 1219 . This was the end of Yoritomo's line, and Sanetomo was the last Minamoto Shogun . In the debate over who should succeed Sanetomo, Masako and her father, apparently under the influence of his wife, were pitted against each other, and Tokimasa was forced to retire by Masako and her brother Yoshitoki . Masako began
"immediately putting the finishing touches to the organizational machinery of the Kamakura government which would assure the continued dominance of her own family, the Hojo, for more than a century to come" .
The governmental system seems bizarre, even by medieval standards! Fitzgerald describes it thus:
"There was now an Emperor, almost always a child: an ex-Emperor, his father, and often a senior ex-Emperor, who had more influence than the junior one. Then there was the Minamoto Shogun, now also often a child, and behind him, the real power in the land, the Regent for the Shogun, always...[a] Hojo" .
If possible, during Masako's lifetime it was even more complex, because she stood behind the Regent.
In her political maneuvering, she worked with Kaneko no Fujiwara, also called Kyo no Tsubone, the menoto of Emperor Go-Toba, and who controlled all court appointments . According to Butler, contemporary sources refer to the women as "the two women politicians of east and west" and he claims that they were "two of the most powerful figures in Japan" . Kaneko had received the Junior Second Rank (equivalent to the rank of the Three Ministers) in 1207, a tangible symbol of the influence she wielded at court . One could parallel the women with the Emperor and the Shogun, the men they manipulated. Mulhern describes them in these terms: "While Kaneko displayed the quick wit and mastery of social stratagem highly valued in court circles, Masako demonstrated the rugged pride of Bando warriors ...as well as their pragmatic attitude" . The women had met in 1218 to find a successor from the Imperial family, a "joint effort of these formidable women, both in their sixties" . Keneko also arranged an award of the Junior Third Rank for Masako, who, having become a nun on her second son’s death , was the first tonsured person to receive court rank since the only other example in the eighth century .
Her successful tactical decisions in 1221 enhanced her reputation and her pre-battle speech, maybe created by the authors of Azuma Kagami, shows her understanding of the warriors’ mentality . It is not surprising that she was known as Ama-Shogun, the Nun-General . According to Sansom, "hers was a supreme example of a women’s rise to eminence, but it was by no means without parallel in early feudal Japan" . She died in 1225 . Dilts describes her rule glowingly as an era of justice and lower taxation . Her biography would be almost unthinkable in the Japan of later years, certainly for her so have been considered a hero. She disobeyed her father, argued violently with her husband and went against his direct orders to try and save people he had condemned. After his death she took government and along with other politically capable women successfully ran the country for the rest of her life. The Samurai of the time preferred to be commanded by a woman rather than by her brother.
Masako’s husband was Yoritomo Minamoto, who is considered a great example of a Samurai, and is acclaimed as the first Shogun and the man who unified Japan under a central government. He was a hard man who executed many, including women, children and his own brothers. That is what makes it particularly interesting that his wife repeatedly defied him, took armies to his mistresses and after his death took over government. Although not a warrior by conventional definition, Masako was an able general, and maintained the loyalty of the Samurai in preference to male leaders.
Masako Hojo was Yoritomo's wife, the daughter of the man appointed as his guardian durring his exile. Historical and popular opinion has been divided on Masako, who is seen as "either one of the most tragic or one of the most Machiavellian figures in Japanese history" . Her family was quite insignificant, ruling only a small area, and although descended from the Taira the Hojo were not of distinguished lineage . Masako was only three when the thirteen year-old Yoritomo was exiled into the care of her father . Her mother had died when she was young , and when she was twenty her father met and married a woman the same age as her while on guard duty in Kyoto . On his return Masako and her stepmother Maki began an enmity which would eventually result in her father’s disgrace and exile . At the same time her father, Tokimasa, also discovered that Masako and Yoritomo had begun a relationship .
Although some authors have maintained that Masako married Yoritomo because of political ambition, her father's reaction shows the foolishness of the idea. He was angry at the affair for good reason; Yoritomo was an exile with no prospects, an alliance with the Minamoto would seriously jeopardize the position of the Hojo and not least Yoritomo had already fathered a child with the daughter of another local lord of superior power to Tokimasa, and this lord had killed the child to maintain good relations with the Taira . Masako and Yoritomo eloped .
Their first son, Yoriie, was born in 1181 . Yoritomo appointed the daughter of his own Menoto (Menoto = wet nurse, but was far more significant. This family would raise the child and as such stood to gain great influence over him and his family, as well as political power, prestige and wealth) as Yoriie's menoto. This was a great honor, as "the family of his nurse would stand to gain tremendous power and influence...the choice would later prove to have been a poor one" . The family spoilt the child and grew "arrogant in their assumption of power" . Menoto relationships were crucial, providing "an undeniably influential force in Kamakura politics" . Masako, coming from a provincial and unimportant family, had not experienced this system . She was already raising her daughter , and as the eldest child had probably raised her brothers after her mother's death. Her life and that of her family was radically changed, as she went from being the wife of an exile to the wife of the most powerful man in eastern Japan was . While she had been pregnant Yoritomo had established a house for a mistress, Lady Kame . Under Masako's orders, a small army belonging to Masako's stepmother's brother destroyed the house, although the mistress escaped . Yoritomo was furious and snubbed his wife, resulting in the Hojo faction marching back to Izu . Unable to lose their support, Yoritomo was reconciled with Masako . The importance of their marital harmony to politics and to the course of Japanese history seems bizarre in retrospect. This was the first incident of the conflict which would continue throughout their marriage over the issue of Yoritomo's mistresses. It is also the most famous recorded incident of uwanari-uchi, the right of a first wife to defend her interests against others.
Yoshinaka sent his eldest son Yoshitaka to Yoritomo, hoping to marry him to Masako's eldest child, Ohime . Masako and Ohime were pleased with the idea and continued to grow fonder of the boy over time, but Yoritomo considered him a hostage . Keeping the example of his own life in mind, Yoritomo decided to kill him . Masako and Ohime tried to help Yoshitaka escape, but the plan failed and he was killed . Ohime became seriously ill in grief and this caused another rift between Masako and Yoritomo . Another event which pitted mother/daughter against Yoritomo was the sentencing of Shizuka. Both Masako and Ohime visited Shizuka while she was captive, and according to the Azuma Kagami Masako is supposed to have justified the woman's defiance to her husband after the dance, pointing out that she would have done the same . Ohime went further, offering to help Shizuka escape, an offer the dancer turned down as she was resolved to die . In 1194 Ohime's parents tried to marry her to her cousin, but she refused and threatened suicide .
Ohime died in 1197 aged nineteen . In 1199 Yoritomo died . In the same year Masako's second daughter Sanman, aged fourteen, also died . Yoriie succeeded as Shogun, only to be assassinated in 1204 at the instigation of Masako's father . His brother Sanetomo, who was a minor, replaced Yoriie . This gave rise to the position of regent for the Shogun, filled first by his grandfather Tokimasa . The son of Yoriie, who was in turn killed by Masako’s younger brother, the second Regent Hojo Yoshitoki, had purportedly assassinated Sanetomo in 1219 . This was the end of Yoritomo's line, and Sanetomo was the last Minamoto Shogun . In the debate over who should succeed Sanetomo, Masako and her father, apparently under the influence of his wife, were pitted against each other, and Tokimasa was forced to retire by Masako and her brother Yoshitoki . Masako began
"immediately putting the finishing touches to the organizational machinery of the Kamakura government which would assure the continued dominance of her own family, the Hojo, for more than a century to come" .
The governmental system seems bizarre, even by medieval standards! Fitzgerald describes it thus:
"There was now an Emperor, almost always a child: an ex-Emperor, his father, and often a senior ex-Emperor, who had more influence than the junior one. Then there was the Minamoto Shogun, now also often a child, and behind him, the real power in the land, the Regent for the Shogun, always...[a] Hojo" .
If possible, during Masako's lifetime it was even more complex, because she stood behind the Regent.
In her political maneuvering, she worked with Kaneko no Fujiwara, also called Kyo no Tsubone, the menoto of Emperor Go-Toba, and who controlled all court appointments . According to Butler, contemporary sources refer to the women as "the two women politicians of east and west" and he claims that they were "two of the most powerful figures in Japan" . Kaneko had received the Junior Second Rank (equivalent to the rank of the Three Ministers) in 1207, a tangible symbol of the influence she wielded at court . One could parallel the women with the Emperor and the Shogun, the men they manipulated. Mulhern describes them in these terms: "While Kaneko displayed the quick wit and mastery of social stratagem highly valued in court circles, Masako demonstrated the rugged pride of Bando warriors ...as well as their pragmatic attitude" . The women had met in 1218 to find a successor from the Imperial family, a "joint effort of these formidable women, both in their sixties" . Keneko also arranged an award of the Junior Third Rank for Masako, who, having become a nun on her second son’s death , was the first tonsured person to receive court rank since the only other example in the eighth century .
Her successful tactical decisions in 1221 enhanced her reputation and her pre-battle speech, maybe created by the authors of Azuma Kagami, shows her understanding of the warriors’ mentality . It is not surprising that she was known as Ama-Shogun, the Nun-General . According to Sansom, "hers was a supreme example of a women’s rise to eminence, but it was by no means without parallel in early feudal Japan" . She died in 1225 . Dilts describes her rule glowingly as an era of justice and lower taxation . Her biography would be almost unthinkable in the Japan of later years, certainly for her so have been considered a hero. She disobeyed her father, argued violently with her husband and went against his direct orders to try and save people he had condemned. After his death she took government and along with other politically capable women successfully ran the country for the rest of her life. The Samurai of the time preferred to be commanded by a woman rather than by her brother.
).
. I hope it was helpful