Hōjō clan

“ Then commenced the most sanguinary era in Japanese history. The Emperor, disguised as a woman, eluded his enemies for a time, but was soon captured and sent into exile in the little island of Oki. Nevertheless, the Imperial cause still found many supporters, and although the Hōjō were able to put a large and splendidly equipped force into the field, it lacked a leader. One man only among the Hōjō generals possessed all the necessary qualities, Takauji, the representative of the Ashikaga clan. ”

“ Thus the situation became again pregnant with elements of disquiet: the Court nobles against the military; the southern generals, represented by the renowned Kusunoki Masashige and Nitta Yoshisada, against the northern, represented by Ashikaga Takauji; the partisans of the Hōjō watching for an opportunity to restore the fallen fortunes of the clan, and Prince Morinaga, though distrusted by the sovereign holding command of the Imperial forces. The Hōjō commenced the campaign. ”

“ Yoritomo made the mistake of estimating his own personality more highly than the interests of the great clan he represented. He killed all the Minamoto leaders that seemed capable of disputing his sway, and he thus left the clan fatally weakened at the time of his death. Kamakura was then divided between two parties, the literary and the military. With the former were associated Masa, Yoritomo's widow, and her family, the Hōjō. A struggle ensued. Masa intrigued to preserve the succession for her own son in preference to her step-son, who had the right of primogeniture. ”

“ HOJO SOUN It was an act of unqualified usurpation. Yet its perpetrator showed that he had carefully studied all the essentials of stable government—careful selection of official instruments; strict administration of justice; benevolent treatment of the people, and the practice of frugality. Being descended from the Taira of Ise and having occupied the domains long held by the Hojo, he adopted the uji name of "Hojo," and having extended his conquests to Sagami province, built a strong castle at Odawara. ”

“ In thirteen days after raising the banner of revolt in favor of the mikado he reached the vicinity of Kamakura, acting under the advice of his brother, [Pg 64] who counselled him to beard the lion in his den. The tyranny of the Hojo had spread far and wide the spirit of rebellion, and thousands flocked to the standard of the young general,—a long white pennant, near whose top were two bars of black, and under them a circle bisected with a zone of black. ”

“ And yet, once roused to wakefulness, his vengeance is swift as the typhoon, as destructive and as sweeping.
No. The lurid Hojo cloud that for a hundred years brooded over long-suffering Japan, had silver breaks in it. The Mikados, as nominal rulers, dwelt at Kiŷoto; while the Shoguns, as military viceroys, reigned at Kamakura; but the dominating family, as wire-pullers, directed their movements from behind. The father of Hojo No-Kami, last of the race, had his good points. None of his supercilious ancestors was more superbly overbearing, more sublimely indifferent to human pain ”

“ Although he bequeathed his power and the prestige of his name to his descendants, thus securing for the latter the possession of the Shôgunate, the office became a purely nominal affair. Like the illustrious dead Yoritomo, who had wrested all real authority from the imperial throne, leaving it only the bare show and pomp of power, so now the Hōjō stepped in, and in their hands the Minamoto Shôguns were but puppets moving at the will of their so-called guardians. ”

“ They were only the regents of young and immature shōguns, who were the appointees of a court which had at its head an emperor without power or influence, and which was controlled by the creatures of their own designation. This lamentable state of things lasted for many years. The shōguns during all this time were children sent from Kyōto, sons of emperors or connections of the royal family. The Hōjō ruled them as well as the country. Whenever it seemed best, they relentlessly deposed them, and set up others in their places. ”

“ DOWNFALL OF THE HOJO When the Emperor's escape from Oki became known, loyal samurai in great numbers espoused the Imperial cause, and a heavy blow was given to the prestige of the Hojo by Akamatsu Norimura who, after several successful engagements with the Rokuhara army in Settsu, pushed northward from the fortress of Maya, where his forces were almost within sight of Kyoto. Takatoki, appreciating that a crisis had now arisen in the fortunes of the Hojo, ordered Ashikaga Takauji to lead a powerful army westward. ”

“ The advice he would give in the future--so the wily lord decided--must depend on the attitude of his son-in-law, and be guided by the course of events for the benefit of the imperial prisoner. In his mind's eye (if Hojo could only have guessed it!) he beheld with secret exultation the brutish No-Kami sinking lower and lower by sure degrees into debauchery, until the moment should arrive when the ruler would become the ruled. And then--and then! Well, time must show what then. Sufficient for the day is its labour. ”

“ If loyalty and fidelity were conspicuously displayed by him in a subordinate position, he sometimes violated both without hesitation for the sake of grasping power or climbing to social eminence. When Ashikaga Takauji, one of the principal Kamakura generals, was about to march from Kamakura to Kyōtō at a crisis in the history of the Hōjō's supremacy, suspicions were cast upon his loyalty, and the Hōjō Vicegerent asked him to sign an oath of fidelity. ”

“ The word 'adviser' has a pleasant ring about it, but in reality you are a vagabond and a dependent. I could not give my daughter to such as you."
"Insolence! It is a gross insult to Lord Hōjō to call his adviser a vagabond. I must remind you that I have no equal in Japan in tactics and fencing."
"Indeed! In that case why did you assassinate your fellow-samurai Iinuma Sampei in such a cowardly manner, and why did you murder his betrothed merely out of a trifling grudge and disappointed love? How can you hold up your head so proudly, and have the affront to call yourself a samurai?" ”

“ The northern and the southern offices were presided over by the most prominent members of the Hojo family, men destined to fill the post of regent (shikkeri) subsequently in Kamakura. Thus, when Hojo Yoshitoki died suddenly, in 1224, his son, Yasutoki, returned at once to Kamakura to succeed to the regency, transferring to his son, Tokiuji, the charge of northern Rokuhara, and a short time afterwards the control of southern Rokuhara was similarly transferred from Yoshitoki is brother, Tokifusa, to the latter's son, Tokimori. ”

“ Now it happened that the head of the house of Hôjô heard that a descendant of Yoritomo was living as a peasant in the land, so he summoned him and said:—
"It is a hard thing to see the son of an illustrious house live and die a peasant. I will promote you to the rank of Samurai."
Then the peasant answered, "My lord, if I become a Samurai, and the retainer of some noble, I shall not be so happy as when I was my own master. If I may not remain a husbandman, let me be a chief over men, however humble they may be." ”

“ Hogen insurrection (1156; in year-period 1156-8) ; result
Hohodemi, myth of; name applied to Iware in "Chronicles"
Hojo, family holding office of shikken; power increased by Tokimasa; Hojo regency established; excellent rule; the nine regents; control of shogun; Oshu revolt; Go-Daigo overthrows; suicide of leaders; Go-Daigo's rescript; part of estates seized; rising in 1334; system imitated by the Ashikaga
—of Odawara, fight Satomi in Kwanto; alliance with Takeda; their importance; last eastern enemy of Nobunaga ”

“ The Hojo, by their just administration and astute measures, brought this system into esteem, but under the Ashikaga regime the reality of landed possession grew to be the unique aim of existence, and, to achieve it, sons forgot their paternal relation and vassals lost sight of fealty. The nation engaged in an armed scramble; individualism became paramount, and social obligations were ignored. This is the more noteworthy because loyalty is so typical a Japanese virtue. ”

“ The Chinese have never since attempted the conquest of Japan, and it is the boast of the people of that country that no invading army has ever set foot upon their shores. Six centuries afterwards the case was to be reversed and a Japanese army to land on Chinese soil. [Pg 72]
Great praise was given to the Hojo then in control at Kamakura for his energy and valor in repelling the invaders. But the chief honor was paid to the gods enshrined at Isé, who were thenceforward adored as the guardians of the winds and the seas. ”

“ Perhaps in the next life, or the next after, we may be permitted to settle things for ourselves. Clearly in this one it is forbidden. First it had been arranged that the Hojo was to be caught in a trap in his own castle. Since then the aspect of affairs was altered; for after a few days passed in the Golden House among his vassals, their master had again mysteriously gone into retirement. Spies informed Nara that he was heard to groan at night,--that he saw visions, and dreamed dreams of strange and mystic import. He had relapsed into the previous state, as before he came up from Tsu. ”

“ The ninety-sixth Mikado, Go-Daigo, found courage to revolt against the tyranny of the Hojo; and the Buddhist soldiery took part with him. He was promptly defeated, and banished to the islands of Oki; but his cause was soon espoused by powerful lords, who had long chafed under the despotism of the regency. These assembled their forces, restored the banished Emperor, and combined in a desperate attack upon the regent's capital, Kamakura. The city was stormed and burned; and the last of the Hojo rulers, after a brave but vain defence, performed harakiri. ”

“ Hojo of Odawara had not yet paid his respects to Hideyoshi, nor had Date, still farther to the northward, tendered submission. They were powerful barons, the former fighting his way from insignificance—really from a merchant with a pack on his back—to the lordship of five great provinces, the Kwanto, with a fortified castle at Odawara, intrenched behind mountain gorges at the west and the sea to the southward: a position hitherto held as impregnable as it was desirable. ”

“ Both monogamy and the practice of parents selecting their child's spouse arose because best accordant with religion. Later custom makes the decision, not of the father alone, but of the household and kindred, determinative of any important step.
" (Chap. 6.) The communal cult of the district ruled the family in all its relations to the outer world. The ujigami, or clan-god, was the spirit rather of a former ruler than of a common ancestor. Hochiman was a ruler, but Kasuga an ancestor. Beside the uji temple of a district, there may be a more important one dedicated to some higher deity. ”

“ Female influence contributed to his impatience. One of his concubines bore a son for whom he sought to obtain nomination as prince imperial, in defiance of an arrangement made by the Hōjō that the succession should pass alternately to the senior and junior branches of the Imperial family. Kamakura refused to entertain Go-Daigo’s project, and thenceforth the child’s mother importuned her sovereign and lover to overthrow the Hōjō. The entourage of the throne in Kiōto at this time was a counterpart of former eras. The Fujiwara, indeed, wielded nothing of their ancient influence. ”

“ The estates of all who fought on the emperor’s side were confiscated and distributed among the minions of the usurpers. The exiled emperor died of a broken heart. The nominal Mikado of Kioto and the nominal shogun at Kamakura were set up, but the Hojo were the keepers of both. The oppression, the neglect of public business and the carousals of the usurpers became intolerable. Armies were raised spontaneously to support the emperor and the Ashikaga leader in their revolt against the existing evils. All over the empire the people rose against their oppressors and massacred them. ”

“ It may be noted here that Kanezane's descendants received the name of Kujo, those of Motomichi being called Konoe, and the custom of appointing the kwampaku alternately from these two families came into vogue from that time. All the above reforms having been effected during the year 1186, the Bakufu recalled Hojo Tokimasa and appointed Nakahara Chikayoshi to succeed him. But, as the latter was not a scion of a military family, the Court desired to have a Hojo appointed, and Yoritomo acceded by sending Hojo Tokisada. ”

“ The town was full of people; for besides the ordinary contingent of travellers, who always muster here in force, there were a great many samurai—some who had started too late to join the army, others, like Sennoske, already returning home—and a considerable number of Hōjō adherents fleeing in various disguises to find an asylum before pursuit was fairly organized against them. The inns and hostelries were over-crowded; but the Kuwana nobility had always enjoyed a good reputation on the road, and the charm of the young man’s manner moreover failed not in its usual effect ”

“ Over the next century and a half, however, a revolution began, as Zen at first gradually and then precipitously became the preoccupation of Japan's ruling class. The Zen explosion came about via a combination of circumstances. We have seen that the warrior ruler Hojo Tokiyori (1227-63) was interested in the school and offered Dogen a temple in Kamakura, an invitation Dogen refused. However, in 1246 an emigre Ch'an master from the Chinese mainland named Lan-ch'i (1212-78) appeared in Japan uninvited, having heard of Japanese interest in Ch'an. ”