Masako Hojo

Japanese: 北条政子 - ほうじょう・まさこ

Year of death: 16 August 1225 (11 July 1225)
Year of birth: 1157
A politician in the Kamakura Shogunate. Born the daughter of Hojo Tokimasa, she contributed to the establishment and development of the Shogunate as the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo. It is said that she gave birth to a daughter, Ohime, with Yoritomo, who had been exiled to Izu, around 1178 (Jisho 2), while her father Tokimasa was in Kyoto on duty as a guard. In 1174, Yoritomo raised an army and was defeated in the Battle of Ishibashiyama, after which she was hidden in Izuyama, and entered Kamakura after Yoritomo had built a mansion there. Her relationship with Yoritomo was not simply as a wife; her presence was a link between Yoritomo and the eastern samurai, and her position became immovable with the birth of their eldest son, Yoriie, in 1182. In the same year, he destroyed the house of Fushimi Ietsuna, where Yoritomo's favorite daughter Kamesaki was living, and furthermore, he ordered the beheading of a retainer of Hori Chikaie, who had assassinated Shimizu Yoshitaka, the husband of Yoritomo's eldest daughter Ohime, on Yoritomo's orders. He took control of the shogunate's household, and at the time, exceeded Yoritomo's will. When Yoritomo went to Kyoto for the second time in 1195, he accompanied him to Kyoto, and negotiated with the Imperial Court about the marriage of his daughter Ohime to the Imperial Court. After Yoritomo's death, he wielded great power as a member of the household. Yoritomo's Imperial Palace was called Taigosho after his death, and he was in charge of Yoritomo's important ruins, including as a kanrei (management) there, and when he felt uneasy about Yoriie's government affairs, he appointed 13 vassals to assist him. When Yoriie asked for Ano Masanari's concubine Awa no Tsubone to be handed over to her on the grounds of his rebellion, she refused, saying, "Shouldn't a woman be informed of such a matter?" and mediated between the shogun and other factions, striving for the stability of the shogunate. Later, Tokimasa faced the tragedy of losing his son Yoriie as he moved to depose Yoriie and support Sanetomo, but when a movement to depose Sanetomo also emerged, Tokimasa retired to Izu together with his brother Yoshitoki. The Gukansho states, "The world is one in which Tokimasa's daughters, Sanetomo and Yoriie, survived their mother," and points out that, together with Kyonii, who had built up a great influence in Kyoto, "Japan, where women have their eyes on it, is even more true," and that Japanese politics is completed by the help of women in this way. In fact, when it came to the issue of a successor to Sanetomo, who had no children, Tokimasa went to Kyoto to negotiate with Kyonii and obtained a promise to welcome the prince of the retired emperor Gotoba, who was being raised by Kyonii. At this time, he was given the rank of Nii (second rank) despite being a monk, and received unprecedented treatment, but in Jokyu 1 (1219), Sanetomo was assassinated. In this emergency, he completely seized real power in the shogunate, saying, "The Shogun will succeed Yoritomo, the second rank nun of his mother's temple." This was the birth of the nun shogun. The shogunate, known as the "Zenjo Nii family," requested that a prince be sent down to Kyoto, but this was refused due to changes in the political situation, and a successor was chosen from the regent family. That year, when Kujo Michiie's son Mitsutora went down to Kamakura to hold the opening ceremony of the Mandokoro, he exercised his authority to decide on the merits and demerits, citing Mitsutora's immaturity, saying, "We must hear the merits and demerits behind closed doors." In Jokyu 3 (1221), when the Jokyu War broke out, he issued a military mobilization order, and in front of the vassals gathered in Kamakura, he emphasized Yoritomo's kindness and called for the defeat of Emperor Gotoba's trusted vassals. As a result, the Shogunate forces crushed the military power of the Imperial Court, and the Shogunate crisis was averted. Furthermore, when Yoshitoki suddenly died in 1224, he brought his nephew Yasutoki back from Rokuhara, rejected the forces supported by Yoshitoki's second wife, the Iga clan, and set the direction for the Hojo regent system, before passing away the following year. After that, the majority of the Shogun's authority was transferred to the regent. <References> Watanabe Tamotsu, Hojo Masako

(Fumihiko Gomi)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：嘉禄1.7.11(1225.8.16)
生年：保元2(1157)
鎌倉幕府の政治家。北条時政の娘として生まれ,源頼朝の妻として幕府の成立と発展に尽くした。父時政が大番役で在京中の治承2(1178)年ごろに伊豆の流人となっていた頼朝との間に娘の大姫をもうけたといわれる。4年に頼朝が挙兵し,石橋山の戦で敗れると,伊豆山にかくまわれて過ごし,頼朝が鎌倉に館を築いてから鎌倉入りをした。頼朝との関係は単に妻としてだけでなく,その存在は頼朝と東国の武士団を結びつけるものであって,しかも寿永1(1182)年長男頼家が生まれたことでその地位は不動のものとなる。同2年には頼朝の寵女亀前を住まわせていた伏見家綱の宅を壊したり,さらに頼朝の命令で長女大姫の婿の清水義高を討った堀親家の郎従を梟首させるなど,幕府の家の中を掌握し,その場においては頼朝の意思をも越えた存在であった。建久6(1195)年に頼朝が2度目に上洛したときには一緒に京に上り,娘の大姫の入内の話を朝廷との間で交渉している。頼朝の死後にはその後家として大きな力を振るった。頼朝の御所はその死後に大御所と称されたが,そこを管領するなど頼朝の重要な遺跡を管轄し,さらに頼家の政務に不安を覚えると,13人の御家人を指名してその補佐を託した。頼家が阿野全成の謀反を理由にその妾の阿波局の身柄を差し出すように求めてきたときには,「然るが如き事,女性に知らしむべからざるか」として退けるなど,将軍と他の勢力との争いを調停して幕府の安泰に努めた。やがて時政が頼家を廃して実朝を擁立する動きのなかで子の頼家を失う悲劇に遭遇するが,実朝をも廃する動きが出てくると,弟の義時と共に時政を伊豆に引退させた。『愚管抄』は「時政がむすめの,実朝・頼家が母いき残りたるが世にて有り」と述べ,京で大きな勢力を築いていた卿二位と共に「女人入眼の日本国いよいよまこと也」と指摘し,日本の政治はこうして女性が助けることにより完成するのだと述べている。実際,子のできない実朝の後継者問題では上洛して卿二位と交渉を持ち,その養っていた後鳥羽上皇の皇子を迎える約束をとりつけている。このとき,出家の身で二位に叙され,前例のない待遇を受けるが,承久1(1219)年には実朝も暗殺される。この非常事態において「鎌倉は将軍があとをば,母堂の二位尼総領して」と,幕府の実権を完全に掌握した。尼将軍の誕生である。幕府は「禅定二位家」と称され,京に皇子の下向を要請したが,それは政情の変化により拒否され,摂関家から後継者が下ることになる。その年,九条道家の子三寅が鎌倉に下って政所始が行われたときには,「理非を簾中に聴断すべし」と,三寅の幼稚を理由に理非決断の権限を行使している。承久3(1221)年,承久の乱が起きると,軍事動員令を発するとともに,鎌倉に集まった御家人を前にして頼朝の恩を強調し後鳥羽上皇の近臣を討つことを求めた。それによって幕府軍は朝廷の軍事力を粉砕して,幕府の危機は回避された。さらに元仁1(1224)年に義時が急死すると,甥の泰時を六波羅から戻して義時の後妻伊賀氏が推す勢力を退け,北条執権体制の方向を示し,翌年にこの世を去った。その後,将軍の権限の主要部分は執権に移っていった。<参考文献>渡辺保『北条政子』

(五味文彦)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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