Hojo Yasutoki

Japanese: 北条泰時 - ほうじょう・やすとき

Year of death: 15th June 1242 (14th July 1242)
Year of birth: 1183
The third regent of the Kamakura Shogunate. The eldest son of Yoshitoki. His childhood name was Kongo. In 1194, he came of age with Minamoto no Yoritomo as his eboshi father. He was given the first part of his name and called himself Yoritoki, but later changed his name to Yasutoki. He was called Ema Taro. In 1202, he married the daughter of Miura Yoshimura, and the following year gave birth to his eldest son, Tokiuji. He held official ranks including Suruga no Kami, Musashi no Kami, and Sakyo Gon no Daibu, before reaching the rank of Shoshi no Ge. As the legitimate heir of the Hojo clan, he was highly esteemed within the Shogunate from an early age, and during the Wada Yoshimori Rebellion in 1213, he fought bravely in the defense of the Shogun's palace (the Shogunate), and in July of the same year, he succeeded his father as head of the Samurai-dokoro. When the Jokyu War broke out in May 1221, he led the main force of the Shogunate army along the Tokaido road together with his uncle Hojo Tokifusa, and entered Kyoto in June. They remained stationed in Kyoto as the first Rokuhara Tandai, Yasutoki for the north and Tokifusa for the south. In June 1224, he returned to the east after his father, Regent Yoshitoki, died suddenly, and he took over as Regent at the instructions of Hojo Masako. In the following year, 1225, when the elders Oe Hiromoto and Masako died one after the other, Tokifusa, who was in Rokuhara, was appointed as Liensho (vice regent), and the system of two regents was established. At the end of the same year, the Shogunate was moved from Okura to Utsunomiya Tsujiko in the center of Kamakura, and the Council of Ministers was established, and the system of the Kamakura Daiban was also established. Furthermore, he held the coming-of-age ceremony for Mitsutora (Fujiwara no Yoritsune), who had been invited from the Kujo family as the successor to the Genji Shogunate, at the same place, and arranged for Yoritsune to be proclaimed Shogun in January of the following year. Thus, the Shogunate government was greatly reformed, and it can be said that the regent government was established. Yasutoki's policy of pacifying the people during the Kanki Famine (around 1230-31) is remembered by later generations as a benevolent government, and in 1232 he enacted the first samurai law code, the Goseibai Shikimoku, to ensure fair trials. On the other hand, he took a hard-line stance against the power of the great shrines and temples in the Kinai region, and promoted the disarmament of evil monks. In 1238, he established a kaguraya (a firewood house) and tried to maintain peace in the capital, but in 1242, he intervened in the issue of the succession of Emperor Shijo, suppressing the opposition of the courtiers and allowing Emperor Gosaga to ascend to the throne. It is true that Yasutoki advocated and implemented politics based on consensus and reason, but at the same time, it cannot be overlooked that he also worked hard to enhance the authority of the regent and strengthen his power as the head of the Hojo clan. In May of the same year, he became a monk (taking on the Buddhist name Kan'an) due to illness, and died the following month. Yasutoki's tomb was built in Ofuna (Kamakura City), and is still preserved in the grounds of Jorakuji Temple. <References> Ueyokote Masataka, "Hojo Yasutoki," Sugihashi Takao, "The Origin of the Regent and Joint Signing System" (Ritsumeikan Bungaku, combined issue 424-426)

(Takao Sugihashi)

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

Japanese:

没年：仁治3.6.15(1242.7.14)
生年：寿永2(1183)
鎌倉幕府3代執権。義時の長男。幼名は金剛。建久5(1194)年源頼朝を烏帽子親として元服。偏諱を賜り頼時と名乗ったが,のち泰時と改名。江間太郎と号す。建仁2(1202)年三浦義村の娘と結婚,翌年,嫡男時氏を儲けた。官位は駿河守,武蔵守,左京権大夫などを経て正四位下に至る。北条氏の正嫡として早くから幕府内に重んぜられ,建保1(1213)年の和田義盛の乱では将軍御所(幕府)の防御に奮戦し,同6年7月には父の後任の侍所別当となった。承久3(1221)年5月に承久の乱が勃発すると,叔父北条時房と共に幕軍主力を率いて東海道を西上,6月入京を果たした。泰時は北方,時房は南方の初代六波羅探題として,そのまま京都に駐留した。元仁1(1224)年6月,父の執権義時が急死したため帰東,北条政子の指示により執権職を継いだ。翌嘉禄1(1225)年長老大江広元,政子が相次いで逝くと,六波羅に在った時房を連署(副執権)に迎えて両執権制を確立。同年暮,幕府を大倉から鎌倉中心部の宇都宮辻子に移転したのを機に評定衆を定め,また鎌倉大番の制を整えた。さらに同所で,源氏将軍の後継者として摂関九条家から迎えていた三寅(藤原頼経)の元服式を挙行,翌年1月,頼経への将軍宣下を計らった。かくして幕政大いに刷新し,ここに執権政治が確立したといえる。寛喜の飢饉(1230～31ころ)のおりにみせた泰時の撫民策は,仁政として後世に語り継がれ,貞永1(1232)年には最初の武家法典たる『御成敗式目』を制定し,裁判の公平を期した。一方,畿内大社寺の勢力に対しては強硬な態度で臨み,悪僧らの武装解除を推進した。暦仁1(1238)年篝屋を設置して洛中の治安維持にも努めたが,仁治3(1242)年四条天皇の後嗣問題に介入,廷臣の反対を抑えて後嵯峨天皇を即位させた。泰時が合議と道理に基づく政治を主唱・実行したのは事実だが,同時に,執権の権威高揚と北条氏の家督としての権力強化に腐心した一面も見過ごせない。同年5月,病により出家(法名観阿),翌月没した。泰時の墳墓は大船(鎌倉市)に作られ,今も常楽寺境内に伝えられる。<参考文献>上横手雅敬『北条泰時』,杉橋隆夫「執権・連署制の起源」(『立命館文学』424～426合併号)

(杉橋隆夫)

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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