This is the last video in our Hōjō Masako series.
Let’s talk about her final years and her role in a war that leveled up the shogunate’s
power in the country.
Last time, we talked about the death of the third shogun Minamoto no Sanetomo by the hands
of his nephew, who also died later.
The shogun had no children.
He was the son of Hōjō Masako and the first shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo.
This meant that it was the end of the leading Minamoto family line, the line that descended
from Yoritomo.
This is why parents want you to have kids so badly.
It’s a matter of national security.
The Hōjō clan had a problem.
Their influence originated from their relationship with the first shogun Yoritomo, and his descendants.
Most of the warrior families with any clout in the shogunate had served under Yoritomo
in the past, and really respected him.
But time is a bish, and bishes be forgetful.
Their memories would fade over time, and if some strong Minamoto seizes the shogun position,
he could just demolish all that influence the Hōjō had collected through decades of
hard work and murder.
The Hōjō needed a shogun they could control.
Let’s roll back to before the third shogun Sanetomo’s assassination.
The Hōjō leader was Yoshitoki.
Masako was his elder sister.
Brothers and sisters nowadays bond by watching TV shows together;
these two bonded by hatching political schemes.
They wanted the next shogun to be a person with premium blood but subpar brains,
a person who would have great legitimacy, but someone they could control.
So who has premium blood?
People from the imperial family.
And who are total stupids?
Babies.
So they decided on the baby son of Retired Emperor Gotoba.
Gotoba was the actual leader of the government in Kyoto, even though he had officially stepped
down from the throne.
In the Kamakura Period, Japan had two governments sharing the governing:
the traditional imperial court in Kyoto, and the military shogunate in Kamakura.
In 1218, Masako visited the capital of Kyoto.
She met with a powerful court lady to push for this plan to make Gotoba’s son the next shogun.
These things happen nowadays too.
You know when your mom gets together with her friends for brunch?
They’re discussing your future and how it could help elevate the family
and eliminate their enemies. It’s true.
Retired Emperor Gotoba agreed to have his baby son succeed the then-shogun Sanetomo.
He thought it was a great idea.
It would form a blood bond between the two governments and give him more influence over
the shogunate, bringing him closer to his dream of absorbing the shogunate into the
imperial court.
But, like all dreams, it didn’t come true.
One day, Sanetomo ate the blade of a sword.
Gotoba reneged on his deal, probably hoping for a bad succession dispute in Kamakura.
Masako was sad that her son was brutally murdered, but work had to be done.
She found another candidate to be the next shogun,
the young Kujō Yoritsune (九条 頼経).
Very young. He was 2 years old.
He wasn’t from the imperial family, but he was from the next best thing,
the noble clan of Fujiwara.
This 2-year-old was surprisingly really smart.
He was able to navigate very well the political dealings and schemes of
Lego figures in his Lego court,
and was a master of placing one block on top of another block.
The kid was shipped off to Kamakura to be almost-shogun.
Almost, because Retired Emperor Gotoba had to officially declare him shogun.
Gotoba procrastinated, probably hoping for uncertainty and chaos in Kamakura.
But Yoshitoki and Masako didn’t really mind.
They wanted a figurehead shogun anyways.
Yoshitoki and Masako had the shogunate in the palms of their handses.
It was because of her huge influence after her son’s death that people called Masako
the Nun Shogun.
In 1221, Retired Emperor Gotoba declared war, the Jōkyū War.
Gotoba was an interesting guy.
He was smart, and had a reputation for being a bit of a perv.
He invited famous dancers from all over and had them dance in his chambers
and under his sheets.
He even took lands from nobles and from temples and shrines to give to his favorite dancers.
It was fortunate for the capital that he never discovered OnlyFans.
Once, he tried to give land that was under the protection of the shogunate
to one of his dancers.
He and Yoshitoki had a huge argument.
He never did get that land, and the whole thing just made everyone mad at each other.
You can see the tensions grow between the Kyoto capital and the Kamakura shogunate.
Gotoba always wanted to get rid of the shogunate, or at least put it under his authority.
He slowly gathered allies among the warriors of western and central Japan,
especially people who felt neglected by the shogunate.
Kamakura did tend to ignore samurai who lived outside of the Kantō region.
Gotoba gambled that the western and central warriors would rise up
and help him overwhelm Kamakura.
In 1221, Gotoba declared war on Hōjō Yoshitoki, calling him a usurper
who took advantage of the young would-be shogun.
I won’t talk too much about the war, that would be a different video,
but Masako does have a role in it.
After hearing the news, Masako summoned the top warriors of the shogunate and gave a speech,
telling them to raise their bows and swords against the imperial capital.
She name dropped her husband, which you should do in every speech to Kamakura warriors,
and reminded them of their duty.
The speech was so moving that the men shed tears, and were all clamoring to give the
imperial court a good beating.
A huge army gathered.
Yoshitoki held a war council, and they talked about war stuff.
The council was divided.
On one side were people who wanted to march on the capital immediately and bust some heads.
On the other side were the lil sissy hoes who wanted to fortify the roads
and wait for the imperial army to come.
Yoshitoki consulted with Masako, who was not a sissy hoe,
and she recommended they attack immediately.
Don’t even wait for the war council, they’re too slow.
So without asking the council, they sent the commander of the army marching towards Kyoto,
with a small force.
It worked, and within a few days, the entire army followed the leader.
The war was on.
The historical texts say the Kamakura army had 190,000 men.
But that’s like asking a guy how big his sword is.
You can’t trust his answer.
He’ll say he has a katana when all he’s packing is a tanto.
But the Kamakura army was still huge compared to the other side.
Unfortunately for Gotoba, his gamble didn’t pay off.
The number of warriors rising up against the shogunate was smaller than expected.
It was a lost cause.
If you read the historical texts about what was happening in the capital as the army was
marching closer and closer, they’re pretty funny.
You get the sense that people in the palace were just depressed.
You had entries that were basically like this.
May 26.
Huge army coming from Kamakura.
Only the gods can save us.
Everyone is upset.
May 28.
Huge army killed some of our men.
Still coming.
Everyone is gloomy.
June 1.
Million-man army still coming.
No one knows what to do.
The Kamakura army destroyed the other side.
Winning this war made the shogunate the big brother in this two-government system.
Gotoba blamed evil ministers for dropping evil plans in his ears,
before getting his butt exiled, along with the rest of his body.
A lot of the Kyoto samurai were hunted down and executed.
Masako’s word carried a lot of weight, so some of the people on the run begged Masako
to save their lives, and she sometimes did.
There was a funny story about one dude who sent a message to Masako
asking her to spare his life.
When the men came for him, he pleaded with them to wait
until Masako’s reply letter came.
When it arrived, it showed that Masako did grant him a temporary pardon,
but he was already killed.
His executioner didn’t wait. Oops.
The shogunate seized the land of all the court nobles and warriors who fought for the other side.
Masako took the task of handing these pieces of land out to Kamakura samurai according
to their service in the war.
She also gave out rewards to exceptional samurai, like this one guy who suffered constant demands
from Retired Emperor Gotoba to join the imperial army.
When he kept refusing, Gotoba’s allies attacked him.
He hid in the mountains with his men,
then joined the shogunate army when it came marching his way.
Masako’s brother Yoshitoki died in 1224.
His wife’s family could have just left things alone, but they made moves to try and replace
the shogun and take power away from the Hōjō.
Masako was like “Bish you know who I am?”
She discovered the plot and exiled the wife.
She even personally visited the house of a possible conspirator.
He had to get on his hands and knees to bow and swear his loyalty to her.
Hōjō Masako died in 1225, at the age of 68.
Alright, this is the end of our series on Hōjō Masako.
I recommend watching it from the beginning.
Alright we have a new Emperor this week, Jamie Hunter.
Thanks so much Jamie, I appreciate it very much.
We also have new patrons Percian sounds like a Greek god,
Python Regius that’s a badass name,
Devon Lupton,
and Jesslyn Harris.
Thank you, you guys.
Alright I love you, and spread the knowledge!