THE KAMAKURA PERIOD Instead of trying to rule the court at Kyoto as the Fujiwara and Taira had done, Yoritomo with the help of his celebrated counsellor, Oye Hiromoto, set up at Kamakura a new military government called the Bakufu with a council, home office, treas ury and supreme law court of its own. The owners of Sh5en were no longer allowed to appoint their own stewards. In each province was placed a High Constable (Shugo) whose duty was to raise troops and keep order, and a Land Steward (Tito) who collected taxes and superintended the administration of justice. Both of ficers were responsible to the Bakufu and not to the emperor or the owners of estates. Unlike Kiyomori, Yoritomo was careful to conciliate the Buddhist clergy and to show due deference to the emperor and court. The titles and property of the Kyoto nobles —called kuge or courtly houses as distinguished from bake or military houses—were duly respected and he himself obtained from the emperor the title of Sei-i-tai-Shogun, which was equiva lent to giving him a permanent commission to see to the defence and tranquillity of the empire. The title had been granted before to Tamuramaro (as mentioned above) and to others, but hitherto it had been limited in time and place whereas Yoritomo's mandate was permanent and for the whole empire. It is difficult to exag gerate the importance of the changes introduced by Yoritomo. Before his time, Japan means Kyoto and the neighbouring prov inces. We hear of the west and the north-east as regions in which rebellions occasionally occurred and to which troublesome persons were banished. But now the size of the country seems more than doubled and the Kwanto emerges as an integral part of the empire, a civilized land with a great capital. Secondly, the Japa nese character has at least two sides—one artistic and one military. The civilization of Nara and Kyoto and the open imitation of Chinese culture developed the former, not without danger of en couraging effeminacy. There was plenty of turbulence, it is true, even among the clergy but in reading the earlier chronicles one does not receive the impression that the Japanese were a nation of soldiers. But under the institutions of Yoritomo they became so. Except at the Court of KyOto, the administration and social life were controlled by the military class. Yoritomo died in 1199. Though he founded a system of government, he did not found a dynasty. It is true that the Minamotos remained prominent in Japanese history, for both the Ashikagas and Tokugawas were branches of that family, but his own descendants did not rule.
Rule of the Hoj0.—The real power passed into the hands of the house of HojO, to which his wife belonged. They assumed the title of Shikken, constable or regent, and for about a century governed in the name of puppet ShOguns, much as the Fujiwaras had governed in the name of the emperor.
Yoritomo's two sons and nephew were allowed to succeed but after that the Shoguns were generally minors and chosen from among imperial princes. For some time the court at Kyoto had a certain independence. The chief power was in the hands of the ex-emperor Go-Toba, a man of ambition and some talent, who realizing that it was very hard for a titular sovereign to have much influence in Japan, had abdicated and was allowed to manip ulate the succession among his sons as he pleased. In 1221 he made an attempt, in which he relied to a considerable extent on the military strength of the great monasteries, to break the power of the Kamakura Government. The attempt seems to have been premature and the exceedingly prompt action of the Hojos had no difficulty in crushing it immediately but it had important conse quences. Go-Toba was banished, the Hojos took charge of the court and the imperial succession as the Fujiwaras had done and two of them were installed in Kyoto as military governors. More than this, 3,00o estates belonging to Go-Toba's adherents were confiscated and distributed among the supporters of the Bakufu, which materially strengthened the feudal system.
Mongol Invasion.—The most remarkable and creditable event in the H6j6 administration was the repulse of the Mongol invasion. In the 13th century the Yuan or Mongol dynasty seized the throne of China and also subdued Korea. This con quest brought them almost into contact with Japan and Khublai Khan came to the conclusion that it ought to accept his authority. So in 1268 he sent a patronizing letter addressed to the "King" of Japan, pointing out what had happened in Korea and asking that a mission might be sent to China. No answer was sent and in 1274 an attempt of the Mongols to land at Hakozaki in Kyushu was repulsed. Further envoys sent by Khublai were executed, so in 1281 he decided to despatch a really great expedition and chastise the Japanese. This aroused an outburst of patriotism in which the Buddhist Church took part. The forces of nature aided the Japanese: a great typhoon destroyed Khublai's armada and no more was heard of the Mongol peril.
But, in spite of this success, the Government of Kamakura became unpopular and inefficient. Takatoki, the ninth HOjo Re gent, was conspicuously debauched and extravagant. The central administration lost its hold on the provinces, and the old evil of independent fiefs, large and small, against which Yoritomo had legislated, reappeared. The military class were sinking deeper and deeper into penury and debt and their only hope was a suc cessf ul war.
Go-Daigo.—Bad harvests and pestilence had brought the peas antry close to starvation. It had been the custom of the earlier HOjOs to store grain and distribute it in times of need at low prices, but their successors, instead of following this wise custom, endeavoured to make money by selling it to the highest bidder. At Kyoto the practice of putting on the throne minors who abdi cated early became increasingly frequent and at one time (1298 1304) there were no less than five ex-emperors alive. Go-Daigo, however, who succeeded in 1318, was of mature age and in a few years' time quarrelled with the Government of Kamakura be cause they refused to recognize his son as Prince Imperial on the ground that he was ineligible by the terms of a will made by the Emperor Go-Saga (1272). In the dispute which ensued the em peror was banished to the island of Oki but it was soon clear that the Hojos could not rely on the support of the country or even of their own nominal adherents.
Go-Daigo managed to escape from Oki in : Ashikaga Takauchi who was sent against him went over to his side and in the east Nitta Yoshisada, another eminent general of the Bakufu, turned against them and burnt Kamakura. With the suicide of Hojo Takatoki and 30o followers the rule of the WO came to an end. The interesting events of the stormy half century which followed form the theme of many historical romances but are so complicated that they can only be summarized here very briefly. The period 1334-35 is often called the Restoration of Kemmu and it may seem that Go-Daigo, being left master of the situation, could have permanently restored the ancient imperial regime, es pecially as his own son was named titular Shogun. But he evi dently lacked the ability to do this, and he refused to follow the wise and cautious advice of his devoted follower Kutsunoki Masashige, celebrated as a model of self-sacrificing loyalty. The man who emerged as victor was Ashikaga Takauji. He proclaimed himself Shogun in 1335. Go-Daigo refused to recognize him and fled with the regalia. On this Takauji deposed Go-Daigo and appointed to the throne an imperial prince who reigned as the Emperor Komy6 and in return recognized him as Shogun.