Biographies CVII: The Shōguns, Part II

¶In the first month of the first year of Bunji (1185), Minamoto-no-Noriyori sent a messenger to report: "Our provisions are exhausted, our warships are too few, and the soldiers long to return home; it is difficult to advance any further." Minamoto-no-Yoritomo sent back a reply laying out a course of action, and sternly warned his officers and men never to dishonor the former emperor, the Empress Dowager, or the Nii-no-ama. In the second month Noriyori advanced as far as Bungo, attacked Harada-no-Tanenao, and defeated him utterly. In the same month Nakahara-no-Hisatsune and Kondō Kunihira were sent to Kyoto to request a decree from the Retired Emperor, so that plundering by soldiers might be prohibited and the provinces of the Kinai, together with the Saikaidō and the Nankaidō, might be inspected (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune left Kyoto, took supreme command of military affairs on the Shikoku front, attacked Yashima, and routed the enemy there. Taira-no-Munemori fled with Emperor Yōwa to Dan-no-ura in Nagato (Note: written with reference to the Gyokuyō, the Azuma Kagami, and the Genpei Seisuiki). In the third month Yoshitsune pressed forward against the Taira and inflicted a great defeat on them. Emperor Yōwa died at sea. The sacred mirror and the sacred jewel were recovered, as were the Empress Dowager and the Nino-miya, and Taira-no-Munemori, Taira-no-Tokitada, and others were taken prisoner. Members of the Taira clan were killed, captured, or drowned in the sea, and scarcely anyone survived (Note: written with reference to the Gyokuyō, the Azuma Kagami, the Hyakurenshō, the Genpei Seisuiki, and the Heike Monogatari). In the fourth month Yoshitsune, bearing the sacred mirror and sacred jewel and escorting the Empress Dowager, the Nino-miya, and the prisoners, returned in triumph to Kyoto (Note: following the Azuma Kagami, the Genpei Seisuiki, and the Heike Monogatari). Noriyori remained in Bungo to pacify Tsukushi. At this time many of the officers who had joined the western campaign accepted posts in the Imperial Guards (the various efu) without going through Yoritomo's petition to the court. Yoritomo sent down a letter rebuking them, and refused permission to return to the eastern provinces to those who had dealt directly with the court. For years the troops of the various provinces, on the pretext of procuring army provisions, had encroached upon private estates and seized official goods, and the court had once ordered Yoritomo to rein them in. Afterwards Yoritomo appointed Doi-no-Sanehira and Kajiwara-no-Kagetoki as Sō-Tsuibushi, Inspectors-General of the Kinai, but the high-handedness of the deputies they stationed was especially severe. Yoritomo therefore sent down a letter and censured them sharply (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). In the same month, in recognition of his merit in capturing Munemori, Yoritomo was raised, skipping intervening ranks, to Junior Second Rank (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin, the Azuma Kagami, and the Masukagami). Yoritomo disliked Yoshitsune's habit of acting on his own authority, and the rift between the two deepened day by day. In the fifth month Yoshitsune set out for Kamakura with Taira-no-Munemori and Munemori's son Kiyomune, but Yoritomo would not let Yoshitsune enter Kamakura; he sent Hōjō-no-Tokimasa to the post-station of Sakawa to take Munemori and the others into custody (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). He then ordered Yoshitsune once more to escort Munemori and the others back to Kyoto, and had them beheaded on the way (Note: following the Gyokuyō, the Azuma Kagami, the Genpei Seisuiki, and the Heike Monogatari). In the seventh month Nakahara-no-Hisatsune and Kondō Kunihira, carrying an In-no-chō kudashibumi, a rescript of the Retired Emperor's Office, were sent to the Dazaifu, and had all the provincial offices and estates that soldiers had encroached upon restored to their former state (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). In the eighth month: earlier, Yoritomo had petitioned that Yoshitsune be appointed Governor of Iyo, and had also recommended the meritorious men of his own kin as provincial governors: Yamana Yoshinori as Governor of Izu, Ōuchi Koreyoshi as Governor of Sagami (Note: the Genpei Seisuiki gives Governor of Etchū), Ashikaga Yoshikane as Assistant Governor of Kazusa, Kagami Tōmitsu as Governor of Shinano, and Yasuda Yoshisuke as Governor of Echigo; now at this time the court granted the proposal. In the tenth month Noriyori returned from Tsukushi. Earlier, Minamoto-no-Yukiie had been lying hidden in Kyoto, and Yoritomo, suspecting that Yoshitsune had conspired with Yukiie to resist him, sent Kajiwara-no-Kagesue to probe their movements. He then sent Tosabō Shōshun to attack Yoshitsune, but Shōshun was killed instead. Yukiie and Yoshitsune at last sought to obtain an imperial rescript to strike down Yoritomo. The Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa was reluctant. The Minister of the Left, Fujiwara-no-Tsunemune, submitted: "It would be best to grant their request for the moment and send the two men outside the Kinai, and afterwards to dispatch an envoy to explain matters to Yoritomo," and the court nobles all agreed. Only the Minister of the Right, Fujiwara-no-Kanezane, argued: "Yoritomo's offenses are not yet clear, and it is unbecoming to the way of imperial rule to issue a rescript so lightly." But the Retired Emperor, fearing that Yoshitsune would press him, issued the rescript after all (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Azuma Kagami). At this time Yoritomo was in the midst of a Buddhist service celebrating the completion of the Shōchōjuin, but when the news arrived he did not change color; he stayed on for two more days and carried the service through. After the service ended and he had returned, he ordered his officers: "Tomorrow we set out for Kyoto. Choose those who will go first." Oyama Tomomasa, his younger brother Tomomitsu, and some fifty others asked to depart at once. At daybreak Yoritomo ordered: "Before I reach Kyoto, swiftly put Yukiie and Yoshitsune to death. If the two have already left Kyoto, wait for my arrival for the time being." Five days later Yoritomo left Kamakura and circulated letters along every road, ordering troops to be assembled along the route. In the eleventh month, when he had reached the Kise River, he heard that Yukiie and Yoshitsune had fled westward, and turned back. On the grounds that they were Yoshitsune's in-laws, he confiscated the domains of Kawagoe Shigeyori and Shimokōbe Masayoshi. Yoritomo resented that a rescript to strike him down had been issued to Yukiie and Yoshitsune, and repeatedly appealed to the court that he was innocent. The court, driven into a corner, hurriedly sent down decrees of the Retired Emperor to the provinces ordering the search and arrest of Yukiie and Yoshitsune (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). Yoritomo sent Hōjō-no-Tokimasa to Kyoto as Kyoto Shugo, Protector of Kyoto, and, adopting a proposal of Ōe-no-Hiromoto, had Tokimasa submit the following memorial: "Yukiie and Yoshitsune are fugitives and cannot easily be caught. If troops are raised every time a rumor is heard, the provinces will be exhausted and the expense will be enormous. I beg that I be ordered to place shugo, protectors, in the provinces and jitō, stewards, on the estates. Then the two can be seized wherever they are, and the matter will settle itself without trouble" (Note: the Azuma Kagami; see also the Genpei Seisuiki and the Heike Monogatari). "As for the provisions for these troops, in the twenty-six provinces of the five Kinai provinces and the Sanindō, Sanyōdō, Nankaidō, and Saikaidō, I ask that five shō of rice be levied on each tan of rice field to cover them" (Note: written with reference to the Gyokuyō, the Azuma Kagami, the Genpei Seisuiki, and the Heike Monogatari). Yoritomo further asked to become Sō-Jitō, Supreme Steward, himself (Note: following the Hōryaku Kanki). The Retired Emperor privately thought the request objectionable, but the court nobles all complied without going against Yoritomo's wishes, and so he finally granted it (Note: following the Heike Monogatari and the Hōryaku Kanki). Yoritomo thus became Supreme Steward, and appointed his own retainers as stewards in every province (Note: written with reference to the Jōkyū-ki and the Masukagami). In this way the authority of the provincial governors passed to the shugo, the estate proprietors (ryōke) all lost their real control, and the power of the court weakened more and more (Note: the Jinnō Shōtōki; see also the Hōryaku Kanki). In the twelfth month Yoritomo sent a letter to Fujiwara-no-Kanezane, saying: "Formerly the Taira turned from the Way and indulged in tyranny, and their crimes were full to overflowing. At that time Yoritomo was a man exiled far away and had not yet received any clear edict, but I roused myself, raised a righteous army, and resolved to destroy them. By the aid of Heaven and the fortune of the imperial line the rebels were slain, and the blessing was restored to the court. There was no one in the realm who did not rejoice at this. In the meantime I dispatched two envoys to inspect the eleven provinces of the Kinai and prohibit plundering, but all of this was done in obedience to the decrees of the Retired Emperor, and nothing was done on my own authority. Next I had the two envoys, bearing a decree of the Retired Emperor, pacify the four provinces of Chinzei (Kyushu); and as for men such as Harada-no-Tanenao and Kikuchi-no-Takanao, whose districts and villages had been confiscated, the established custom would have been to set deputies to govern them, yet even so I avoided acting on my own. How much more so in the other provinces and districts. In matters great and small I have sought only to remove the wicked rebels according to the decrees of the Retired Emperor, and yet now the court has suddenly appointed Yoshitsune as steward over nine provinces and Yukiie over four. With what came before and what came after at odds like this, I do not know what to follow. The two wicked men, relying on force, stirred up disorder and set out westward together, but they themselves met with wind and waves, their ships drifted and capsized, their followers perished, and they fled with only their own persons, their whereabouts unknown. Is this not indeed a rebuke from Heaven? I have therefore sent out troops to search everywhere in all directions. In the course of this running about there will be some disturbance, but once the two are caught it will in time settle into peace of its own accord. What I fear only is that cunning commoners may be deceived by the rebels, or that warriors in various places may use the occasion to scheme treacherously; that would become the root of calamity, and what lies beyond it would be hard to foresee. I beg that stewardships (jitō-shiki) be established on the estates of the various provinces and that Yoritomo be given charge of them. This is not a scheme for my own person; it is a sound plan for putting down disorder and quelling rebels for the sake of the state. The province of Iyo should be treated in the same way, and if any among the common people do not comply regarding the regular taxes and miscellaneous services, I will strictly press them. As for the matters that should be carried out today, I respectfully draw up proposals and submit them to the Retired Emperor. Now is the time to begin a new era together with the realm, and in dealing with it one must especially get to the root of things. It is what the Way of Heaven favors, and there should be no hesitation." Yoritomo then submitted to the Retired Emperor: "I beg that Gisō Kugyō, court nobles for deliberation and memorial, be established, with ten men appointed to it, beginning with the Minister of the Right Fujiwara-no-Kanezane and the Naidaijin Fujiwara-no-Moroie. In the affairs of the realm, from matters concerning the gods of heaven and earth to the various affairs of government, let these ten men submit memorials and decide them in the intervals of court business. Let Kanezane be granted the Nairan, the privilege of prior inspection of documents; let the Gon-no-Uchūben Fujiwara-no-Mitsunaga and Minamoto-no-Kanetada serve as assistants to the Kurōdo-no-Tō, Chief Chamberlain; let the Gon-Chūnagon Fujiwara-no-Tomokata again be Master of the Retired Emperor's Stables; let the Governor of Hōki, Fujiwara-no-Muneyori, be Minister of the Treasury; let the chamberlain Fujiwara-no-Chikatsune be a Benkan, Controller; let the Jijū, Imperial Attendant, Fujiwara-no-Kinsuke be Master of the Right Imperial Stables; and let the Governor of Hyūga, Ozuki-no-Hirofusa, be Sa-no-Daishi, Senior Secretary of the Left. Let Kanezane receive the administration of the province of Iyo, Sanesada that of Echizen, Muneie that of Iwami, the Gon-Chūnagon Fujiwara-no-Mitsutaka that of Etchū, Saneie that of Mimasaka, Michichika that of Inaba, Masanaga that of Ōmi, Mitsunaga that of Izumi, and Kanetada that of Mutsu. Many of the partisans of Yoshitsune and Yukiie are in the province of Bungo, so I ask that I be ordered to administer that province, for the convenience of pacifying it. For the rest, where offices are vacant, let them be given to men chosen for their ability to suit the post. The Chief Chamberlain Fujiwara-no-Mitsumasa served as the official in charge of the rescript to strike me down, and the Senior Secretary of the Left Ozuki-no-Takamoto wrote it out; now that the system is to be reformed, it would be ill-omened to use such men, and their offices should be suspended. The Sangi Taira-no-Chikamune, the Minister of the Treasury Takashina-no-Yasutsune, the Udaiben Fujiwara-no-Mitsumasa, the Minister of Justice Fujiwara-no-Yoritsune, the Master of the Right Stables Takashina-no-Tsunenaka, the Gon-no-Kami of the Left Stables Taira-no-Naritada, the Senior Secretary of the Left Ozuki-no-Takamoto, the Emon-no-jō Taira-no-Tomoyasu, Fujiwara-no-Nobumori, Nakahara-no-Nobusada, Fujiwara-no-Tokinari (Note: the surname follows the Genpei Seisuiki), the Director of the Arsenal Fujiwara-no-Akitsuna, and others all aided wicked men and fostered the disorder, so they should be dismissed from office and expelled. As for the other wicked and vicious followers, their offenses should be examined and explained to them, and those who hold office should be stripped of it. As for monks and yin-yang diviners who had dealings with the rebels, let them all be expelled." The court complied with every one of these requests, and the appointments and punishments were very numerous (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Azuma Kagami). At this time Fujiwara-no-Motomichi was Sesshō, Regent, and a new office of Nairan was established in addition, to divide his powers (Note: following the Gyokuyō). In the second month of the second year (1186), Yoritomo asked that Fujiwara-no-Chikamitsu be reappointed Governor of Tsushima, that Minamoto-no-Kuninari be made Governor of Shimōsa, and that Fujiwara-no-Suemitsu be made Governor of Bungo. He also had eight retainers who had long held posts in the capital offices decline those offices. Next, on the ground that the Regent Motomichi was submitting and deciding the deliberations on pursuit and punishment, he asked that Kanezane take over this task in his place (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). The court complied (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the third month Yoritomo submitted: "Since the Jishō years, wars have broken out repeatedly, the people have been worn down by forced labor and have had no time for farming, and the exhaustion of the Kantō has been especially severe. In the nine provinces under my administration, Sagami, Musashi, Izu, Suruga, Kazusa, Shimōsa, Shinano, Echigo, and Bungo, I have already remitted in full all unpaid taxes up to last year. From this year I will levy taxes again, reckoning the people's strength. I humbly beg that the levies on the other provinces also be made to follow this, so that the common people may be given peace." Afterwards Yoritomo recalled Hōjō-no-Tokimasa to Kamakura, and left Hōjō Tokisada and others in Kyoto to stand guard. He sent his brother-in-law, the Sama-no-kami Fujiwara-no-Yoshiyasu, to Kyoto to oversee miscellaneous business and gather intelligence. He then sent a letter to the Gisō Kugyō, saying: "The government of the realm should bring great peace through the deliberations and memorials of you gentlemen. This is exactly why Yoritomo proposed it. I ask that you correct the various affairs of government impartially and without selfishness. Yoritomo is the son of a warrior house, has long served in the army, and has long been in remote border lands, so I am not yet accustomed to the affairs of the court. As for the many things I petition for, I ask that you deliberate on them again and again and deal with them fittingly. I wish only that you resolve to follow the public Way. Even if it be an imperial decree or a decree of the Retired Emperor, if any of it would damage the Way of government or harm the common people, I hope that each of you will exert your hearts, state your opinions, and submit your memorials afresh two and three times. To know and not speak: how could that be called the way of a loyal subject?" In the fifth month Hōjō Tokisada captured Minamoto-no-Yukiie and his son Mitsuie in the province of Izumi and put them to death. In the same month in Kamakura yellow butterflies flew in swarms, most of all at Tsurugaoka. In the sixth month, because the people's strength was depleted, goods were distributed to relieve the province of Sagami. In the twelfth month Amano Tōkage was appointed Tsukushi Bugyō, Magistrate of Tsukushi (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). In this year Nakahara-no-Chikayoshi was sent as Kyoto Shugo (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki). In the second month of the third year (1187): earlier, in the time of the Taira, the Taifu-no-sakan Sadayasu (Note: his surname is unknown) had had his domain confiscated on the charge of siding with the Minamoto. Sadayasu petitioned, so Yoritomo submitted a memorial and had his domain restored. In the sixth month he sent Ōe-no-Hiromoto to Kyoto to have the Kan'in palace repaired. In the eighth month Yoritomo visited the Tsurugaoka Hachiman shrine, held the Hōjōe, the ceremony of releasing living creatures, for the first time, and watched the yabusame, mounted archery. From then on this became the regular practice. At about this time Kyoto was filled with bandits and plundering was going on everywhere, so the court ordered Yoritomo to send troops to catch and suppress them. Yoritomo at once sent Chiba Tsunetane and Shimokōbe Yukihira, and at the same time submitted a memorial in articles: "The appointment of warriors of the Hokumen, the Northern Guard, to be Kebiishi, police commissioners, has been regarded since ancient times as difficult; the men should be carefully selected for appointment. That the descendants of meritorious servants all languish in obscurity is the fault of the officials in charge, and they should be chosen and employed with care. As for the stewards of the various provinces, I have already sternly warned them. If any do not follow my instructions, I will receive an imperial decree and suppress them." The Retired Emperor approved with kindly words. Yukihira and the others captured and beheaded the bandits, and Kyoto became quiet. In the second month of the fourth year (1188): earlier, Yoshitsune had fled to the province of Mutsu and relied on Fujiwara-no-Hidehira, but before long Hidehira died. At this time Yoritomo petitioned, and the court ordered Hidehira's son Yasuhira to seize Yoshitsune and hand him over. In the sixth month the Rokujō-dono was built. In the same month he ordered the provinces of Bandō: "On the days of the spring and autumn equinox Hōjōe, killing is prohibited, and such practices as hunting with fire and fishing with poison are to be abolished permanently." He further petitioned that decrees be issued applying this uniformly to the other provinces too, and the court complied (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). In this year Nakahara-no-Chikayoshi resigned as Kyoto Shugo, and the former Chūnagon Fujiwara-no-Yoshiyasu replaced him (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki). He sent Amano Tōkage and others to attack Kikaigashima, and they brought it to submission (Note: following the Azuma Kagami; the Kokon Chomonjū says that Kōrai was attacked, but this is an error). In the first month of the fifth year (1189) Yoritomo was raised to Senior Second Rank (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Azuma Kagami). In the second month Yoritomo petitioned: "Yoshiaki remains a fugitive, and a thorough search has not yet been carried out. I fear this is not the way to guard against later troubles. Fujiwara-no-Yasuhira is sheltering Yoshiaki, and I wish to carry out Heaven's punishment upon him in obedience to an imperial decree." Yoshiaki is none other than Yoshitsune. In the third month the Dairi, the imperial palace, was repaired. In the intercalary fourth month Yasuhira attacked and killed Yoshitsune and sent his head to Kamakura. In the seventh month Yoritomo asked for the punitive expedition against Yasuhira and kept submitting memorials without cease. The court, holding that since Yoshitsune was already dead and the realm largely at peace, the people should be allowed to rest, was reluctant. Yoritomo adopted a plan of Ōba-no-Kagayoshi, set out without waiting for the court's reply, and divided his army into three columns (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). Hatakeyama Shigetada was made the vanguard, and Yoritomo himself led the generals by the central road, with the troops of Musashi and Kōzuke following him. Chiba Tsunetane and Hatta Tomoie were to lead the troops of Hitachi and Shimōsa by way of Iwaki, cross the Abukuma River, and join him. Hiki Yoshikazu and Usami Sanemasa were to lead the troops of Musashi and Kōzuke from Echigo out to the Nezu Barrier in Dewa (Note: the Azuma Kagami; see also the Hōryaku Kanki). Miyoshi-no-Yasunobu and others remained behind in Kamakura as caretakers. In the eighth month he reached Misawa in Mutsu. Yasuhira had built a fortress on Mount Atsukashi (Note: the name is written here with the characters 熱借, whereas this work elsewhere writes it 阿津賀志; since the two can be read alike, the spelling of the Hōryaku Kanki is followed here). Yasuhira had his elder half-brother Kunihira and Kongō Bettō Hidetsuna lead 20,000 men to defend it, while he himself took up position at Muchidate in Kokubun-hara, divided his troops to guard Dewa, and Hidetsuna camped with several thousand men at the foot of the mountain. Yoritomo sent Hatakeyama Shigetada and others to attack, and Hidetsuna was routed. Satō Mototsune had taken position at Ishinasaka, but Hitachi Kanja Tamemune broke him, cut off his head, and displayed it on Mount Atsukashi. Miura Yoshimura, Kasai Kiyoshige, and others crossed the mountain during the night and fell directly upon the enemy fortress, inflicting many casualties. The next day Yoritomo personally led the troops and urged on the fighting, but the fortress was strong and did not fall. The generals fought with desperate resolve, and their battle cries echoed through the mountains and valleys. Just then soldiers under Oyama Tomomitsu and Utsunomiya Tomotsuna secretly crossed a steep mountain path, came out behind the enemy, and shouted "Shoot!" The men in the fortress were thrown into confusion and could fight no longer. Kunihira fled, but was pursued on the road and killed. The enemy raised a new commander, built a stronghold at Nenashi-fuji and resisted, but Andō Shirō and others fought battle after battle and broke it. When Yasuhira heard that Kunihira had been defeated, he abandoned his army and fled. Yoritomo advanced to the Kokufu, the provincial capital, where Tsunetane, Tomoie, and the others came and joined him. At this time it was said both that "Yasuhira is at Monomigaoka" and that "he is at Tamatsukuri." Yoritomo went in person to Tamatsukuri and sent Oyama Tomomasa and others to Monomigaoka to surround it. Yasuhira had already left, but the soldiers who remained fought back, and Tomomasa attacked and broke them. Yoritomo reached Tamatsukuri and besieged the castle of Takahawa. Yasuhira fled once more, and the garrison surrendered to a man. Yoritomo instructed the generals of the vanguard: "When our army reaches Tsukumo Bridge, the enemy will surely pull back their best troops to Hiraizumi and wait for us in good order. Do not try to push forward rashly with small numbers. Put the whole army in order and then strike the remaining rebels. Think deeply, and do not let a single soldier die in vain." As the army advanced and drew near Hiraizumi, Yasuhira's generals defended the steep ground of Kurihara and Sanohasama, but Yoritomo broke them all. When at last he reached Hiraizumi, Yasuhira had already set fire to the town and fled. He therefore summoned the provincial governor Fujiwara-no-Motonari, who came with his sons and submitted. Yasuhira, driven into a corner, begged for pity, but Yoritomo would not listen. In the ninth month, pursuing him as far as Shiwa District, Yasuhira's great-uncle Hizume Toshihira heard the rumors and fled. Miura Yoshizumi and others were sent to pursue him. Yoritomo encamped at Jinnooka, and Hiki Yoshikazu and Usami Sanemasa, having already pacified Dewa, came and joined him, bringing his forces to some 300,000. Yasuhira's subordinate commander Kawada Jirō killed Yasuhira and took his head to Jinnooka to surrender. Yoritomo rebuked him, saying: "Yasuhira was already in the palm of my hand. Why should I need another man's hand to put him to death? You killed your lord and sought to make a merit of it, and your crime falls under the Eight Heinous Crimes." He ordered Kawada Jirō beheaded, and had Yasuhira's head exposed. Just then the imperial rescript and the decree of the Retired Emperor authorizing the punishment of Yasuhira at last arrived. Yoritomo then comforted the people of the two provinces of Ōu who had been displaced and wandering because of the war, sent them back each to their own land, and in particular gave clothing and horses to the old. He also searched for the registers of the two provinces (the shōchō) and the field registers, but all had been lost in the fighting. There were in that land local magnates, Buzen-no-suke Sanetoshi and his younger brother Tachibana-no-Tōgo Sanemasa, who knew the circumstances of the two provinces well. Yoritomo therefore summoned them and received them, and had them draw up what they remembered as maps and present them. The tax quotas and households of the districts of the two provinces, together with their townships, mountains, and rivers, were thereby nearly completely recovered. Yoritomo was pleased, and employed the two men. He then toured famous places and ancient sites, consoled the monks, and restored temple lands as before. Advancing further, he encamped at Kuriyagawa. Toshihira and his younger brother Suehira came with their sons and surrendered, and Yoritomo permitted Toshihira's domain as before. Yasuhira's younger brother Motoyoshi Takahira also surrendered, and the two provinces of Ōu were completely pacified. Most of the prisoners were released. He then reported the victory to Kyoto, and apologized for the offense of having marched out on his own authority without the court's permission. He left Kasai Kiyoshige in charge of the Hiraizumi Kebiishi-dokoro, the police office, ordered his retainers in Mutsu to follow Kiyoshige's directions, assessed the merits of officers and men, and distributed the lands of the two provinces among them. On reaching the Kokufu he instructed the stewards: "Make taxes and labor services equitable, cut wasteful expense, and ease the burden on the people's strength." He put up a notice on the wall of the government office, declaring that all administration should follow the old ways of Hidehira and Yasuhira, without change. During this campaign he ordered Kōzuke and Shimotsuke: "In transporting tribute rice and supplying military provisions, you must not burden the residents." The people all submitted to him from the heart. In the tenth month he returned to Kamakura and ordered the Rusu of Dewa to inspect the districts and villages. The Rusu tried to abolish the aiden, idle fields, and the stewards were troubled by this. Yoritomo sent down a letter to the Rusu: "Dewa and Mutsu are lands of the eastern barbarians, and each place has its own circumstances of custom. When I earlier promulgated new regulations, I excepted these two provinces. How much less should the aiden be abolished! Follow the old ways entirely and do not change them." In the eleventh month a decree of the Retired Emperor came down praising the merit of the campaign against Yasuhira, and further commanded: "The handling of those who surrendered is left entirely to your judgment, and there is no need to send them to Kyoto. As for your own reward, it will be as you wish. For the officers and men of merit, report their names." Yoritomo sent Ōe-no-Hiromoto to Kyoto to decline the reward, and in the end did not report the names of the officers and men. He then submitted a memorial in articles on the matters that should be carried out after the pacification. In this year in Mutsu the rice crop was poor, and, combined with the war, the people could not settle to their livelihoods. In the same month he ordered Kasai Kiyoshige to relieve the destitute. For the three districts of Iwai, Isawa, and Esashi, farming provisions (food) were to be carried in from the north, and for the two districts of Waga and Henuki, seed was to be issued in sequence from Akita District. In the twelfth month, by a decree of the Retired Emperor, the two provinces of Izu and Sagami were granted to Yoritomo to be handed down to his descendants forever, and at the same time he was summoned to come to court (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). In this year Doi-no-Sanehira was sent as Kyoto Shugo (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki).

¶In the first month of the fourth year of Kenkyū (1193): earlier, Ōkawa Kanetō, a general of Yasuhira, had raised troops in the province of Dewa, with a force of several thousand men, and turned toward the province of Mutsu. Yuri Koreira sallied out from Ogashima to meet him but was defeated and killed. Kanetō's momentum was very great. Just then an urgent messenger came from Kasai Kiyoshige, reporting: "Kanetō is fanning the rebellion; Tachibana-no-Kiminari and others have fallen in battle, and Yuri Koreira has fled." Hearing this, Yoritomo said: "What that messenger says is wrong. Koreira was killed in battle and Kiminari fled. I know it from the men's ordinary characters," and it turned out exactly as he had said. Yoritomo raised troops from Shinano and Kōzuke and made Ashikaga Yoshikane the Tsuitōshi, Commissioner for the Pursuit and Suppression of the rebels. Chiba Tsunetane was to attack Kanetō by the Tōkaidō and Hiki Yoshikazu by the Tōsandō. All the other officers and men who held domains in Mutsu joined this army. The troops from Sagami westward were told to prepare their equipment and await orders at Kamakura. He sent envoys to Mutsu to warn the officers and men: "Plan together and consult one another, join your forces, and advance and fight together. Do not greedily seek merit and advance rashly, dividing your strength and inviting defeat." A few days later he sent another envoy to supervise the army in Mutsu, instructed Chiba Tanemasa and others to scout the location of the enemy's stockades and to send infantry out by side paths to attack them, and further warned: "If there are any among the officers and men who are cowardly and lack courage, I will go myself and punish them." The next day he sent yet another envoy to instruct the generals: "The troops of the two provinces of Mutsu and Dewa are men who follow Kanetō because they were coerced by him, and in truth they hold in their hearts the wish to surrender. You should announce that any among the rebel army who come over to us will have their offenses pardoned. If they come to believe that they cannot escape the blade, they will certainly fight with the courage of desperation, and that will not be to our benefit. Those who sheltered Kanetō, whether the former Rusu or the new Rusu, are guilty of the same crime as rebellion and should of course be put to death. For the present, however, hold them in custody under Kasai Kiyoshige and levy two hundred suits of armor from them as a penalty." In the second month the generals advanced to Izumida, and Kanetō met them at Ichinohasama in Kurihara but was utterly defeated. The armies pursued him and defeated him repeatedly. Kanetō fled with only his own person, but was killed by villagers. In the tenth month Yoritomo set out to go to court in Kyoto. The mounted escort that accompanied him was exceedingly grand. Passing through Owari and arriving at the Noma estate, he visited the grave of his father Yoshitomo and invited monks to hold a Buddhist service. Reaching Aohaka in the province of Mino, he called upon Enju, the daughter of the post-station master, a woman of Ōi. In the eleventh month he entered Kyoto and stayed at the Rokuhara residence (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). He first had an audience with the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, and afterwards went to court before the emperor (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Azuma Kagami). By imperial decree he was at once appointed Gon-Dainagon, Provisional Major Counsellor, and next concurrently Ukonoe-no-Taishō, Great General of the Right Palace Guards (Note: following the Gyokuyō, the Kugyō Bunin, the Azuma Kagami, and the Gukanshō). The Retired Emperor treated Yoritomo with great warmth: at each audience they talked for hours at a time, and sometimes he kept him at his side the whole day (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Azuma Kagami). In the twelfth month Yoritomo submitted a memorial resigning both the offices of Gon-Dainagon and Ukonoe-no-Taishō (Note: following the Gyokuyō, the Kugyō Bunin, and the Azuma Kagami). By custom, one who had resigned office was not permitted to ride in an ox-drawn carriage, but by a decree of the Retired Emperor this was specially allowed (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Azuma Kagami). He was granted a hundred chō of daikōden, fields granted for great merit (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Gukanshō). The Retired Emperor, by decree, ordered Yoritomo to recommend twenty of his followers who had particular merit; Yoritomo firmly declined but was not permitted to, and in the end recommended ten and had them given posts in the Imperial Guards (Note: the Azuma Kagami; see also the Gyokuyō). Earlier, the court had often sent Tsuibushi, inspectors, to the provinces to carry out the suppression of bandits and the like (Note: following the Chōya Gunsai), and Yoritomo, too, had once had his retainers go as Sō-Tsuibushi to inspect the provinces of the Kinai (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). At this time Yoritomo asked to become Tenka Sō-Tsuibushi, Inspector-General of the Realm, and by the court's deliberation this was granted (Note: see the Heike Monogatari, the Masukagami, the Hōryaku Kanki, the Taiheiki, and the Myōe Den. That this was in this year follows the Masukagami and the Hōryaku Kanki. The Heike Monogatari places it in the first year of Bunji, but this is probably an error). Thus the power over soldiers and horses came entirely to Yoritomo, and the court could no longer have any part in it (Note: written with reference to the Jōkyū-ki, the Masukagami, the Hōryaku Kanki, and the Taiheiki). Yoritomo returned to Kamakura, and left his nephew Fujiwara-no-Takayoshi in charge of Rokuhara (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). In the first month of the second year (1191) he established the Mandokoro, Administrative Board, and made Ōe-no-Hiromoto its Bettō, Director (Note: considering that this work states that in the third year of Juei the Kumonjo was established and Hiromoto made its Bettō, it seems that at this time the Kumonjo was converted into the Mandokoro). Fujiwara-no-Yukimasa was made Rei, Chief Official; Fujii Toshinaga, Anju, Clerk; Nakahara-no-Mitsuie, Chikaji, Steward of Household Affairs; and Nakahara-no-Chikayoshi, Fujiwara-no-Toshikane, Miyoshi-no-Yasukiyo, Miyoshi-no-Nobuhira, Taira-no-Moritoki, Nakahara-no-Nakanari, and Kiyohara-no-Saneto were made Kuji Bugyō, Commissioners of Public Affairs (Note: this work records that Kajiwara-no-Kagetoki was Samurai-dokoro-no-tsukasa, Director of the Samurai Office, and the entry for the first year of Bunji also records Kagetoki as Director of the Samurai Office, so he must have been appointed before this; but since the year and month cannot be established, it is not recorded here). In the second month, in obedience to an edict, he repaired the Hōjūji-dono (Note: following the Azuma Kagami).

¶In the third month of the third year (1192) the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa died. The Retired Emperor had been in poor health since the winter of the previous year, and Yoritomo had kept purification and recited the Lotus Sutra daily, and had also dedicated a sword and a horse to the Iwashimizu Hachiman shrine and prayed fervently. On the Retired Emperor's death he held a grand Buddhist service, and also set up a bathhouse where travelers and residents might bathe freely for a hundred days (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). In the seventh month the court sent an envoy and appointed Yoritomo Sei-i Taishōgun, Barbarian-Subduing Generalissimo (Note: written with reference to the Azuma Kagami, the Kugyō Bunin, and the Teiō Hennenki. The Genpei Seisuiki and the Heike Monogatari both place this in the second year of Juei, but this is an error). Earlier a Shōgun had been appointed at the Chinjufu, the Pacification Office, but after Yoritomo became Sei-i Shōgun, the court, considering the weight of that office, abolished the post of Chinjufu Shōgun (Note: following the Shokugenshō). In this year Maki Kunichika was sent to guard Kyoto (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki. "Maki" is written in this work as "Sugi," but it is corrected here on the basis of the Buke Bunin). In the first month of the fourth year (1193) the seating order of the Gokenin, the shogunal vassals, was fixed for the first time. In the fourth month a hunt was held at Nasuno (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). In the fifth month a great hunt was held at Fujino, and all the Gokenin of the Kantō assembled. Soga Sukenari and his younger brother Tokimune killed Kudō Suketsune, their father's enemy, and so avenged him, and then burst straight into the shogunate's encampment. The officers and men came out and fought, killed Sukenari, and captured and beheaded Tokimune (Note: following the Azuma Kagami, the Soga Monogatari, and the Hōryaku Kanki). In the eighth month he confined his younger brother Noriyori at the Shuzenji in Izu and finally had him killed. In the eighth month of the fifth year (1194), hearing that Yasuda Yoshisada bore a grudge against Yoritomo over the matter of his son Yoshisuke, he had him killed (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). In this year Sanjō Aritsugu was set to guard Kyoto (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki). In the third month of the sixth year (1195): earlier, the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa had ordered the monk Chōgen to rebuild the Tōdaiji, and Yoritomo had also contributed ten thousand koku of rice, a thousand ryō of gold, and a thousand bolts of silk, but the work was long unfinished. Yoritomo further gave the taxes of the province of Harima to the Tōdaiji and had the monk Mongaku supervise the construction. At this time the work was completed and the day of the dedication ceremony was fixed, so Yoritomo went to Nara with his wife and children to see it, gave a thousand horses as offerings, and, on reaching Kyoto, went to court many times. In the seventh month he returned to Kamakura. Because Hiraga Yoshinobu, the steward of Musashi, had a good record of administration, he sent down a letter praising him. In the eighth month he ordered the estates of the eastern provinces and Mutsu, Dewa, and elsewhere: "From now on, if among the stewards there is anyone who is guilty of robbery or theft, the two thefts, or who shelters accomplices, he is to be dismissed from his post entirely, and the post given to whoever captures him" (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). In the sixth month of the seventh year (1196), Tomotada, the son of Taira-no-Tomomori, went into hiding in Kyoto and gathered troops, intending to attack Fujiwara-no-Yoshiyasu (Note: following the Meigetsuki and variant texts of the Heike Monogatari). Yoshiyasu sent Gotō Motokiyo and others, who surrounded and attacked him, and Tomotada killed himself (Note: following a variant text of the Heike Monogatari. Considering that the Azuma Kagami is missing for the period from the seventh to the ninth year of Kenkyū, the details cannot be established). Earlier, former retainers of the Taira, Taira-no-Tadafusa, Moritsugu, Morihisa, Munesuke, Fujiwara-no-Tadamitsu, and Fujiwara-no-Kagekiyo and others, had either banded together and raised troops or disguised themselves and tried to shoot Yoritomo, but all failed, and were captured and killed one after another. At this time their remaining partisans were entirely suppressed (Note: considering that the various texts of the Heike Monogatari say that after Tomotada's defeat Moritsugu, Kagekiyo, Tadamitsu, and others escaped and fled, whereas on examining the Azuma Kagami, Tadamitsu and the others were all killed before Tomotada's death, they are recorded together here). In this year Nakahara-no-Chikayoshi was sent to guard Kyoto (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki). In the twelfth month of the ninth year (1198), Inage Shigenari built a bridge over the Sagami River and held its completion ceremony, which Yoritomo attended, but on the way back he fell from his horse and suddenly became ill (Note: following the entry for the second year of Kenryaku in the Azuma Kagami, the Okazaki text of the Heiji Monogatari, and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the first month of the first year of Shōji (1199), as his illness grew grave, he took the tonsure and died. He was fifty-three years old (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin, the Meigetsuki, the Masukagami, and the Hyakurenshō. The Hōryaku Kanki says: On his way back from the Sagami River Yoritomo reached Yatsumatogahara, where in a daze he saw the vengeful spirits of Yoshihiro, Yoshitsune, Yukiie, and others, and then, passing Inamuragasaki, he saw the vengeful spirit of the Emperor Antoku over the sea, and so fell ill and died. The Shinzoku Zakki says: In the first month of the first year of Shōji Yoritomo visited the Tsurugaoka Hachiman shrine and kept purification and prayer for seven days, and ordered Adachi Morinaga to guard his lodging. One night someone in white robes entered the room, and Morinaga seized and stabbed him, but when he looked, it was Yoritomo. Morinaga was greatly alarmed and tried to kill himself, but Yoritomo firmly stopped him and ordered him to keep the matter secret. The world was told he had fallen suddenly ill, and he died that very night. This story is extremely vulgar and lewd. The Azuma Kagami is missing the entries for this month and there is no way to examine it, but the entry for the second month of the second year of Kenryaku records that he fell ill on the way back from the Sagami River and never rose again, and this fact cannot be denied. It seems that some meddlesome person recklessly invented this account. It is not adopted here). Just then the Retired Emperor Go-Toba was about to make a progress to the Rengeō-in, but on hearing of Yoritomo's death he called it off (Note: the Gyokuyō; see also the Meigetsuki). Yoritomo loved waka and was also an excellent archer; he often had his officers and men practice yabusame, ushi-oi-mono, and kasagake, and personally tested who was better. He always led his retainers by frugality. Once when he summoned Fujiwara-no-Toshikane, Toshikane's clothes were showy. Yoritomo had Toshikane's sword brought, cut off the hem of the garment himself, and admonished him: "You have ability; why do you not keep to simplicity and thrift? Men such as Chiba Tsunetane and Doi-no-Sanehira, who are nothing but soldiers and are ignorant of the forms of etiquette, have domains incomparably larger than yours, yet they still hold themselves to simplicity, and by this enrich their houses, support many troops, and aim at winning merit. Why do you not consider this?" When Yoritomo was in Kyoto and visited the Shitennōji, Fujiwara-no-Yoshiyasu and others were about to levy labor from the districts and villages of their domains and have each offer food and drink. When Yoritomo heard of this, he feared it would trouble the people and waste their wealth, and had it stopped. This was praised far and near (Note: following the Azuma Kagami). Yoritomo, to begin with, rose from a position of having been a fugitive, wiped out the Taira, and devoted himself to rewarding merit and repaying kindness. When the Taira were driven in flight to the western seas, Yoritomo especially petitioned the throne to pardon Taira-no-Yorimori and restore his rank and stipend, and invited him to Kamakura and treated him generously, in order to repay his debt to the nun Ike-no-Zenni. He also summoned Taira-no-Munekiyo and wished to reward him handsomely, but Munekiyo pleaded illness and did not come (Note: following the Azuma Kagami and the Genpei Seisuiki). He also gave portions of his domains to Tanba-no-Tōsan Kunihiro and Kōketsu-no-Gengo Moriyasu, for both of whom he felt an old debt. Yoritomo used to say: "That my head is still on my shoulders is owing to the kindness of the lady of the Ike residence, and that my hair was spared the razor is owing to the loyalty of Moriyasu" (Note: following the Heiji Monogatari). As to Yoritomo's person, he had a large face and a short stature, a gentle and refined manner, and a clear and cheerful voice (Note: following the Genpei Seisuiki and the Heiji Monogatari). He was steady, resolute, and large in capacity; before undertaking anything he always calculated minutely, and never launched into a matter without a clear prospect. Therefore his armies were not defeated, and his officers and men all held him in awe and submitted to him. At the same time, however, he was suspicious and lacking in warmth, and many of his own kin and meritorious retainers met the misfortune of being killed. Yoritomo's ancestors had won military merit generation after generation, and the officers and men of the Kantō had long looked up to the Minamoto as their lords. When, in Yoritomo's generation, he opened a shogunate at Kamakura and gave orders to the realm, the power over soldiers and horses all came to him. People of the age called him the Kamakura Ukon'e-no-Taishō, or Kamakura-dono (Note: written after weighing the general sense of the various books).

¶Yoritomo had three sons. Yoriie and Sanetomo each have a separate biography. As for the son by a concubine, the monk Jōgyō, Yoritomo, worried about the jealousy of his wife Masako, secretly entrusted him as a disciple to the monk Ryūgyō of the Ninna-ji and had him live on Mount Kōya (Note: following the Meigetsuki and the Azuma Kagami. The Sonpi Bunmyaku says that Yoritomo's son the monk Nōkan became a Gon-Daisōzu, Provisional Senior Bishop, lived on Mount Kōya, and killed himself; but since his career resembles Jōgyō's, it is suspected that he is not a different person. The printed edition of the Sonpi Bunmyaku lists Shimazu Tadahisa and Ōtomo Yoshinao as sons of Yoritomo, but neither entry appears in the old manuscripts, which on the contrary state that Yoritomo left no descendants. It is not known on what the statements in the printed edition are based. The Shimazu Kaden says that Tango-no-Tsubone, a younger sister of Hiki Yoshikazu, received Yoritomo's favor and became pregnant, and, to avoid Masako's jealousy, secretly went west and gave birth to a child while stopping at the Sumiyoshi shrine, and this was Tadahisa; that he became a son-in-law of Koremune-no-Hirokoto and took the surname Koremune; and that in the seventh year of Kenkyū he had an audience with the lord of the Konoe and was permitted to call himself Fujiwara; but the entry for the ninth year of Kenkyū in the Sanchōki and the entry for the first year of Antei in the Azuma Kagami both write Koremune Tadahisa and do not say Fujiwara. This account is already doubtful, and moreover although the Azuma Kagami records the deeds of Tadahisa in outline, it does not say that he was Yoritomo's son. According to the Jimoku Taiseishō, in the second year of Kyūju Tadahisa was appointed Harima-no-Shōjō, Junior Secretary of Harima, on the recommendation of Fujiwara-no-Yorinaga. At that time Yoritomo was only eight years old, so it is clear that Tadahisa was not Yoritomo's son. The Yoshimi Kafu makes Tadahisa a son of Hirokoto, and this account seems nearly correct. The Gaun Nikken-roku in some places makes Tadahisa a son of Yoshitomo, but at the time of the Hōgen and Heiji disturbances Tadahisa would already have been grown, and although Yoshitomo's other sons all took part in the campaigns, Tadahisa's name is not found; this too is doubtful. The Ōtomo Keizu says that Tone-no-Tsubone, daughter of Ōtomo Tsuneie, became a concubine of Yoritomo and became pregnant, and that he gave her to Fujiwara-no-Chikayoshi, Saiin-no-jikan, Vice-Director of the Office of the Saiin, and Yoshinao was born; that he took Chikayoshi's surname and called himself Fujiwara, and called himself Ōtomo after the clan of his maternal grandfather; but the Azuma Kagami also does not say that Yoshinao was Yoritomo's son. The Sonpi Bunmyaku says that Yoshinao was a descendant of Fujiwara-no-Hidesato, a son of Kondō Yoshinari, and was adopted by Chikayoshi, but this account does not agree with the former one. The Shimazu Kaden also says that Tadasue too was a son of Yoritomo, born of Tango-no-Tsubone, whereas the Wakasa-no-kuni Saishodokoro Nyūfuryō Ryōshu Shidai says that he was the son of Yoritomo's wet nurse; here too the accounts do not agree. The Yūki Kafu says that Yūki Tomomitsu was also a son of Yoritomo, but this account too makes his mother Yoritomo's wet nurse, and is likewise doubtful. The Hondō Kafu says that Yoritomo's son Chizuru did not in fact die and that his descendants became the Hondō family, but this matter is still obscure and cannot be examined. In general, the books that list descendants of Yoritomo are confused and contradict one another in this way, and since none has reliable grounds, none is adopted here). Yoritomo had two daughters. The elder was married to Shimizu Kanja Yoshitaka. The younger was named Sanman, and was also called Otohime. In her childhood she received a decree designating her a Nyōgo, imperial consort, but died before she entered the palace (Note: written with reference to the Azuma Kagami and the Sonpi Bunmyaku).