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123-557: Kamakura is one of Japan's ancient capitals, alongside Kyoto and Nara , and it served as the seat of the Kamakura shogunate from 1185 to 1333, established by Minamoto no Yoritomo . It was the first military government in Japan's history. After the downfall of the shogunate, Kamakura saw a temporary decline. However, during the Edo period , it regained popularity as a tourist destination among

246-735: A Kintetsu line, and a municipal subway line. The Keihan Electric Railway , the Hankyu Railway , and other rail networks also offer frequent services within the city and to other cities and suburbs in the Kinki region. Although Kyoto does not have its own commercial airport, the limited express Haruka operated by JR West carries passengers from Kansai International Airport to Kyōto Station in 73 minutes. The Kyoto Railway Museum in Shimogyō-ku , operated by JR West, displays many steam, diesel, and electric locomotives used in Japan between

369-403: A census-estimated 3.8 million people. It is also part of the even larger Keihanshin metropolitan area , along with Osaka and Kobe . Kyoto is one of the oldest municipalities in Japan, having been chosen in 794 as the new seat of Japan's imperial court by Emperor Kanmu . The original city, named Heian-kyō , was arranged in accordance with traditional Chinese feng shui following the model of

492-529: A city of a certain importance, likely to attract Yoritomo's attention. The name Kamakura appears in the Kojiki of 712, and is also mentioned in the c.  8th century Man'yōshū as well as in the Wamyō Ruijushō of 938. However, the city clearly appears in the historical record only with Minamoto no Yoritomo 's founding of the Kamakura shogunate in 1192. There are various hypotheses about

615-593: A country that had Kyoto as its capital. On July 3, 1333, warlord Nitta Yoshisada , who was an Emperor loyalist, attacked Kamakura to reestablish imperial rule. After trying to enter by land through the Kewaizaka Pass and the Gokuraku-ji Pass, he and his forces waited for a low tide, bypassed the Inamuragasaki cape, entered the city and took it. In accounts of that disastrous Hōjō defeat it

738-589: A figurehead. Since the Hōjō were part of the Taira clan, it can be said that the Taira had lost a battle, but in the end had won the war. Yoritomo's second son and third shōgun Minamoto no Sanetomo spent most of his life staying out of politics and writing poetry, but was nonetheless assassinated in February 1219 by his nephew Kugyō under the giant ginkgo tree whose trunk still stood at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū until it

861-551: A historical landmark. The plaque on the Yokohama side of the pass says: Historical Landmark - Asaina Pass (June 5, 1969) In 1240 the Kamakura shogunate ordered works to improve communications between the city and the important center of Mutsuura, and construction was started in April of the following year. The Shikken Hōjō Yasutoki himself directed the work and carried stones and dirt with his horse to speed it up. Mutsuura

984-483: A large natural water table that provides the city with ample freshwater wells. Due to large-scale urbanization, the amount of rain draining into the table is dwindling and wells across the area are drying at an increasing rate. Kyoto has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen : Cfa ), featuring a marked seasonal variation in temperature and precipitation. Summers are hot and humid, but winters are relatively cold with occasional snowfall. Kyoto's rainy season begins around

1107-600: A major industry of Kyoto; Kyoto's kimono weavers are particularly renowned, and the city remains the premier center of kimono manufacturing. Sake brewing is another prominent traditional industry in Kyoto, and the headquarters of major sake brewers Gekkeikan and Takara Holdings are found in Kyoto. Other notable businesses headquartered in Kyoto include Aiful , Ishida , Nissen Holdings , Gyoza no Ohsho , Sagawa Express , Volks , and Wacoal . As of 1 May 2023, there were 154 municipal public elementary schools in Kyoto, with

1230-674: A maximum height of approximately 1,000 meters (3,281 ft) above sea level . This interior positioning results in hot summers and cold winters. There are three rivers in the basin, the Uji River to the south, the Katsura River to the west, and the Kamo River to the east. Kyoto City takes up 17.9% of the land in Kyoto Prefecture and has a total area of 827.9 square kilometers (319.7 sq mi). Kyoto sits atop

1353-709: A number of navigable rivers and canals in Kyoto. In contemporary Kyoto, however, waterways are no longer commonly used for transportation of passengers or goods, other than for limited sightseeing purposes such as excursion boats on the Hozu River and cormorant fishing boats on the Ōi River . Although ravaged by wars, fires, and earthquakes during its eleven centuries as the imperial capital, Kyoto suffered only minor damage in World War II . Kyoto remains Japan's cultural center. About 20% of Japan's National Treasures and 14% of Important Cultural Properties exist in

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1476-1024: A reelection bid in the postwar period. In the 2024 Kyoto mayoral election , independent candidate Koji Matsui was elected for the first time, supported by the Liberal Democratic Party , Komeito , the Constitutional Democratic Party , and the Democratic Party for the People . Information technology and electronics are key industries in Kyoto. The city is home to the headquarters of Nintendo , Intelligent Systems , SCREEN Holdings , Tose , Hatena , Omron , Kyocera , Shimadzu , Rohm , Horiba , Nidec Corporation , Nichicon , Nissin Electric , and GS Yuasa . Domestic and international tourism contributes significantly to Kyoto's economy. In 2014,

1599-496: A significant number of one-way roads without sidewalks. Cycling is a common form of personal transportation in the city, although there are few areas set aside for bicycle parking and bicycles parked in restricted areas are impounded. Kyoto has fewer toll-highways than other Japanese cities of comparable size. There are nine national highways in the city of Kyoto: Route 1 , Route 8 , Route 9 , Route 24 , Route 162 , Route 171 , Route 367 , Route 477 , and Route 478 . The city

1722-490: A total of 55,736 pupils. At the secondary level, there were 66 municipal public junior high schools with 27,046 students and 11 municipal public senior high schools with 5,117 students. Home to 40 institutions of higher education , Kyoto is one of the academic centers in Japan. Kyoto University is ranked highly among all universities nationwide, with eight Nobel laureates and two Prime Ministers of Japan among its alumni. The Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences and

1845-487: A tree trunk to being the most powerful man in the land. Defeating the Taira clan, Yoritomo became de facto ruler of much of Japan and founder of the Kamakura shogunate, an institution destined to last 141 years and to have immense repercussions over the country's history. The Kamakura shogunate era is called by historians the Kamakura period and, although its end is clearly set ( Siege of Kamakura (1333) ), its beginning

1968-430: A valley called Ōkura (in today's Nishi Mikado ). The stele on the spot reads: 737 years ago, in 1180, Minamoto no Yoritomo built his mansion here. Consolidated his power, he later ruled from home, and his government was therefore called Ōkura Bakufu ( 大蔵幕府 ) . He was succeeded by his sons Yoriie and Sanetomo, and this place remained the seat of the government for 46 years until 1225, when his wife Hōjō Masako died. It

2091-872: A violent death, probably at the hand of Nitta's forces. The fall of Kamakura marks the beginning of an era in Japanese history characterized by chaos and violence called the Muromachi period . Kamakura's decline was slow, and in fact the next phase of its history, in which, as the capital of the Kantō region , it dominated the east of the country, lasted almost as long as the shogunate had. Kamakura would come out of it almost completely destroyed. The situation in Kantō after 1333 continued to be tense, with Hōjō supporters staging sporadic revolts here and there. In 1335, Hōjō Tokiyuki , son of last regent Takatoki , tried to re-establish

2214-629: Is a modern, wide road that connects Kamakura to Kita-Kamakura and only traces are left of the old pass. The Gokuraku Pass is now also a road. More or less like they were before the Meiji era are the Daibutsu, Nagoshi, and Asahina Passes, while the Kewaizaka and Kamegayatsu Passes have changed, but are still recognizable. Besides the Seven Entrances there is another great pass in the city,

2337-464: Is a natural fortress. Before the construction of several tunnels and modern roads that now connect it to Fujisawa , Ofuna  [ ja ] , and Zushi , on land it could be entered only through narrow artificial passes, among which the seven most important were called Kamakura's Seven Entrances ( 鎌倉七口 ) , a name sometimes translated as ' Kamakura's Seven Mouths ' . The natural fortification made Kamakura an easily defensible stronghold. Before

2460-666: Is connected with other parts of Japan by the Meishin Expressway , which has two interchanges in the city: Kyoto-higashi Interchange (Kyoto East) in Yamashina-ku and Kyoto-minami Interchange  [ ja ] (Kyoto South) in Fushimi-ku. The Kyoto Jūkan Expressway connects the city to the northern regions of Kyoto Prefecture. The Second Keihan Highway is another bypass to Osaka. Traditionally, trade and haulage took place by waterway, and there continue to be

2583-482: Is home to numerous Buddhist temples , Shinto shrines , palaces and gardens, some of which have been designated collectively as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO . Prominent landmarks include the Kyoto Imperial Palace , Kiyomizu-dera , Kinkaku-ji , Ginkaku-ji , and Kyoto Tower . The internationally renowned video game company Nintendo is based in Kyoto. Kyoto is also a center of higher learning in

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2706-468: Is located in Nakagyō-ku , and the Kyoto prefectural offices are located in present-day Kamigyō-ku . Kyoto contains roughly 2,000 temples and shrines. The main business district is located to the south of the Kyoto Imperial Palace . In the center of the city, there are several covered shopping arcades only open to pedestrian traffic, such as Teramachi Street and Shinkyōgoku Street . The original city

2829-457: Is not. Different historians put Kamakura's beginning at a different point in time within a range that goes from the establishment of Yoritomo's first military government in Kamakura (1180) to his elevation to the rank of Sei-i Taishōgun ( 征夷大将軍 ) in 1192. It used to be thought that during this period, effective power had moved completely from the Emperor in Kyoto to Yoritomo in Kamakura, but

2952-488: Is now, and for essentially the same reasons. The destruction of its heritage nonetheless did not stop: during the anti-Buddhist violence of 1868 ( haibutsu kishaku ) that followed the official policy of separation of Shinto and Buddhism ( shinbutsu bunri ) many of the city temples were damaged. In other cases, because mixing the two religions was now forbidden, shrines or temples had to give away some of their treasures, thus damaging their cultural heritage and decreasing

3075-493: Is one, for example, that connects Kaizō-ji in Ōgigayatsu with Kita-Kamakura Station . The Seven Entrances were simply the most convenient and important. While economically vital because they allowed traffic to and from the outside world, the Seven Passes had also great military value, and as such they were fortified in various ways, for example narrowing them further until a horse could barely pass through, and obstructing

3198-550: Is probably an error. Repaired many times in the period from the Edo period to the Meiji era , it has been declared a Historic Site . The Gokuraku Pass ( 極楽寺切通 ) is a section of the road that from the beach in Yuigahama passes in front of Gokuraku-ji 's gate, returns to the sea after Inamuragasaki , then goes on to Shichirigahama , Koshigoe and Katase, ultimately joining the famous Tokaidō road. According to tradition,

3321-538: Is recorded that nearly 900 Hōjō samurai, including the last three Regents, committed suicide at their family temple, Tōshō-ji , whose ruins have been found in today's Ōmachi . Almost the entire clan vanished at once, the city was sacked and many temples were burned. Many simple citizens imitated the Hōjō, and an estimated total of over 6,000 died on that day of their own hand. In 1953, 556 skeletons of that period were found during excavations near Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's Ichi no Torii in Yuigahama, all of people who had died of

3444-482: Is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan 's largest and most populous island of Honshu . As of 2020 , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it the ninth-most populous city in Japan. More than half (56.8%) of Kyoto Prefecture's population resides in the city. The city is the cultural anchor of the substantially larger Greater Kyoto , a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to

3567-705: Is the most famous. A 15th-century tsunami destroyed the temple that once housed the Great Buddha, but the statue survived and has remained outdoors ever since. This iconic Daibutsu is arguably amongst the few images which have come to represent Japan in the world's collective imagination. Kamakura also hosts the so-called Five Great Zen Temples (the Kamakura Gozan ). Kyoto Kyoto ( / ˈ k j oʊ t oʊ / ; Japanese : 京都 , Kyōto [kʲoꜜːto] ), officially Kyoto City ( 京都市 , Kyōto-shi , [kʲoːtoꜜɕi] ) ,

3690-448: The Kantō kanrei . Motouji had been sent by his father because this last understood the importance of controlling the Kantō region and wanted to have an Ashikaga in power there, but the administration in Kamakura was from the beginning characterized by its rebelliousness, so the shōgun 's idea never really worked and actually backfired. The kantō kubō era is essentially a struggle for

3813-548: The koga kubō . According to the Shinpen Kamakurashi , a guide book published in 1685, more than two centuries later the spot where the kubō 's mansion had been was still left empty by local peasants in the hope he may one day return. A long period of chaos and war followed the departure of the last kantō kubō (the Sengoku period ). Kamakura was heavily damaged in 1454 and almost completely burned during

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3936-606: The Associated Kyoto Program runs a study-abroad academic program with a focus on cultural, language, and historical learning in and around the Kansai metropolitan area. Kyoto is served by rail transportation systems operated by several different companies and organizations. The city's main gateway terminal, Kyōto Station , connects the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train line with five JR West lines,

4059-523: The Great Kantō earthquake that year was deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay, a short distance from Kamakura. Tremors devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama , and the surrounding prefectures of Chiba , Kanagawa , and Shizuoka , causing widespread damage throughout the Kantō region. It was reported that the sea receded at an unprecedented velocity, and then waves rushed back towards

4182-557: The Heian period of Japanese history . Although military rulers established their governments either in Kyoto ( Muromachi shogunate ) or in other cities such as Kamakura ( Kamakura shogunate ) and Edo ( Tokugawa shogunate ), Kyoto remained Japan's capital until the transfer of the imperial court to Tokyo in 1869 at the time of the Imperial Restoration . In the Sengoku period , the city suffered extensive destruction in

4305-487: The Jōkyū War , Takahashi (2005) has questioned whether Kamakura's nationwide political hegemony actually existed. Takahashi claims that if Kamakura ruled the Kantō , not only was the Emperor in fact still the ruler of Kansai , but during this period the city was in many ways politically and administratively still under the ancient capital of Kyoto . Kamakura was simply a rival center of political, economic and cultural power in

4428-482: The Kashima Shrine for the fall of Soga no Iruka . He dreamed of an old man who promised his support, and upon waking, he found next to his bed a type of spear called a kamayari . Kamatari enshrined it in a place called Ōkura . Kamayari plus Ōkura then turned into the name Kamakura . However, this and similar legends appear to have arisen only after Kamatari's descendant Fujiwara no Yoritsune became

4551-836: The Liberal Democratic Party , Komeito , and the Democratic Civic Forum. Between the founding of the modern city and 1898, the governor of Kyoto Prefecture also acted as the mayor of the city of Kyoto. From 1898 through the Second World War, mayors were nominated by the Kyoto City Assembly and appointed by the Minister of Home Affairs . Since 1947, mayors of Kyoto have been chosen by direct election to four-year terms. As of 2024, there have been ten mayors elected using this system. While some mayors have resigned or died in office, no mayor has lost

4674-476: The Meiji Restoration . The modern municipality of Kyoto was established in 1889. The city was spared from large-scale destruction during World War II and, as a result, its prewar cultural heritage has mostly been preserved. Kyoto is considered the cultural capital of Japan and is a major tourist destination. The agency for cultural affairs of the national government is headquartered in the city. It

4797-494: The Meiji period , the emperor's move from Kyoto to Tokyo in 1869 weakened the economy of Kyoto. The modern city of Kyoto was formed on April 1, 1889. The construction of Lake Biwa Canal in 1890 was one measure taken to revive the city. The population of the city exceeded one million in 1932. There was some consideration by the United States of targeting Kyoto with an atomic bomb at the end of World War II because of

4920-661: The Siege of Kamakura (1526) . Many of its citizens moved to Odawara when it came to prominence as the home town of the Later Hōjō clan . The final blow to the city was the decision taken in 1603 by the Tokugawa shōgun to move the capital to nearby Edo , the place now called Tokyo. The city never recovered and gradually returned to be the small fishing village it had been before Yoritomo's arrival. Edmond Papinot's Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan , published in 1910 during

5043-652: The Tokugawa Shogunate was established at Edo (present-day Tokyo), marking the beginning of the Edo period . Nevertheless, Kyoto flourished as one of three major cities in Japan , the others being Osaka and Edo. At the end of the period, the Hamaguri rebellion of 1864 burned down 28,000 houses in the city, which showed the rebels' dissatisfaction towards the Tokugawa Shogunate. At the start of

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5166-581: The Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics , both part of the university, have been affiliated with influential mathematicians and physicists. Private universities such as Doshisha University and Ritsumeikan University are also located in the city. The Consortium of Universities in Kyoto is a Kyoto-based higher education network consisting of three national universities, three public (prefectural and municipal) universities, 45 private universities, five other organizations, and representatives from

5289-601: The stele on the Kamakura side of the pass, near the Saburō Falls, has a very similar content. From above today's Daibutsu Tunnel, the Daibutsu Pass ( 大仏切通 ) passed through the localities of Kajiwara and Yamazaki to link Kamakura to Fujisawa . Its date of construction is unknown, and the Azuma Kagami doesn't mention it. A passage of the Shinpen Kamakurashi seems to indicate that by 1181 it existed, but this

5412-499: The Ōnin War of 1467–1477, and did not really recover until the mid-16th century. During the war, battles between samurai factions spilled into the streets, and came to involve court nobility ( kuge ) and religious factions as well. Nobles' mansions were transformed into fortresses, deep trenches dug throughout the city for defense and as firebreaks, and numerous buildings burned. The city has not seen such widespread destruction since. In

5535-526: The 1880s and the present. The Tokaidō Shinkansen , operated by JR Central , provides high-speed rail service linking Kyoto with Nagoya , Yokohama , and Tokyo to the east and with nearby Osaka to the west. Beyond Osaka, many trains boarding at Kyoto continue on the San'yō Shinkansen route managed by JR West, providing access to cities including Kobe , Okayama , Hiroshima , Kitakyushu , and Fukuoka . The trip from Tokyo to Kyoto takes around 2.5 hours, and

5658-457: The Hōjō's fall. According to The Institute for Research on World-Systems, Kamakura was the 4th largest city in the world in 1250 AD, with 200,000 people, and Japan's largest, eclipsing Kyoto by 1200 AD. Yet, despite Kamakura's annihilation of Kyoto-based political and military power at the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185, and the failure of the Emperor to free himself from Kamakura's control during

5781-491: The Kamakura shogunate was established, to allow trade during peacetime and defense in case of war, it opened seven passes. The Nagoe Pass still remains close to its original form. On the Zushi side, in several point along the road are still visible the remains of artificial cliffs added to complement the place's natural geography and ensure an easy defense. March 1981, The Kanagawa Committee for Education Today's Kobukurozaka Pass

5904-677: The Shikken of the Kamakura shogunate, carried out a purge against his subordinate Taira no Yoritsuna. In what is referred to as the Heizen Gate Incident, Yoritsuna and 90 of his followers were killed. The Hōjō regency however continued until Nitta Yoshisada destroyed it in 1333 at the Siege of Kamakura . It was under the regency that Kamakura acquired many of its best and most prestigious temples and shrines, for example Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, Kenchō-ji, Engaku-ji, Jufuku-ji, Jōchi-ji, and Zeniarai Benten Shrine. The Hōjō family crest in

6027-795: The Transportation Bureau and Kintetsu jointly operate through services which continue to Kintetsu Nara Station in Nara , the capital city of Nara Prefecture . The Tōzai Line runs from the southeastern area of the city towards the center, then east to west ( tōzai in Japanese) through the Kyoto downtown area where trains run beneath the east–west streets of Sanjō Street , Oike Street , and Oshikōji Street  [ ja ] . The Keihan Keishin Line has been integrated into this line, and thus Keihan provides through services to Hamaōtsu in

6150-497: The affairs of the imperial government, Emperor Kanmu chose to relocate the capital in order to distance it from the clerical establishment in Nara . His last choice for the site was the village of Uda, in the Kadono district of Yamashiro Province . The new city, Heian-kyō ( 平安京 , "tranquility and peace capital") , modeled after Chinese Tang dynasty capital Chang'an , became the seat of Japan's imperial court in 794, beginning

6273-577: The ancient Chinese capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang . The emperors of Japan ruled from Kyoto in the following eleven centuries until 1869. It was the scene of several key events of the Muromachi period , Sengoku period , and the Boshin War , such as the Ōnin War , the Honnō-ji Incident , the Kinmon incident , and the Battle of Toba–Fushimi . The capital was relocated from Kyoto to Tokyo after

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6396-570: The area date back at least 10,000 years. Obsidian and stone tools found at excavation sites near Jōraku-ji were dated to the Old Stone Age (between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago). During the Jōmon period , the sea level was higher than now and all the flat land in Kamakura up to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū and, further east, up to Yokohama's Totsuka-ku and Sakae-ku was under water. Thus, the oldest pottery fragments found come from hillside settlements of

6519-541: The army's shoguns Ōdate Muneuji and Eda Yukiyoshi advanced with their forces along this road, and here they clashed with Kamakura's forces commanded by Osaragi Sadanao. This is the place where they camped and fought. The name Kamegayatsu Pass ( 亀ケ谷坂 ) first appears in the Azuma Kagami in 1180. The Kamegayatsu Pass connected the area of Ōgigayatsu (north-west of today's Kamakura station) to Chōju-ji in Yamanouchi ( Kita-Kamakura ), near Kenchō-ji . Its name comes from

6642-477: The background and the inspiration for countless poems, books, jidaigeki TV dramas, Kabuki plays, songs, manga and even videogames; and are necessary to make sense of much of what one sees in today's Kamakura. Yoritomo, after the defeat and almost complete extermination of his family at the hands of the Taira clan , managed in the space of a few years to go from being a fugitive hiding from his enemies inside

6765-444: The border between Zaimokuza and Yuigahama. In administrative terms, the municipality of Kamakura borders with Yokohama to the north, with Zushi to the east, and with Fujisawa to the west. It includes many areas outside the Seven Entrances as Yamanouchi, Koshigoe ( 腰越 ) , Shichirigahama , and Ofuna, and is the result of the fusion of Kamakura proper with the cities of Koshigoe , absorbed in 1939, Ofuna, absorbed in 1948, and with

6888-433: The city came to be widely referred to simply as "Kyōto" ( 京都 , "capital city"). After the seat of the emperor was moved to the city of Edo and that city was renamed " Tōkyō " ( 東京 , meaning "eastern capital"), Kyoto was briefly known as "Saikyō" ( 西京 , meaning "western capital"). As the capital of Japan from 794 to 1868, Kyoto is sometimes called the thousand-year capital ( 千年の都 ). Historically, foreign spellings for

7011-448: The city center do not follow the same grid pattern, though streets throughout Kyoto are referred to by name, a practice that is rare in most regions of Japan. Kyoto was the largest city in Japan until the late 16th century, when its population was surpassed by those of Osaka and Edo . Before World War II, Kyoto vied with Kobe and Nagoya to rank as the fourth- or fifth-largest city in Japan. Having avoided most wartime destruction, it

7134-458: The city government announced that a record number of tourists had visited Kyoto. As a result of a sharp decline in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic , the mayor acknowledged in 2021 "the possibility of bankruptcy in the next decade" and announced job cuts in the administration and cuts in social assistance, including reductions in funding for home care. Traditional Japanese crafts are also

7257-484: The city government. The Consortium does not offer degrees, but allows students of member universities to take courses at other member universities. In addition to Japanese universities and colleges, educational institutions from other countries operate programs in the city. The Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS) is a group of 14 American universities that runs overseas academic programs in Japanese language and cultural studies for university students. Similarly,

7380-415: The city is therefore still ubiquitous. From the middle of the thirteenth century, the fact that the vassals (the gokenin ) were allowed to become de facto owners of the land they administered, coupled to the custom that all gokenin children could inherit, led to the parcelization of the land and to a consequent weakening of the shogunate. This, and not lack of legitimacy, was the primary cause of

7503-537: The city proper. The government of Japan relocated the Agency for Cultural Affairs to Kyoto in 2023. Kamakura%27s Seven Entrances#The Kobukurozaka Pass The city of Kamakura, Kanagawa in Japan, is closed off on three sides by very steep hills and on the fourth by the sea: before the construction of several modern tunnels and roads, the so-called Seven Entrances ( Nana-guchi ), or Seven Passes ( 七切り通し , Nana-kiridoshi ) (all artificial) were its main links to

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7626-577: The city's name have included Kioto and Miaco or Meaco . Ample archeological evidence suggests human settlement in the area of Kyoto began as early as the Paleolithic period, although not much published material is retained about human activity in the region before the 6th century, around which time the Shimogamo Shrine is believed to have been established. During the 8th century, when powerful Buddhist clergy became involved in

7749-449: The city. The pass saw fighting again in several occasions. It has therefore been declared a historical landmark. The stele on the Kamakura side says: The name of the Kewaizaka Pass can be written with the characters "化粧坂" or "形勢坂". According to one theory the name derives from the fact that once the shogun of the Taira clan was captured and makeup was applied to his severed head to make it easier to recognize. According to another,

7872-410: The country, and its institutions include Kyoto University , the second-oldest university in Japan. In Japanese, Kyoto was previously called Kyō ( 京 ), Miyako ( 都 ), Kyō no Miyako ( 京の都 ), and Keishi ( 京師 ) . After becoming the capital of Japan at the start of the Heian period (794–1185), the city was often referred to as Heian-kyō ( 平安京 , "Heian capital"), and late in the Heian period

7995-499: The cradle of Nichiren Buddhism during the 13th century. Founder Nichiren was not a native; he was born in Awa Province , in today's Chiba Prefecture . But it was only natural for a preacher to come here because the city was the political centre of the country at the time. Nichiren settled down in a straw hut in the Matsubagayatsu (literally transl.  pine needle valley ) district, where three temples (Ankokuron-ji, Myōhō–ji, and Chōshō-ji), have been fighting for centuries for

8118-416: The decision to link the city to Kanazawa was taken in 1240 by Shikken Hōjō Yasutoki . Its name seems to stem from the legend that superhuman hero Asahina (or Asaina) Saburō Yoshihide (a historical figure and Wada Yoshimori 's third son) built it by himself in one night. The falls near the Kamakura entrance to the pass, the Saburō Falls ( 三郎滝 ) , are also named after him. The whole pass has been declared

8241-493: The east–west direction. Near the remains of Hama no Ōtorii runs Kuruma Ōji Avenue (also called Biwa Koji). These six streets (three running north to south and three east to west) were built at the time of the shogunate and are all still under heavy use. The only one to have been modified is Kuruma Ōji, a segment of which has disappeared. Per Japanese census data, the population of Kamakura has remained relatively steady in recent decades. The earliest traces of human settlements in

8364-427: The effect of looking longer than it really is when viewed from the shrine. Its entire length is under the direct administration of the shrine. Minamoto no Yoritomo made his father-in-law Hōjō Tokimasa and his men carry by hand the stones to build it to pray for the safe delivery of his son Yoriie . The dankazura used to go all the way to Geba, but it was drastically shortened during the 19th century to make way for

8487-455: The equivalent to today's Kanto, plus the Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectures . Kamakura's ruler was called kantō kubō , a title equivalent to shōgun assumed by Ashikaga Takauji's son Motouji after his nomination to Kantō kanrei , or deputy shōgun , in 1349. Motouji transferred his original title to the Uesugi family , which had previously held the hereditary title of shitsuji ( 執事 ) , and would thereafter provide

8610-406: The fact it's so steep a turtle wouldn't be able to go up without turning over. It has been declared a historical landmark. Militarily extremely important, the Kewaizaka Pass ( 仮粧坂 ) led to Fujisawa, then the road proceeded towards Musashi Province (the area round today's Fuchū and Kokubunji). Because of its strategic position, this is where Nitta Yoshisada's forces drove their main attack on

8733-399: The first and the second lies Geba Yotsukado which, as the name indicates, was the place where riders had to get off their horses in deference to Hachiman and his shrine. Approximately 100 metres (330 ft) after the second torii , the dankazura , a raised pathway flanked by cherry trees that marks the center of Kamakura, begins. The dankazura becomes gradually wider, giving

8856-455: The fourth shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate in 1226, some time after the name Kamakura appears in the historical record. It used to be also called Renpu ( 鎌府 ) (short for Kamakura Shogunate ( 鎌倉幕府 , Kamakura Bakufu ) ). The extraordinary events, the historical characters and the culture of the twenty years which go from Minamoto no Yoritomo's birth to the assassination of the last of his sons have been throughout Japanese history

8979-403: The hands of the Hōjō clan. Yoriie plotted to take back his power, but failed and was assassinated on July 17, 1204. His six-year-old first son Ichiman had already been killed during political turmoil in Kamakura, while his second son Yoshinari at age six was forced to become a Buddhist priest under the name Kugyō . From then on all power would belong to the Hōjō, and the shōgun would be just

9102-511: The honour of being the true heir of the master. During his turbulent life Nichiren came and went, but Kamakura always remained at the heart of his religious activities. It is here that, when he was about to be executed by the Hōjō Regent for being a troublemaker, he was allegedly saved by a miracle; it is also in Kamakura that he wrote his famous Risshō Ankoku Ron ( 立正安国論 ) , or ' Treatise on Peace and Righteousness ' , and that legend says he

9225-462: The impression that prosperity had been brought there by the new regime. To the contrary, it is known that by the Nara period (about 700 AD) there were both temples and shrines. Sugimoto-dera for example was built during this period and is therefore one of the city's oldest temples. The town was also the seat of area government offices and the point of convergence of several land and marine routes. It seems therefore only natural that it should have been

9348-415: The late 16th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi reconstructed the city by building new streets to double the number of north–south streets in central Kyoto, creating rectangle blocks superseding ancient square blocks. Toyotomi also built earthwork walls called odoi ( 御土居 ) encircling the city. Teramachi Street in central Kyoto is a Buddhist temple quarter where Toyotomi gathered temples in the city. In 1603,

9471-554: The late Meiji period, describes it as follows: Kamakura . A small town (7250 inh.) in Sagami which for several centuries was the second capital of Japan.   [...] At present there remain of the splendor of the past only the famous Daibutsu and the Tsurugaoka Hachiman temple. After the Meiji Restoration , Kamakura's great cultural assets, its beach, and the mystique that surrounded its name made it as popular as it

9594-568: The list as UNESCO World Heritage Sites . In 1997, Kyoto hosted the conference that resulted in the protocol on greenhouse gas emissions ( United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ). Kyoto is located in a valley, part of the Yamashiro (or Kyoto) Basin, in the eastern part of the mountainous region known as the Tamba highlands. The Yamashiro Basin is surrounded on three sides by mountains known as Higashiyama, Kitayama and Nishiyama, with

9717-481: The middle of June and lasts until the end of July, yielding to a hot and sunny latter half of the summer. Kyoto, like most of the Pacific coast and central areas of Japan, is prone to typhoons during the summer and autumn. In the 1870s, the city was divided into a northern ward (Kamigyō-ku) and a southern ward (Shimogyō-ku), each working as individual administrative divisions of Kyoto Prefecture. The modern municipality

9840-430: The name was born because a prostitute had her house at the bottom of the slope. In any case, in the Azuma Kagami the name never appears. This pass was one of Kamakura's Seven Entrances and was important for the defense of the city. Beginning with Nitta Yoshisada's invasion of 1333, it saw combat several times. The name Kobukurozaka Pass ( 巨福呂坂 or 小袋坂 ) first appears in the Azuma Kagami in 1235. The old road that crosses

9963-612: The neighboring city of Ōtsu , the capital of Shiga Prefecture . Within the city of Kyoto, the Tōzai Line also connects to the Keihan lines at Yamashina Station , Misasagi Station , and Sanjō Keihan Station , and to the Keifuku Electric Railroad at the terminal of Uzumasa Tenjingawa Station . Kyoto's municipal bus network is extensive. Private carriers also operate within the city. Many tourists join commuters on

10086-471: The newly constructed Yokosuka railroad line . In Kamakura, wide streets are known as Ōji ( 大路 ) , narrower streets as Kōji ( 小路 ) , the small streets that connect the two as zushi ( 辻子 ) , and intersections as tsuji ( 辻 ) . Komachi Ōji and Ima Kōji run respectively east and west of Wakamiya Ōji, while Yoko Ōji , the road that passes right under San no Torii , and Ōmachi Ōji , which goes from Kotsubo to Geba and Hase , run in

10209-550: The north of the city stands Mt. Genji ( 源氏山 , Genjiyama ) (92 m (302 ft)), which then passes behind the Daibutsu and reaches Inamuragasaki and the sea. From the north to the east, Kamakura is surrounded by Mt. Rokkokuken ( 六国見 ) (147 m (482 ft)), Mt. Ōhira ( 大平山 ) (159 m (522 ft)), Mt. Jubu ( 鷲峰山 ) (127 m (417 ft)), Mt. Tendai ( 天台山 ) (141 m (463 ft)), and Mt. Kinubari ( 衣張山 ) (120 m (390 ft)), which extend all

10332-451: The now-independent Meigetsu-in used to belong. In 1890, the railroad, which until then had arrived just to Ofuna, reached Kamakura bringing in tourists and new residents, and with them a new prosperity. Part of the ancient Dankazura (see above) was removed to let the railway system's new Yokosuka Line pass. The damage caused by time, centuries of neglect, politics, and modernization was further compounded by nature in 1923. The epicenter of

10455-578: The occupation, the U.S. Sixth Army and I Corps were headquartered in Kyoto. As a result, Kyoto is one of the few Japanese cities that still have an abundance of prewar buildings, such as the traditional townhouses known as machiya . However, modernization is continually breaking down traditional Kyoto in favor of newer architecture, such as the Kyōto Station complex. Kyoto became a city designated by government ordinance on September 1, 1956. In 1994, 17 historic monuments in Kyoto were inscribed on

10578-665: The opening of the Entrances, access on land was so difficult that the Azuma Kagami reports that Hōjō Masako came back to Kamakura from a visit to Sōtōzan temple in Izu bypassing by boat the impassable Inamuragasaki cape and arriving in Yuigahama. Again according to the Azuma Kagami, the first of the Kamakura shōgun , Minamoto no Yoritomo , chose it as a base partly because it was his ancestors' land (his yukari no chi ), and partly because of these physical characteristics. To

10701-446: The origin of the name. According to the most likely theory, Kamakura, surrounded as it is on three sides by mountains, was likened both to a cooking hearth ( 竃 , kamado, kama ) and to a warehouse ( 倉 , kura ) , because both only have one side open. Another and more picturesque explanation is a legend, relating how Fujiwara no Kamatari stopped at Yuigahama on his way to today's Ibaraki Prefecture , where he wanted to pray at

10824-420: The pass was opened by the founder of Gokuraku-ji, Ninshō (1217–1303). The pass was chosen by Nitta Yoshisada for his 1333 attack on Kamakura and saw therefore ferocious fighting. The stele on the pass says: This place used to be a hill but Ninshō, the founder of Gokuraku-ji, had it flattened and opened this road. The so-called Gokuraku-ji Pass is this road. When in 1333 Nitta Yoshisada attacked Kamakura,

10947-549: The pass, which from Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū leaves the modern road to Yamanouchi (Kita-kamakura), runs below it and rejoins it before Kenchō-ji , was built by the Hōjō Shikken . The modern road was built during the Meiji era . According to the Taiheiki , it is one of the passes through which Nitta Yoshisada tried to penetrate into Kamakura in 1333. The pass has been declared a historical landmark. The Nagoe Pass ( 名越切通 )

11070-472: The period between 7500 BC and 5000 BC. In the late Jōmon period the sea receded and civilization progressed. During the Yayoi period (300 BC–300 AD), the sea receded further almost to today's coastline, and the economy shifted radically from hunting and fishing to farming. The Azuma Kagami describes pre-shogunate Kamakura as a remote, forlorn place, but there is reason to believe its writers simply wanted to give

11193-664: The place where his disciple Nichiro was cremated, and the cave where he is supposed to have written his Risshō Ankoku Ron . Nearby Myōhō–ji (also called Koke-dera or ' Temple of Moss ' ), a much smaller temple, was erected in an area where Nichiren had his home for 19 years. The third Nichiren temple in Nagoe, Chōshō-ji , also claims to lie on the very spot where it all started. Kamakura has many historically significant Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, some of them, like Sugimoto-dera, over 1,200 years old. Kōtoku-in , with its monumental outdoor bronze statue of Amida Buddha ,

11316-483: The possibility that the city's importance was great enough that its loss might persuade Japan to surrender. In the end, at the insistence of Henry L. Stimson , Secretary of War in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, the city was removed from the list of targets and replaced by Nagasaki . The city was largely spared from conventional bombing as well, although small-scale air raids did result in casualties. During

11439-659: The progress of research has revealed this was not the case. Even after the consolidation of the shogunate's power in the east, the Emperor continued to rule the country, particularly its west. However, it is undeniable that Kamakura had a certain autonomy and that it had surpassed the technical capital of Japan politically, culturally and economically. The shogunate even reserved for itself an area in Kyoto called Rokuhara ( 六波羅 ) where lived its representatives, who were there to protect its interests. In 1179, Yoritomo married Hōjō Masako , an event of far-reaching consequences for Japan. In 1180, he entered Kamakura, building his residence in

11562-595: The public buses, or take tour buses. Kyoto's buses have announcements in English and electronic signs with stops written in the Latin alphabet. Buses operating on routes within the city, the region, and the nation stop at Kyōto Station . In addition to Kyōto Station, bus transfer is available at the intersection of Shijō Kawaramachi , Sanjō Keihan Station , and the intersection of Karasuma Kitaōji near Kitaōji Station . Because many older streets in Kyoto are narrow, there are

11685-408: The remains of fortifications (artificial cliffs and flat areas) built to defend it. On the south of the border with Kamakura lies Kumano Jinja , built to guard the city's unlucky north-eastern direction. It is the steepest of Kamakura's Seven Passes. The Yokohama International Travel Association The Yokohama Committee for Education, Cultural Properties Department, March 1990 The inscription on

11808-403: The rest of the world. The city was therefore a natural fortress and, according to the Azuma Kagami , it was chosen by Minamoto no Yoritomo as his base specifically for this reason. The name itself seems to have been modeled on that of Kyoto's Seven Entrances ( 京都七口 ) —sometimes translated as the seven "mouths"—which first appears in the literature of the intermediate Muromachi period (around

11931-588: The same site in Kamakura where Yoritomo's Ōkura Bakufu had been, but in 1336 he left Kamakura in charge of his son Yoshiakira and went west in pursuit of Nitta Yoshisada. The Ashikaga then decided to permanently stay in Kyoto, making Kamakura instead the capital of the Kamakura-fu ( 鎌倉府 ) (or Kantō-fu ( 関東府 ) ), a region including the provinces of Sagami , Musashi , Awa , Kazusa , Shimōsa , Hitachi , Kozuke , Shimotsuke , Kai , and Izu , to which were later added Mutsu and Dewa , making it

12054-472: The sea, a wide expanse of sand was fully exposed above the waterline. Many temples founded centuries ago have required restoration, and it is for this reason that Kamakura has just one National Treasure in the building category (the Shariden at Engaku-ji ). Much of Kamakura's heritage was for various reasons over the centuries first lost and later rebuilt. Kamakura is known among Buddhists for having been

12177-527: The shogunate between the Kamakura and the Kyoto branches of the Ashikaga clan, because both believed they had a valid claim to power. In the end, Kamakura had to be retaken by force in 1454. The five kubō recorded by history, all of Motouji's bloodline, were in order Motouji himself, Ujimitsu , Mitsukane , Mochiuji and Shigeuji . The last kubō had to escape to Koga , in today's Ibaraki prefecture, and he and his descendants thereafter became known as

12300-580: The shogunate by force and defeated Kamakura's de facto ruler Ashikaga Tadayoshi in Musashi, in today's Kanagawa Prefecture . He was in his turn defeated in Koshigoe by Ashikaga Takauji , who had come in force from Kyoto to help his brother. Takauji, founder of the Ashikaga shogunate which, at least nominally, ruled Japan during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, at first established his residence at

12423-406: The shore in a great wall of water over seven meters high, drowning some and crushing others beneath an avalanche of waterborne debris. The total death toll from earthquake, tsunami, and fire exceeded 2,000 victims. Large sections of the shore simply slid into the sea; and the beach area near Kamakura was raised up about six-feet; or in other words, where there had only been a narrow strip of sand along

12546-529: The shrine. This road is known as Wakamiya Ōji , the city's main street. Built by Minamoto no Yoritomo as an imitation of Kyoto's Suzaku Ōji , Wakamiya Ōji used to be much wider, delimited on both sides by a 3-metre-deep (9.8 ft) canal and flanked by pine trees. Walking from the beach toward the shrine, one passes through three torii , or Shinto gates, called respectively Ichi no Torii ( ' first gate ' ), Ni no Torii ( ' second gate ' ) and San no Torii ( ' third gate ' ). Between

12669-675: The terminal of Kokusaikaikan Station and Takeda Station , and takes its name from the fact that trains run beneath Karasuma Street between Kitaōji Station in Kita-ku and Jūjō Station in Minami-ku. The Karasuma Line connects to the Hankyu Kyoto Main Line at the intersection of Shijō Karasuma in Kyoto's central business district and to JR lines and the Kyoto Kintetsu Line at Kyōto Station. In addition,

12792-544: The time used to be Sakado-gō ( 尺度郷 ) . The border post used to lie about a hundred meters past today's Kita-Kamakura train station in Ofuna 's direction. Although very small, Yamanouchi is famous for its traditional atmosphere and the presence, among others, of three of the five highest-ranking Rinzai Zen temples in Kamakura, the Kamakura Gozan ( 鎌倉五山 ) . These three great temples were built here because Yamanouchi

12915-418: The total population of Kyoto Prefecture is concentrated in the city of Kyoto, which is the highest ratio among the prefectures of Japan. The city of Kyoto is governed by the mayor of Kyoto and the Kyoto City Assembly, a municipal council . The legislative city assembly has 67 elected members, and terms are four years in length. As of 2024, the assembly is controlled by a coalition of members affiliated with

13038-615: The townspeople of Edo . Despite suffering significant losses of historical and cultural assets due to the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923, Kamakura continues to be one of the major tourist attractions in the Kanto region, known for its historical landmarks such as Tsurugaoka Hachimangū and the Great Buddha of Kamakura . Surrounded to the north, east, and west by hills and to the south by the open water of Sagami Bay , Kamakura

13161-752: The trip from Hakata Station in Fukuoka to Kyoto takes just over three hours by the fastest train service Nozomi . All Shinkansen trains stop at Kyōto Station, including Hikari and Kodama trains. The Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau operates the Kyoto Municipal Subway consisting of two lines: the Karasuma Line and the Tōzai Line . The two lines are linked at Karasuma Oike Station near Kyoto's central business district. The Karasuma Line runs primarily north to south between

13284-523: The value of their properties. Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's giant Niō ( 仁王 ) (the two wooden warden gods usually found at the sides of a Buddhist temple's entrance), for example, being objects of Buddhist worship and therefore illegal where they were, were brought to Jufuku-ji, where they still are. The shrine also had to destroy Buddhism-related buildings, for example its tahōtō tower, its midō ( 御堂 ) , and its shichidō garan . Some Buddhist temples were simply closed, like Zenkō-ji , to which

13407-475: The view of incomers. The roads were also modified adding artificial cliffs and forts from which archers could hit enemies below. Also known as Mutsuurakuchi ( 六浦口 ) and commonly called Asaina Pass ( 朝比奈切通 ) , the Asaina Pass  [ ja ] connected Kanazawa (today part of the city of Yokohama ) to Kamakura, while at the same time protecting its eastern flank. The Azuma Kagami reports that

13530-510: The village of Fukasawa, absorbed in 1948. Northwest of Kamakura lies Yamanouchi, commonly called Kita-Kamakura because of the presence of East Japan Railway Company 's (JR) Kita-Kamakura Station . Yamanouchi, however, was technically never a part of historical Kamakura since it is outside the Seven Entrances. Yamanouchi was the northern border of the city during the shogunate, and the important Kobukorozaka and Kamegayatsu Passes , two of Kamakura's Seven Entrances, led directly to it. Its name at

13653-631: The way to Iijimagasaki and Wakae Island , on the border with Kotsubo and Zushi . From Kamakura's alluvional plain branch off numerous narrow valleys like the Urigayatsu, Shakadōgayatsu, Ōgigayatsu, Kamegayatsu, Hikigayatsu, and Matsubagayatsu valleys. Kamakura is crossed by the Namerigawa river, which goes from the Asaina Pass in northern Kamakura to the beach in Yuigahama for a total length of about 8 kilometers (5 mi). The river marks

13776-455: The year 1450). Together with the other "numbered" names like " Kamakura's Ten Wells " and " Kamakura's Ten Bridges ", the modern "Seven Entrances" is an Edo period invention probably concocted to stimulate tourism. The Azuma Kagami calls them simply -zaka : Kobukurozaka, Daibutsuzaka, Gokurakuzaka, etc. Besides these seven, there were always other mountain roads that connected Kamakura with, for example, Kotsubo and Shichirigahama . There

13899-430: Was again the third-largest city in 1947. By 1960 it had fallen to fifth again, and by 1990 it had fallen to seventh. As of January 2022 , it was the ninth-largest city in Japan by population and had led the country in population decrease for two consecutive years. However, the population of the city rises during standard working hours, and Kyoto ranks seventh in Japan in terms of daytime population . Approximately 55% of

14022-469: Was arranged in accordance with traditional Chinese feng shui following the model of the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an / Luoyang . The Imperial Palace faced south, resulting in Ukyō (the right sector of the capital) being on the west, while Sakyō (the left sector) is on the east. The streets in the modern-day wards of Kamigyō-ku, Nakagyō-ku, and Shimogyō-ku still follow a grid pattern. Areas outside of

14145-460: Was created by the unification of these wards into the city of Kyoto in 1889. Due to the creation of new administrative districts and a number of municipal mergers that took place between the 1920s and the 1970s, the contemporary city of Kyoto is divided into eleven wards ( 区 , ku ) . The central wards, located to the west of the Kamo River, are small and densely populated. The city hall

14268-469: Was extremely important because it linked the city to the Miura Peninsula . Very steep and less than two meters across, its name was originally written with the characters 難通 ( difficult to pass ) for this reason. The name of the area around it is now written with the same characters (名越), but called Nagoe. It has been declared a historical landmark. The plaque on the Kamakura side says: Once

14391-463: Was given Yoshitsune's head pickled in liquor. For the same reason, in 1193 he had his other brother Noriyori killed. Power was now firmly in his hands, but the Minamoto dynasty and its power however were to end as quickly and unexpectedly as they had started. In 1199, Yoritomo died falling from his horse at the age of 51, and was buried in a temple that had until then housed his tutelary goddess. He

14514-577: Was rescued and fed by monkeys. Kamakura is also where he preached. Some Kamakura locations important to Nichiren Buddhism are: Ankokuron-ji claims to have on its grounds the cave where the master, with the help of a white monkey, hid from his persecutors. (However Hosshō-ji in Zushi 's Hisagi district makes the same claim, and with a better historical basis.) Within Ankokuron-ji lie also the spot where Nichiren used to meditate while admiring Mount Fuji,

14637-686: Was succeeded by his 17-year-old son Minamoto no Yoriie under the regency of his maternal grandfather Hōjō Tokimasa . A long and bitter fight ensued in which entire clans like the Hatakeyama , the Hiki , and the Wada were wiped out by the Hōjō who wished to get rid of Yoritomo's supporters and consolidate their power. Yoriie did become head of the Minamoto clan and was regularly appointed shōgun in 1202 but by that time, real power had already fallen into

14760-485: Was the home territory of the Hōjō clan , a branch of the Taira clan which ruled Japan for 150 years. Among Kita-Kamakura's most illustrious citizens were artist Isamu Noguchi and movie director Yasujirō Ozu . Ozu is buried at Engaku-ji . Kamakura's defining feature is Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū , a Shinto shrine in the center of the city. A 1.8-kilometre (1.1 mi) road ( 参道 , sandō ) runs from Sagami Bay directly to

14883-399: Was then a center of salt production and an important port for the distribution of goods not only to and from Kantō centers like Awa , Kazusa , and Shimōsa , but also Korea and China. Goods coming from various places arrived here by ship and entered Kamakura through this pass, making Mutsuura a location of great political and economic importance. On both sides of the pass are still visible

15006-532: Was then transferred to Utsunomiya Tsuji ( 宇津宮辻 ) . Erected in March 1917 by the Kamakurachō Seinenkai In 1185, his forces, commanded by his younger brother Minamoto no Yoshitsune , vanquished the Taira and in 1192 he received from Emperor Go-Toba the title of Sei-i Taishōgun . Yoshitsune's power would however cause Yoritomo's envy; the relationship between the brothers soured, and in 1189 Yoritomo

15129-473: Was uprooted by a storm in the early hours of March 10, 2010. Kugyō himself, the last of his line, was beheaded as a punishment for his crime by the Hōjō just hours later. Barely 30 years into the shogunate, the Seiwa Genji dynasty who had created it in Kamakura had ended. In 1293, a severe earthquake killed 23,000 people and seriously damaged the city. In the confusion following the quake, Hōjō Sadatoki,

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