Misplaced Pages

#675324

78-533: The Kamakura-fu ( 鎌倉府 , Kamakura government ) or Kantō-fu ( 関東府 , Kantō government ) was a regional government installed in Kamakura , in today's Kanagawa Prefecture , by the Ashikaga shogunate which lasted from 1349 to 1455. It was headed by a dynasty of Ashikaga rulers called Kamakura Kubō (or Kantō Kubō ). They were assisted by deputies called Kantō Kanrei traditionally chosen among

156-535: 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

234-596: 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

312-589: 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

390-463: A former Ashikaga family temple in Ōmachi . On the stupa is carved the date 1439, the year of Mochiuji's death, however the tomb seems stylistically to belong rather to the precedent Kamakura period , and the attribution seems therefore dubious. Mochiuji's eldest son Yoshihisa, 14 years old at the time, was also forced to kill himself at nearby Hōkoku-ji . His three younger sons however escaped to Nikkō and in 1440 were led by Yūki Ujitomo, head of

468-667: A miniature shogunate, this event can be considered the first embryo of what was going soon to be the Ashikaga shogunate. Ashikaga Takauji , founder of the Ashikaga shogunate which, at least nominally, ruled Japan during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, at first established his residence deliberately at 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. Persistent problems with Emperor Go-Daigo then convinced Takauji of

546-598: A rebellion against him (the so-called Zenshū no Ran ) with the aid of nearly half the daimyōs in the northern and eastern provinces. Thanks to this support, Zenshū could take Kamakura and Mochiuji had to flee. However, despite his pursuing goals similar to those of the shogunate, Zenshū was after all rebelling against his lord, so the shogunate had no choice but to send troops to stop him. In 1417, Zenshū and his allies found themselves surrounded at Tsurugaoka Hachimangū and Zenshū killed himself. After this took place, Mochiuji attacked Zenshū's allies, which included families as

624-487: A reward for his military support the two huge provinces of Mutsu and Dewa . In 1333, immediately after the Kamakura shogunate's fall, Emperor Go-Daigo wanted to re-establish his rule in Kamakura and the east of the country without sending there a shōgun , as this was seen, just a year from Kamakura's fall, as still too dangerous. As a compromise, he sent his six-year-old son Prince Norinaga to Mutsu Province (in today's Aomori region) and nominated him Governor-General of

702-431: 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

780-430: 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

858-875: 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

SECTION 10

#1732766236676

936-593: 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 ). Ashikaga Mochiuji Ashikaga Mochiuji ( 足利持氏 , 1398–1439) was the Kamakura-fu 's fourth Kantō kubō during the Muromachi period (15th century) in Japan. During his long and troubled rule the relationship between

1014-510: 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

1092-490: 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

1170-545: 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 the townspeople of Edo . Despite suffering significant losses of historical and cultural assets due to

1248-597: 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

1326-450: 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

1404-548: 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

1482-481: 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 the way to Iijimagasaki and Wakae Island , on

1560-753: 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 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

1638-524: 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

SECTION 20

#1732766236676

1716-489: 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

1794-483: 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

1872-596: The Oda and the Takeda , along with a few noble families from Musashi Province . The Ashikaga themselves thought Mochiuji's actions to be too much, and shōgun Ashikaga Yoshinori in 1432 ordered his army to destroy Mochiuji. This led to Mochiuji and Yoshinori to battle it out during the Eikyō Rebellion in 1438. In the end, Yoshinori successfully put an end to Mochiuji's rebellion in 1439. Kamakura's Kubō committed seppuku at

1950-665: 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

2028-458: 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

2106-515: The Mutsu and Dewa Provinces . In an obvious reply to this move, Ashikaga Tadayoshi , without an order from the Emperor escorted another of his sons, eleven-year-old Prince Nariyoshi (a.k.a. Narinaga) to Kamakura, where he installed him as Governor of the Kōzuke Province with himself as a Deputy and de facto ruler. Since he ruled without interference from Kyoto and the area in itself was in effect

2184-677: 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

2262-418: The administration in Kamakura was from the beginning characterized by its rebelliousness, so the shōgun ' s idea never really worked and actually backfired. The problems that had characterized the institution from its beginning culminated in 1439, when Mochiuji was deposed and the Kamakura-fu retaken by force. After a lapse of ten years, an effort was made to revive the institution and Ashikaga Shigeuji

2340-570: 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

2418-477: 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

Kamakura-fu - Misplaced Pages Continue

2496-510: 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

2574-645: 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

2652-415: 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

2730-625: 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

2808-496: 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

2886-427: 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

2964-564: 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

3042-400: 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

3120-456: 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

3198-405: 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

Kamakura-fu - Misplaced Pages Continue

3276-512: 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

3354-490: 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 the north of the city stands Mt. Genji ( 源氏山 , Genjiyama ) (92 m (302 ft)), which then passes behind

3432-514: 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

3510-622: 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

3588-450: The members of the Uesugi clan . Structurally, the Kamakura-fu was a small-scale duplicate of Kyoto's government, had full judiciary and executive powers within its territories and was responsible for its military. At first its territory included just the eight Kantō provinces (the Hasshū ( 八州 ) ), plus Kai and Izu . Later, Kantō Kubō Ashikaga Ujimitsu was given by the shogunate as

3666-520: The necessity to stay in the East. The Ashikaga ended up residing permanently in Kyoto, making Kamakura instead the capital of the Kamakura-fu ( 鎌倉府 ) , a region including the provinces of Sagami , Musashi , Awa , Kazusa , Shimōsa , Hitachi , Kōzuke , Shimotsuke (the so-called Hasshū ), plus Kai and Izu . The Kamakura-fu was therefore the equivalent of today's Kantō, plus the Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectures . In 1391 Kubō Ashikaga Ujimitsu

3744-472: 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

3822-453: 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

3900-499: The orders of the Kubō . The Uesugi slowly started to exercise their power to their advantage, and not to Kyoto's, and the Kamakura-fu for all practical purposes ceased to exist. However, 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. Kamakura, Kanagawa Kamakura

3978-447: 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

SECTION 50

#1732766236676

4056-473: 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

4134-663: 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

4212-589: 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

4290-474: 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

4368-579: 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 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

4446-470: The shame of being taken prisoner. He is buried together with three other kubō in a small cemetery within Zuisen-ji (closed to the public). The stele reads: When Kantō Kubō Ashikaga Ujimitsu died on January 11, 1398, he was given the posthumous name Yōanji Hekizan Zenkō ( 永安寺壁山全公 ) . His son Mitsukane built this temple and gave it his father's posthumous name. The temple's oshō Dombo Ushūō

4524-474: 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

4602-528: 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

4680-407: 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

4758-530: 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

SECTION 60

#1732766236676

4836-480: The spot where Nichiren used to meditate while admiring Mount Fuji, 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

4914-441: The temple of Yōan-ji, west of the city. The events in Kamakura however caused widespread resentment among Yoshinori's generals and one of them, Akamatsu Mitsusuke , murdered him. The road that in Kamakura turns right before Zuisen-ji 's ticket counter leads to a stele marking the spot where Yōan-ji ( 永安寺 ) used to stand. It was here that Mochiuji made his last stand against the shogunate, finally disemboweling himself to avoid

4992-546: 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

5070-526: 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

5148-498: 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 , 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

5226-511: 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

5304-489: The west and the east of the country reached an all-time low. Kamakura was finally attacked by shōgun Ashikaga Yoshinori and retaken by force. Mochiuji and his eldest son Yoshihisa killed themselves to escape capture. Mochiuji became Kubō while still a child after his father died suddenly of a disease. His violent and abrasive character from the beginning caused widespread resentment among his vassals. After disagreements with Mochiuji, his kanrei Uesugi Zenshū organized

5382-555: Was a follower of Musō Soseki . On March 24, 1439, Kubō Mochiuji, a descendant of Ujimitsu, fought here against shōgun Yoshinori, was defeated and disemboweled himself. The temple was burned and never rebuilt. This is where it stood. Erected by the Kamakuramachi Seinendan in March 1926 There is however also a 3.2 m stone hōtō ( 宝塔 , "treasure stupa") traditionally supposed to be his grave also at Betsugan-ji,

5460-443: Was born in 1349 when Ashikaga Motouji was sent to Kamakura by his father to replace Yoshiakira, who was wanted in Kyoto. Motouji was followed in order by Ashikaga Ujimitsu , Mitsukane , Mochiuji , and Shigeuji , all of his bloodline. Motouji had been sent by his father, shōgun Ashikaga Takauji , precisely because the latter understood the importance of controlling the Kantō region and wanted to have an Ashikaga ruler there, but

5538-464: 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

5616-513: 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

5694-578: Was rewarded by shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu for his help against the Yamana clan with the two huge provinces of Dewa and Mutsu, bringing the total to twelve provinces. The de facto beginning of the Kamakura-fu can be considered the arrival in Kamakura Ashikaga Takauji 's son Yoshiakira . As already mentioned, Yoshiakira had been sent by his father to the Kantō in 1336 as his representative. The first official Kamakura-fu however

5772-485: Was sent to take his father Mochiuji's place. Tensions between the Kubō , on one side, and the shogunate and the Uesugi Kanrei on the other immediately resurfaced and in 1455 Shigeuji was forced to flee Kamakura to the friendly city of Koga in today's Ibaraki Prefecture , never to return. The Kamakura-fu's organization thereafter changed greatly, as it was left in the hands of the Uesugi clan , until then at

5850-686: 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

5928-485: 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

6006-481: 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

6084-475: 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,

#675324