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68-523: Eisho-ji (英勝寺) is a Jōdo-shū temple in Ogigayatsu, Kamakura, Kanagawa , Japan, and is the sole nunnery in Kamakura. The mountain name is Tokozan. Okaji no Kata , a concubine of Tokugawa Ieyasu , took the name Eishoin after her pabbajja and founded the temple. The temple is thought to be located at the site of the residence of Ōta Dōkan , who was ancestor of the found. Okaji no Kata bore Ieyasu

136-590: 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

204-596: 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

272-418: A daughter, Ichihime, but she died very young. After Ichihime's death, Ieyasu ordered Okaji no Kata to become the adoptive mother of Tokugawa Yorifusa, who later reigned over Mito Domain . The founding priestess Gyokuhōseiinni was a daughter of Yorifusa. From its foundation, princesses of Mito Domain regularly became priestesses of Eisho-ji. Thus people called the temple "Mito palace" or "Nunnery of Mito". After

340-589: 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

408-431: 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

476-430: 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

544-875: 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

612-520: 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 ). Wakae Island Wakae Island , or Wakaejima ( 和賀江島 , Wakae-jima ) is an artificial island, the oldest in Japan , now in ruins. The name means "Waka Bay Island" from Waka, Zaimokuza's old name (see

680-510: 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

748-490: 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

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816-597: 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

884-597: 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

952-450: 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

1020-548: 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

1088-481: 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

1156-753: 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

1224-524: 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

1292-489: 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

1360-483: 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

1428-699: The Meiji Restoration , the practice of obtaining priestesses from the Mito Domain was discontinued and influence of the temple waned. During the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake , the temple gate was damaged but volunteers eventually rebuilt it on the original cornerstone, with the completion ceremony being held on May 16, 2011. The temple is the 6th temple of Togoku Hananotera 100 kaji located in Kamakura. 35°19′30.5″N 139°32′59.5″E  /  35.325139°N 139.549861°E  / 35.325139; 139.549861 Kamakura, Kanagawa Kamakura

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1496-665: 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

1564-458: 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

1632-677: 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

1700-570: 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

1768-477: 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

1836-510: 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

1904-645: 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

1972-415: 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

2040-625: 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

2108-496: 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

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2176-427: 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

2244-564: 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

2312-400: 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

2380-456: 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

2448-405: 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

2516-465: The history of the site and its importance. During the Kamakura shogunate , Sagami Bay was busy with trading ships, but the shallowness of the bay made the use of barges indispensable. Accidents between ships were common and it was therefore decided to build a port. A priest named Ōamidabutsu ( 往阿弥陀仏 ) applied for permission from the Shogunate to build an artificial port in the area. Permission

2584-512: 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

2652-490: 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

2720-514: 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

2788-555: 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

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2856-472: 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

2924-453: 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

2992-447: 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

3060-473: 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

3128-663: 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

3196-589: 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

3264-533: The sand, its general contour is still clearly visible when the tide is low as a mound about 200m long. On its northern side there used to be several stone pillars used to moor ships in port call to avoid strong southern winds, but they are now all lost. On the beach, a large rock surmounted by a black stele marks the position of the former port. The stele, erected by the Kamakuramachi Seinendan (Kamakura Youth Club) in 1924, explains in Japanese

3332-474: 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

3400-579: 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

3468-530: 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

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3536-583: 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

3604-407: 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

3672-530: 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

3740-480: 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

3808-406: The text of the commemorative stele, below). Its remains are located at the east end of Zaimokuza Beach near Kamakura and are still visible at low tide. It was built in 1232 and, in spite of its state of disrepair, it has been declared a national Historic Site because it is the sole surviving example of an artificial harbor from the Kamakura period . Although its component stones have sunk in

3876-546: 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

3944-524: The transcription in modern Japanese provided by the Kamakura Citizen Net [1] . "Waka" is the former name of today's Zaimokuza. This place used to be a harbor where timber was collected and shipped and, for this reason, the town's name changed soon to the present one. Wakae Island was an embankment built to avoid the destruction by the waves of Waka's harbor. 768 years ago, a priest named Oamidabutsu asked permission for its building and, with

4012-526: 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

4080-498: 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

4148-511: 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

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4216-464: 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

4284-402: Was granted in 1232. In its first form, the harbor functioned as both a breakwater and a wharf and was built with large stones laid as a foundation, with smaller stones on top. It was later extended gradually and repaired several times until the end of the Edo period , when it was abandoned. The original inscription is in old-fashioned Japanese. Here follows a translation of the text based on

4352-513: 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

4420-686: 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

4488-485: 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

4556-533: 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

4624-475: 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,

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