Establishment Historically in
Japan, the power of
civilian government was primarily held by the ruling
emperor of Japan and their
regents, typically appointed from the ranks of the
Imperial Court and the
aristocratic clans that vied for influence there. Military affairs were handled under the auspices of the civil government. From 1180 to 1185, the
Genpei War was fought between the
Taira and
Minamoto clans as part of a longstanding violent rivalry for influence over the Emperor and his court.
Minamoto no Yoritomo defeated the Taira clan, but in his victory seized power from the civil aristocracy, politically relegating the Emperor and his court to symbolic
figureheads. In 1192, Yoritomo and the Minamoto clan established a military government in
Kamakura. The problem was solved by choosing Kujo Yoritsune, a distant relation of the Minamoto, who would be the fourth shōgun and figurehead, while
Hōjō Yoshitoki would take care of day-to-day business.
Mongol invasions ) created during the 14th-century at a temple in
Sakai, Osaka|left|334x334pxThe Mongols under
Kublai Khan attempted
sea-borne invasions in 1274 and 1281. Fifty years before, the shogunate had agreed to Korean demands that the
wokou be dealt with to stop their raids, and this bit of good diplomacy had created a cooperative relationship between the two states, such that the Koreans, helpless with a Mongol occupation army garrisoning their country, had sent much intelligence information to Japan, so that along with messages from Japanese spies in the Korean peninsula, the shogunate had a good picture of the situation of the pending Mongol invasion. The shogunate had rejected Kublai's demands to submit with contempt. The Mongol landings of 1274 met with some success, however there was no rout of the Japanese defenders, who in any case greatly outnumbered the 40,000 combined invasion force of Mongols and Korean conscripts. Noting an impending storm, the Korean admirals advised the Mongols to re-embark so that the fleet could be protected away from shore; however, the typhoon was so destructive that one-third of the Mongol force was destroyed. After the surviving forces returned to Mongol territory, Kublai was not dissuaded from his intentions of bringing Japan under Mongol control, and once again sent a message demanding submission, which infuriated the Hōjō leadership, who had the messengers executed. They responded with decisive action for defense—a wall was built to protect the hinterland of Hakata Bay, defensive posts were established, garrison lists were drawn up, regular manning of the home provinces was redirected to the western defenses, and ships were constructed to harass the invaders' fleet when they appeared. The Mongols returned in 1281 with a force of some 50,000 Mongol-Korean-Chinese along with some 100,000 conscripts from the defeated
Song empire in south China. This force embarked and fought the Japanese for some seven weeks at several locations in Kyushu, but the defenders held, and the Mongols made no strategic headway. Again, a typhoon approached, and the Koreans and Chinese re-embarked the combined Mongol invasion forces in an attempt to deal with the storm in the open sea. At least one-third of the Mongol force was destroyed, and perhaps half of the conscripted Song forces to the south over a two-day period of August 15–16. Thousands of invading troops were not able to embark in time and were slaughtered by the samurai. Such losses in men, material, and the exhaustion of the Korean state in provisioning the two invasions put an end to the Mongols' attempts to conquer Japan. The "divine wind", or
kamikaze, was credited for saving Japan from foreign invasion. For two further decades the Kamakura shogunate maintained a watch in case the Mongols attempted another invasion. However, the strain on the military and the financial expenditures weakened the regime considerably. Additionally, the defensive war left no gains to distribute to the warriors who had fought it, leading to discontent. Construction of defensive walls added further expenses to the strained regime.
Decline and fall In 1331, Emperor Go-Daigo took arms against Kamakura, but was defeated by Kamakura's
Ashikaga Takauji and exiled to
Oki Island, in today's
Shimane Prefecture. Once there, however, Takauji decided to switch sides and support Go-Daigo. At the same time another warlord loyal to the emperor,
Nitta Yoshisada, attacked Kamakura and took it. About 870 Hōjō clan members, including the last three regents, committed suicide at their family temple,
Tōshō-ji, whose ruins were found in today's Ōmachi. In 1336, Ashikaga Takauji assumed the position of shōgun himself, establishing the
Ashikaga shogunate. ==Institutions==