r, on January 13, 1199, Minamoto Yoritomo, the Lord of Kamakura died. He was buried halfway up Mount Okura, just east of his family's manor at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu. Yoritomo's wife, Hojo Masako, carefully began the process of steering her own family into power in Kamakura. Ironically, the Hojo were descendants of the Taira clan, formerly Minamoto Yoritomo's most bitter enemies. The family took its name from their small estate in the Kanogawa Valley in Izu Province. Beginning with her father Tokimasa, Hojo regents governed the Kamakura bakufu in the name of puppet shoguns until overthrown by Go-Daigo over a hundred years later. A number of quarrels for supremacy erupted between the Kamakura bakufu and the imperial court in Heian-kyo after Yoritomo's death. On a local and more personal level, a major feud between the powerful Hiki clan and the smaller Hojo clan began to surface. Yoritomo left two sons to fill his role as shogun, neither of whom were up to the challenge. His eldest son, Yoriie succeeded him as head of the Kamakura shogunate and married a woman from the powerful Hiki family. Hiki Yoshikazu, head of the family, saw the birth of Yoriie's son Ichiman as a golden opportunity for the Hiki to hold more power in the government. In late July 1203, Yoriie became ill and collapsed after hearing news that his uncle Ano Zenjo and cousin Yorizen had been murdered at Higashiyama in Heian-kyo. Yoriie's grandfather, Hojo Tokimasa, angered by developments in his grandson's family, began laying plans to entrap Hiki Yoshikazu and settle his dispute with the powerful Hiki family. On September 2, Tokimasa sprang his trap. When Hiki Yoshikazu arrived at the Hojo manor at Shakado, Tokimasa had him murdered. With the head of the Hiki family now dead, Hojo samurai completely surrounded the Hiki family and mercilessly slaughtered the entire group. The Hojo troops burned their houses and killed everyone related to the Hiki, including women and chil...
