First shogun
Minamoto no Yoritomo
源頼朝 · 1147–1199 · Heian to Kamakura period
Minamoto no Yoritomo (源頼朝) was the first shogun. He moved real power in Japan away from the emperor's court and into the hands of the warrior class. The government he built lasted, in one form or another, for almost 700 years.
From exile to power
Yoritomo came from the Minamoto, a great warrior family. When he was a boy, the rival Taira clan crushed the Minamoto and killed his father. The victors sent young Yoritomo into exile. Years later he rose again. He gathered the warriors of eastern Japan behind him and led his side to victory in the Genpei War, the long struggle between the two clans. By the end, he was the most powerful man in the country.
A government of warriors
Yoritomo did not rule from Kyoto and the emperor's court. He set up his own government far to the east, in the seaside town of Kamakura, in 1185. In 1192 he took the title sei-i taishōgun, or "shogun" for short. Kamakura became the real seat of power. The emperor stayed on as a respected figurehead. But from then on, the shogun and his warriors actually ran Japan. This change shaped the country for centuries.
Portrait: Attributed to Fujiwara no Takanobu · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
