Hojo : Japenese family of Taira descent that ruled Japan as hereditery regents from 1199 to 1333.
The Hojo gained prominence under the first Shogun, Minamoto Yoritomo, who married into the family.
His father-in-law, Hojo Tokimasa, became the regent for Yoritomo's young heir in 1199. The last Hojo
regent killed himself in 1333 during the rise of the Ashikaga.
Tiré de Msn Encarta
The governing power of Japan from 1199 until 1333 was in the hands of neither the emperors nor the military rulers called shoguns. It was
exercised instead by successive members of the Hojo family, who
acted as regents for the shoguns. The emperors at this time had very
little power. Until 1868 Japan was, except for a brief interval,
governed by shoguns. It was the death of the shogun Yoritomo
Minamoto in 1199 that allowed his assistant Tokimasa Hojo, the first
known member of the Hojo family, to become guardian of the new
shogun and effective ruler of the country. Tokimasa Hojo died in
1215. His successors were Yoshitoki (died 1224), Yasutoki (died
1242), Tsunetoki (died 1246), Tokiyori (died 1263), Tokimune (died
1284), Sadatoki (died 1311), and Takatoki (died 1333).
With Tokimasa Hojo the regent came to control the law, military
system, and revenues of Japan. He made sure that the regency was
monopolized by his family and made hereditary. This assumption of
power was not difficult because the military class did not wish to
relinquish the benefits of peace and stability achieved by the Hojos.
The final consolidation of Hojo power came in 1221, when the
emperor urged the warlord of western Japan to rebel. The revolt
failed, and the Hojos confiscated thousands of estates and parceled
them out to landless adherents and friends. The first three Hojo
regencies were the high point of strong government by the family and
its associates. The emperors lived in forced retirement from the seats
of authority, but their revenues, property, and ceremonials were
protected. The Buddhist clergy were kept in line by a scrupulous
auditing of their accounts. Peasants were protected in their freedom
and land holdings, and Hojo retainers were kept prosperous and
away from the court, thus minimizing the likelihood of conspiracies.
Tokimune's was the last strong and stable Hojo regency. For most of
his time in office and for ten years afterward, China, under Kublai
Khan, attempted to subjugate Japan. The costs of a successful
defense greatly strained the resources of the Hojos and their vassals.
(See also Kublai Khan .)
The ninth and last of the Hojo regents was Takatoki, a weak and
dissolute individual who left conduct of the government in the hands of
incompetent friends. In 1331, in a quarrel over the succession of
emperors, Takatoki exiled the emperor. He escaped and waged war
against the regent.
The revolt succeeded to the point that Takatoki committed suicide on
July 4, 1333. Nevertheless, the strength of the civil government
installed by the Hojos proved too strong to be undone. The emperor's
attempt to restore imperial rule lasted only a short time. A new
shogun, Takauji Ashikaga, gained control of the government in 1338.
Tiré de L'Encyclopédie Compton
