Yoriie Succeeds Yoritomo and Senior Officials Mediate Government

Yoritomo died on the thirteenth day of the first month of 1199, after illness and the taking of Buddhist vows. The surviving Azuma Kagami has a gap covering his final years and does not provide a contemporary account of his death. A much later entry connects his decline with a fall from a horse. The cause cannot securely be assigned to a particular disease or assassination.

His son Yoriie succeeded as lord of Kamakura, aged eighteen by traditional Japanese reckoning. His mother Masako and senior officials from the Hōjō, Hiki and other established households remained important around him. The inheritance included followers, administrative offices, recognized holdings and relations with Kyoto, all of which required continued decisions.

An arrangement recorded for the twelfth day of the fourth month named thirteen senior figures, including Hōjō Tokimasa and Yoshitoki, Hiki Yoshikazu, Wada Yoshimori, Ōe no Hiromoto and Miyoshi Yasunobu. It regulated participation in the handling and presentation of disputes to Yoriie. Its interpretation has changed: the older picture of a council abolishing an incompetent ruler’s personal decisions is not the only reading, and evidence for regular meetings of all thirteen is lacking.

Yoriie continued as the ruler, with access to his authority shaped by experienced intermediaries. Their families had separate interests and could not be treated as a permanent united cabinet. Kajiwara Kagetoki soon lost his position, and further family conflicts followed. The government survived its founder, while the relationships through which its head made decisions were being reorganized.