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Japan's first shogunate, the Hōjō regents, Zen and the Mongol invasions turned back by the kamikaze.

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Kamakura Period · 1185–1333 AD
鎌倉 · The First Shogunate

The Kamakura Period

From Minamoto no Yoritomo's founding of Japan's first warrior government, through the shrewd rule of the Hōjō regents and a wave of new, popular Buddhism, to the two Mongol invasions turned back by the "divine wind" and the collapse that followed. Slide across a century and a half in which the sword replaced the brush, the samurai became masters of Japan, and a new spiritual life took root among warriors and commoners alike.

1192 AD
The Shogunate
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1192 AD

The Shogunate
  • Political

    Yoritomo, the first shogun

    Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japan's first shogun
    Via Wikimedia Commons

    Minamoto no Yoritomo is named shogun and rules Japan from Kamakura, founding a military government apart from the court.

7 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 1192 AD

Full Chronicle

The Kamakura Period

From Minamoto no Yoritomo's founding of Japan's first warrior government, through the shrewd rule of the Hōjō regents and a wave of new, popular Buddhism, to the two Mongol invasions turned back by the "divine wind" and the collapse that followed. Slide across a century and a half in which the sword replaced the brush, the samurai became masters of Japan, and a new spiritual life took root among warriors and commoners alike.

  1. The Shogunate

    • Yoritomo, the first shogun

      Minamoto no Yoritomo is named shogun and rules Japan from Kamakura, founding a military government apart from the court.

  2. The Hōjō Regents

    • The Hōjō take control

      With the Minamoto line extinct, Yoritomo's widow and her Hōjō kin rule as regents behind the shoguns.

  3. The Warrior's Law

    • The Goseibai Shikimoku

      The regent Hōjō Yasutoki issues a warrior law code, plain and practical, to govern the samurai class.

  4. New Buddhism

    • Zen, Pure Land and Nichiren

      Bold new Buddhist movements — Zen, Pure Land and Nichiren — bring the faith to warriors and common people.

  5. The Mongol Invasions

    • The first Mongol invasion

      Kublai Khan's fleet lands in Kyushu, but a storm wrecks the invaders and forces their retreat.

  6. The Mongol Invasions

    • The divine wind

      A far larger Mongol armada returns, only to be destroyed by a typhoon the Japanese hail as the kamikaze, the "divine wind."

  7. The Fall of Kamakura

    • The fall of the shogunate

      Bankrupted by the Mongol wars, the Kamakura government falls as Emperor Go-Daigo raises a revolt.