and, having announced himself as his father's avenger,
succeeded in effecting his escape. But he had been the agent of
Yoshitoki's crime, and his survival would have been inconvenient.
Therefore, when he appealed to the Miura mansion for aid, emissaries
were sent by the regent's order to welcome and to slay him. Sanetomo
perished in his twenty-eighth year. All accounts agree that he was
not a mere poet--though his skill in that line was remarkable--but
that he also possessed administrative talent; that he strove
earnestly to live up, and make his officers live up, to the ideals of
his father, Yoritomo, and that he never wittingly committed an
injustice.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HOJO REGENCY

Thus, after three generations occupying a period of only forty years,
the Minamoto family was ruined, and the reins of power were
effectually transferred to Hojo hands. It would seem natural, in the
sequence of events, that the office of shogun should now descend to
the Hojo. But Yoshitoki understood that such a measure would convict
him of having contrived the downfall of Yoritomo's progeny in Hojo
interests. Therefore a step was taken, worthy of the sagacity of the
lady Masa and her brother, the regent. The Bakufu petitioned the
Kyoto Court to appoint an Imperial prince to the post of shogun. That
would have invested the Kamakura Government with new dignity in the
eyes of the nation. But the ex-Emperor, Go-Toba, upon whom it
devolved to decide the fate of this petition, rejected it
incontinently.

His Majesty, as will presently be seen, was seeking to contrive the
downfall of the Bakufu, and the idea of associating one of his own
sons with its fortunes must have revolted him. In the face of this
rebuff, nothing remained for the Bakufu except recourse to the
descendants of the Minamoto in the female line. Yoritomo's elder
sister had married into the Fujiwara family, and her greatgrandson,
Yoritsune, a child of two, was carried to Kamakura and installed as
the head of the Minamoto. Not until 1226, however, was he invested
with the title of shogun, and in that interval of seven years a
momentous chapter was added to the history of Japan.

THE SHOKYU STRUGGLE

The Shokyu era (1219-1222) gave its name to a memorable conflict
between Kyoto and Kamakura. Affairs in the Imperial capital were
ruled at that time by the ex-Emperor, Go-Toba. We have seen how, in
1198, he abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Tsuchimikado. It is
not imp