, or Defense Commissioner of the West, was the name given to a post created in 1186 to oversee the defense of

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...

. At the time, the primary mission of the ''Bugyō'' was to seek out and eliminate anyone who had supported

Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian period, Heian and early Kamakura period, Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles that toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-br ...

over his brother Yoritomo to become ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

''. However, less than a hundred years later, the ''Chinzei'' (Western Defense Headquarters) took on the responsibilities of a true Defense Headquarters, acting as the first line of defense against the Mongols. Over time, the position of ''Bugyō'', the head of the Defense Headquarters, became known as ''Chinzei Shugo'' or ''Chinzei Tandai''. This was but one of several similar posts established across the country. The first ''Chinzei Bugyō'' was Amano Tōkage, who was succeeded soon afterwards by Nakawara Nobufusa, who was sent to suppress resistance in Kyūshū. He established the Chinzei at Dazaifu, where he received all the Shogun's orders for Kyūshū; local lords could not be trusted to obey local constables, and so the Kyūshū

Tandai The term is a Kamakura and Muromachi period colloquialism for any very important governmental, judiciary or military post in a determinate area."Tandai", ''Iwanami '' Japanese dictionary, 5th Edition (2000), CD version During the Kamakura shoguna ...

(as the ''Chinzei Bugyō'' was sometimes known) had to act as intermediary between Kyūshū and the capital at

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

References

*Sansom, George (1958). ''A History of Japan to 1334''. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp355, 441. Government of feudal Japan Military history of Japan {{Japan-mil-hist-stub