{{nihongo, Minamoto no Ichiman, 源一幡, , 1198 – October 8, 1203 was the eldest son of the 2nd Kamakura shōgun

Minamoto no Yoriie was the second ''shōgun'' (1202–1203) of Japan's Kamakura shogunate, and the first son of first shōgun Yoritomo. His Dharma name was Hokke-in-dono Kingo Da'i Zengo (法華院殿金吾大禅閤). Life Minamoto no Yoriie was born to Hōj ...

.Kamakura Citizen's Net His mother, Wakasa no Tsubone, was

Hiki Yoshikazu Hiki Yoshikazu was a Japanese samurai lord and a powerful ''gokenin'' of the Kamakura Shogunate during the Kamakura period. He was related to the ruling Minamoto clan through his daughter's marriage. He, and much of the Hiki clan, were killed for ...

's daughter, and the child was brought up by the Hiki clan. A year after he was born, his grandfather,

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

, died. The child was murdered at the age of 6. His father would later be murdered a year later.

Life

When in 1203 Yoriie became seriously ill, the

Hōjō clan The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of '' shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this perio ...

supported his younger brother Senman (future third shōgun

Minamoto no Sanetomo was the third ''shōgun'' of the Kamakura shogunate. He was the second son of the Kamakura shogunate founder, Minamoto no Yoritomo. His mother was Hōjō Masako and his older brother was the second Kamakura shogun Minamoto no Yoriie. His child ...

) as a future successor, while the Hiki clan supported son Ichiman.According to Japanese Wikipedia's "源一幡" (Minamoto no Ichiman) article (see interwiki link below), the

Gukanshō is a historical and literary work about the history of Japan. Seven volumes in length, it was composed by Buddhist priest Jien of the Tendai sect around 1220. Political problems arising from the relations between the Imperial government and ...

and the

Azuma Kagami is a Japanese historical chronicle. The medieval text chronicles events of the Kamakura Shogunate from Minamoto no Yoritomo's rebellion against the Taira clan in Izokuni of 1180 to Munetaka Shinnō (the 6th shōgun) and his return to Kyoto in ...

disagree on the reasons for the clash between clans. This article describes the Gukanshō's version of events. According to the Azuma Kagami, Yoriie wanted to split the shogunate between his brother and his son, then Hiki proposed him the murder of Sanetomo, but the conversation was overheard by Hōjō Masako. This is also the version of events described in the article

.
According to the same Japanese Wikipedia article, the Azuma Kagami claims Ichiman was killed by the Hiki, and not by the Hōjō. To avoid power falling into the hands of the Hiki clan, the Hōjō decided to get rid of the Hiki clan and their protégé. On a pretext,

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

Hōjō Tokimasa was a Japanese samurai lord who was the first ''shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate and head of the Hōjō clan. He was ''shikken'' from 1203 until his abdication in 1205, and Protector of Kyoto from 1185 to 1186. Background The Hō ...

invited Hiki Yoshikazu to his home and assassinated him. A battle between the clans ensued; the Hiki were defeated by a coalition of the Hōjō, Wada, Miura and

Hatakeyama clan The was a Japanese samurai clan. Originally a branch of the Taira clan and descended from Taira no Takamochi, they fell victim to political intrigue in 1205, when Hatakeyama Shigeyasu, first, and his father Shigetada later were killed in batt ...

s and exterminated. Six-year-old Ichiman also died during the fight. The Hiki residence was destroyed by fire and in its place in the Hikigayatsu valley now lies the Buddhist temple of

Myōhon-ji is one of the oldest Nichiren sect temples in Kamakura, Kanagawa. Its official name is . "Chōkō" comes from the posthumous name of Nichiren's father and "Myōhon" from his mother's. History In 1202 Minamoto no Yoriie became ''shōgun'' at th ...

. In its cemetery still stands Ichiman's grave, next to the Hiki clan's

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

. Ichiman's younger brother

Kugyō is the collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras. The term generally referred to the and court officials and denoted a court rank between First Rank and Third Rank un ...

was forced to become a Buddhist priest, and in 1219, he assassinated his uncle,

was himself immediately executed for his crime, thus bringing the

Minamoto clan was a Aristocracy (class), noble surname bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the Imperial House of Japan, imperial family who were excluded from the List of emperors of Japan, line of succession and demoted into the ranks of Nobili ...

to a sudden end.

Notes

References

Ōmachi
by the Kamakura Citizen's Net, accessed on September 30, 2008 Ichiman Nobility from Kyoto Deified Japanese men Imperial House of Japan 1203 deaths 1198 births People of the Kamakura period Child murder in Japan Murdered children