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East Asia · Fragmentation, Song and the conquest dynasties

Kamakura Shogunate

1185/1192–1333

The Kamakura shogunate (1185/1192–1333) was Japan's first warrior government, founded by Minamoto no Yoritomo (first shogun 1192) at Kamakura, leaving the emperor a figurehead in Kyoto. After Yoritomo's line ended, the Hōjō clan ruled as regents (shikken).

Existed
1185/1192–1333
Shown on the map
1188–1332
Peak area
323k km²
Region
East Asia

Overview

The Kamakura shogunate (1185/1192–1333) was Japan's first warrior government, founded by Minamoto no Yoritomo (first shogun 1192) at Kamakura, leaving the emperor a figurehead in Kyoto. After Yoritomo's line ended, the Hōjō clan ruled as regents (shikken). It repelled two Mongol invasions (1274, 1281), aided by the "kamikaze" typhoons, but the strain (no lands to reward warriors) undermined it. It fell in 1333 to forces backing Emperor Go-Daigo.

Common questions

What was Kamakura Shogunate?
The Kamakura shogunate (1185/1192–1333) was Japan's first warrior government, founded by Minamoto no Yoritomo (first shogun 1192) at Kamakura, leaving the emperor a figurehead in Kyoto. After Yoritomo's line ended, the Hōjō clan ruled as regents (shikken).
When did Kamakura Shogunate exist?
Kamakura Shogunate existed 1185/1192–1333. On this map it is drawn 1188–1332.
How large was Kamakura Shogunate?
At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Kamakura Shogunate covered about 323,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:

This entry was last updated .

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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