Hello, and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, Episode 31, the first Shulgun.

This week, I want to take some time to deal with a figure who looms large in early Japanese history.

Indeed, in many ways, he could be described as one of the most powerful figures in the history of the country.

His name was Milamoto no Yoritomo, and he helped usher in the history of the country.

His name was Melamoto Nooritomo, and he helped usher in the era of the samurai.

His rebellion against an opposing government backed by the imperial court is generally described

as the point at which government by the emperor in Kyoto ended, and government by the strongest among the newly

risen samurai began.

What kind of man could usher in these changes, and what does his life reveal about the nature

of apocal change in Japanese history?

I hope you find the answer is interesting.

If you do, I'll probably do two more of these episodes

down the line for the other founders of the Shogunal dynasties, Ashkaga Takalugi, and Tokugawa

Iya Yasu. Minamoto No Yoritomo was born in May 1147, near the modern city of Nagoya,

much like another great conqueror of Japanese history who would live there 500 years later, Oda no unaga.

He was the third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and his wife Fujiwara Sui Nori, a daughter of the aristocratic Kuge family known as the Fujiwara, which functionally dominated the day-to-day governance of Japan.

Yoshitomo was the heir apparent to his father, Minamoto Notamioshi, who is the head of the

clan Yoritomo was born to, the Minamoto.

Yoritomo was born a member of the bouquet, or warrior families created from offshoot of the imperial

clan.

Originally, the bouquet system was used to give work to second and third sons of emperors,

considered to be potential threats to the succession.

...