Minamoto no Yoriie

  • Born: 1182
  • Died: 1204
  • Japanese: 頼家 (Minamoto no Yoriie)

Minamoto no Yoriie was the second shogun of the Kamakura shogunate.

A son of Minamoto no Yoritomo and Hôjô Masako, he succeeded his father in 1199 and was formally named shogun on 1202/7/23. Yoriie had five children by two wives. With a wife from the Kamo clan, he had three sons: Minamoto no Kugyô, Senjûmaru, and Zengyô. By a wife from the Hiki clan, Wakasa no Tsubone, he had a son, Minamoto Ichiman, and a daughter, Take no gozen.

Wakamiya-ôji, one of the main boulevards running through Kamakura, was named after Yoriie (wakamiya meaning roughly young prince).

According to some records, officials or leaders of the Kamakura shogunate misled the Imperial Court into naming Yoriie's brother Minamoto no Sanetomo "shogun" even before Yoriie's death. Others suggest that Yoriie simply stepped down on 1203/9/7 and allowed himself to be succeeded by Sanetomo. By the end of that year, the Hôjô clan began its persecution of the Hiki clan, attacking the Hiki mansions and killing many prominent members of the clan, including Wakasa no Tsubone and Ichiman. Take no Gozen survived and later married Sanetomo's successor as shogun, Kujô Yoritsune.

Yoriie died in 1204.

Preceded by:
Minamoto no Yoritomo
Kamakura Shogun
1202-1203
Succeeded by:
Minamoto no Sanetomo