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畠山重保邸址 Hatakeyama Shigeyasu Residence

Updated: Jan 18, 2020


Hatakeyama Rokurō Shigeyasu (畠山 六郎 重保) was a Kamakura-period warrior who fell victim to political intrigue in 1205. According to tradition, his grave can be found under a tabu no ki tree along the Yuigahama side of Wakamiya Ōji Avenue in Kamakura, next to Tsurugaoka Hachimangū's first torii (Ichi no Torii). This identification likely is due to the grave's location within the former Hatakeyama estate, and to the fact that Shigeyasu is known to have been killed in battle by soldiers of the Hōjō in Yuigahama.


Next to the grave stands a black stone historical marker which explains the circumstances of Hatekayama's death. It reads:


Hatakeyama Shigeyasu was Hatakeyama Shigetada's eldest son. He had had a quarrel with Hiraga Tomomasa, who was Hōjō Tokimasa's son-in-law. Tomomasa hadn't forgotten the fact and so spoke to Tokimasa against both the Hatakeyama. Tokimasa himself hadn't forgotten how Shigetada had, following Minamoto no Yoritomo's will, tried to protect the shōgun's son and heir, Yoriie, and was looking for an excuse to kill them. Having received from shōgun Sanetomo the order to arrest the Hatakeyama, he surrounded Shigeyasu's residence with his soldiers. Shigeyasu fought well, but in the end was killed. The day was June 22, 1205, and this is where the residence stood. The day after, Shigetada was tricked into going to Musashinokuni (a region in the northeastern part of Kanagawa) Futamatagawa, where he was killed. 


Erected in March 1922 by the Kamakura Seinendan Young Adult Association.


Shigeyasu was one of the samurai who, in December 1204, was chosen to go to Kyoto to pick up shōgun Sanetomo's wife, and it was on that occasion that, at a feast, he had a verbal fight with Hiraga Tomomasa, who was responsible for the capital's defenses. It appears that this fact, plus the hostility existing between Shigetada and Tomomasa, who had neighboring fiefs, offered the Hōjō a pretext to get rid of the Hatakeyama clan, who consequently became extinct. It would be revived later by Hōjō Tokimasa.

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