Hojo Tokiyuki (北条時行)
Tokiyuki HOJO was a busho (Japanese military commander) from the late Kamakura period to the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan). He was the second son of Takatoki HOJO, the fourteenth regent of the Kamakura bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun).
Biography
Since his older brother Kunitoki HOJO was born in 1325, it is assumed that he was born after that. When Emperor Godaigo launched the anti-shogunate movement, shogunal retainers of the Kamakura bakufu including Takauji ASHIKAGA and Yoshisada NITTA sided with the imperial court. Yoshisada NITTA attacked Kamakura, and then the Hojo family including Takatoki was destroyed. While Emperor Godaigo started the new government by the Kenmu Restoration after the fall of the bakufu, Tokiyuki escaped from Kamakura to Shinano Province governed by the Hojo clan and was sheltered by the Suwa clan. The remnants of the Hojo family hid in various places and then rose in revolt. Together with Kinmune SAIONJI in Kyoto, Takatoki's younger brother Yasuie HOJO communicated with the remnants of the Hojo family in various places to overthrow the new government and restore the Kamakura bakufu but failed.
Tokiyuki who was presumably around ten (or seven) years old raised an army with the support of Yorishige SUWA (in the period of the Northern and Southern Courts) in Shinano, and entered Musashi Province while rallying samurai who were dissatisfied with the new government. He beat the regent of the Kamakura bakufu Tadayoshi ASHIKAGA, Takauji's younger brother in the battle in the Sugawara-jinja Shrine in Machida City and temporarily occupied Kamakura. Although the Tokiyuki army defeated escaping Tadayoshi in Tegoshigawara, Suruga Province, Tokiyuki ran away because his army was beaten and destroyed by Takauji ASHIKAGA who came from Kyoto to assist Tadayoshi in battles in Hashimoto, Totoumi Province, Sayo no Nakayama (Nakayaka pass at Sayo) and Sagamigawa, Sagami Province. This battle is called Nakasendai (intermediate predecessor) War because Tokiyuki became the ruler of Kamakura temporarily bridging between the predecessor (the Hojo clan) and the successor (the Ashikaga clan) although he occupied Kamakura for as short as 20 days.
Taking advantage of the Nakasendai War, Takauji seceded from the new government and established a military government in Kyoto after beating the imperial court forces. Emperor Godaigo established the Southern Court (Japan) in Yoshino and the period of the Northern and Southern Courts began. In 1337, Tokiyuki contacted Emperor Godaigo in Yoshino and joined the Southern Court after receiving the imperial order to grant amnesty to court enemies. Tokiyuki belonged to the army of the Akiie KITABATAKE and fought against the Ashikaga forces in the battles such as the Battle of Aonogahara. In 1352 soon after the Kanno Disturbance, he raised an army with Yoshimune NITTA and Yoshioki NITTA, the bereaved children of Yoshisada NITTA in Kozuke Province, but he was beaten and captured by Takauji ASHIKAGA and his son Motouji ASHIKAGA and then executed in Kamakura tatsu no guchi on May 20 of the following year. The Hojo Tokuso family (the direct line of the regency Hojo family) was destructed by the death of Tokiyuki. Some families, however, such as the Okano clan, the Yokoi clan (whose descendants include Shonan YOKOI), and the Hirano clan (the Owari-Hirano clan, whose descendants include Nagayasu HIRANO) claimed descent from Tokiyuki.