Kugyō

Who was Kugyō?

Kugyō, also known as Minamoto no Zensai or Saemon Hokkyō Yoriaki, was the second son of the second Kamakura shogun of Japan, Minamoto no Yoriie. At the age of six, after his father was killed in Shuzenji in Izu, he became his uncle Sanetomo's adopted son and, thanks to his grandmother Hōjō Masako's intercession, a disciple of Songyō, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's bettō. After his tonsure he was given the Buddhist name "Kugyō" replacing his childhood name Yoshinari. He then went to Kyōto to take his vows, coming back at age 18 to become Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's new bettō, the shrine's fourth. In 1219 he murdered his uncle Sanetomo on the stone stairs at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in the shogunal capital of Kamakura, an act for which he was himself slain on the same day.