Tokimasa - Tokimasa's Life: The Last Years (1205-1215)

Tokimasa's Life: The Last Years (1205-1215)

However, Tokimasa's career was coming to an end. In 1205, Yoshitoki heard rumors from samurai that Tokimasa was planning to have Shogun Sanetomo assassinated. He heard that the heir was none other than Hiraga, who was responsible for the death of Hatakeyama. Yoshitoki, furious, and Masako, who was also scared about the fate of her last son, put Sanetomo under protective guard and had Hiraga executed in Kamakura in 1205. Yoshitoki then threatened to rebel against his father.

Tokimasa realized that Shogun Sanetomo was under protection, and, since Ōe Hiromoto died in 1204, he had no more allies left. He thus shaved his head, became a Buddhist monk, and retired from his post of shikken and head of the Hōjō family. He was succeeded by his eldest son and heir, Hōjō Yoshitoki, who became regent for Shogun Sanetomo and thus the second Hōjō shikken.

Hōjō Tokimasa retired to a Buddhist monastery in Kamakura where he lived out the remaining years of his life, dying in 1215 at the age of 78.