Nikkō in the mountains north of the Kantō plain is the holy mountain complex of Futarasan (Mount Nantai) and a Tendai and Shugendō house recalled as founded by the monk Shōdō in the eighth century.
The names 'Rinnōji' and 'Tōshōgū' are from the seventeenth century; in 1200 it is the mountain monks' house (Nikkōsan) with its shrines on Nantai and Lake Chūzenji. The nearest lords are the Utsunomiya and the Oyama, who protect it. The complex is a pilgrimage and a refuge, with no known armed force.
Who holds it
- Name
- not pinned for 1200
- Title
- Head of the mountain (bettō or zasu) and its monks
- Since
- not applicable
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Recollection: founded by the monk Shōdō in 766 on the Futarasan; the temple later called Rinnōji (the name is of the seventeenth century); no page opened.
Overlord
Tendai superiors at Mount Hiei (in law); the Utsunomiya as protectors
What it holds
- The Nikkō mountain, its shrines and temples
- Estates in Shimotsuke (recalled, not itemised)
How it was acquired
By old cult.
Allies and rivals
Allied with the Utsunomiya; the court's rank.
How things stand that morning
Quiet.
Wealth
Offerings; no figure.
Where the sources disagree
- The assignment lists 'Rinnōji of Nikkō': the name is anachronistic for 1200.
Evidence: Recollection only.
On the map: Mountain block.
Primary sources for Temple powers (west)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Hundred Times Refined Extracts: court annals (late thirteenth century, from court diaries). Short dated annals of the imperial court excerpted from courtiers' diaries, among them the Gyokuyo and the Meigetsuki. Read online
- Mirror of the East, Anonymous; compiled by officials of the Kamakura shogunate (compiled about 1300 from the shogunate's records, diaries and family documents). The Kamakura house's own chronicle, in daily entries. Read online
- Jottings of a Fool: an interpretative history of Japan, Jien (慈円) (about 1219 to 1220, revised to about 1223). A history by Kujo Kanezane's brother, head of the Tendai school and the leading churchman of the court, written to explain the fall of the Kujo and the rise of the warriors as the working of principle (dori). Read online
- Leaves of Jade: the diary of Kujo Kanezane, Kujo (Fujiwara) Kanezane (九條兼實) (1164 to 1200, as a daily diary). The diary of the former regent, Yoritomo's ally at court, who had been driven from power in the Kenkyu purge of 1196 and lived in retirement in 1200. Read online
- Record of the Bright Moon: the diary of Fujiwara no Teika, Fujiwara no Teika (藤原定家) (1180 to 1235, as a daily diary, with gaps). The diary of the poet and courtier, then thirty-eight and a middle-ranking official of the Kujo house. Read online
- Surviving Documents of the Kamakura Period, Various; collected by Takeuchi Rizo (竹内理三) (documents of 1185 to 1333, collected and printed 1971 to 1997). The collected charters, deeds, court orders, shogunal directives, temple records and land registers of the Kamakura age, printed in date order. Read online
- The Tale of the Heike, Anonymous; traditionally attributed to Shinano no Zenji Yukinaga, performed and reshaped by blind reciters (early thirteenth century in its first form; the standard Kakuichi text was fixed in 1371). The epic of the Genpei war, in the form the reciters gave it over the century after 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
- KJA_BRIEF.md and the OMNIA board for sheet kja (the lead's notes: [own] computation, [not yet checked against the source] recollection, [en] English Wikipedia)
- Azuma Kagami (the Kamakura chronicle), Kenkyu 10 to Shoji 2 entries, recalled and through the brief; ja.wikipedia and ja.wikisource were refused in this session, so no entry was re-read
- Jeffrey P. Mass, Warrior Government in Early Medieval Japan (1974), from memory; the archive.org full text could not be opened
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.