A thirty-year-old courtier, the best poet of his generation and the most able of the Kujō.
He is Kamakura's natural friend in the capital because of his marriage to the daughter of Ichijō Yoshiyasu, which makes his sons Yoritomo's kin. He was struck down with his father in 1196; his rehabilitation comes with Go-Toba's growing taste for his poetry, and, on the likely course, he becomes regent in 1202, on Michichika's fall.
Who he is
- Name
- Kujō Yoshitsune
- Title
- Courtier, head of the Kujō house in the next generation
- Since
- Lost a court post received in 1195 when the coup of 1196 came (English Wikipedia); on the likely course regent (sesshō) 1202-1206
- Born
- 1169; on the likely course he dies 16 April 1206
- Family
- Son of Kanezane; his wife is a daughter of Ichijō Yoshiyasu, Yoritomo's brother-in-law, and their son Michiie (b. 1193) is Yoritomo's grand-nephew [not yet checked against the source]; brother Yoshisuke and Yoshihira; uncle Jien
- Confidence
- medium
English Wikipedia (Kujō Yoshitsune) gives the birth, the 1196 loss, and the regency of 1202-1206; the marriage to the Ichijō daughter is recollection.
Overlord
Go-Toba (for office)
What it holds
- The Kujō house with his father
- His standing in Go-Toba's poetry circle, with Fujiwara no Teika as his house retainer [not yet checked against the source]
How it was acquired
Inheritance; the fall of 1196.
Allies and rivals
Allies: the Ichijō, Kanezane, Jien; rival of Michichika.
How things stand that morning
Out of the high offices he held; his place restored between 1199 and 1202, the month not pinned; there is no source here for his rank on 1 January 1200.
Wealth
Kujō estates.
Threats
- Michichika's party
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1202Becomes regent after Michichika's deathDepends on: Go-Toba's decision Stopped by: n/a
Where the sources disagree
- The page says only that a court position he held from 1195 was lost in 1196; whether he was restored by 1 January 1200 is not pinned.
Evidence: One short English Wikipedia page; the marriage and the poetry roles are recollection.
Primary sources for Kyoto court
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
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Diary of the Inokuma Regent: the diary of Konoe Iezane, Konoe Iezane (近衛家実) (1197 to 1218, as a daily diary). The diary of the regent's heir, aged twenty-one in 1200 and already a senior courtier under his father Konoe Motomichi, who was regent (sessho) for the child emperor Tsuchimikado. 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
4 more in the sources library for Korea and Japan.
Sources and studies
- OMNIA kja regional brief (KJA_BRIEF.md), the campaign's dated traps and realm table
- Kujō Yoshitsune, English Wikipedia
- Fujiwara no Kanezane, English Wikipedia
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.