Woman Warlord

La Reina Del Barrio's blog on Queens of the World continues.

It's a man's world, so they say.

Perhaps the most famous, most rigid man-culture was that of the samurai of Japan.

The Shogun (Generalissimo) was the real leader of the country from 1179 until 1868. The Shogun told the Emperor what to do. The Shogun was always a man.

However, even the Shogun had a mother or a wife, and one woman, Hojo Masako (1156-1225), was the ruler of the rulers of Japan.

Her rise to power was remarkable seeing how powerless women were in the previous century. The Emperors of Japan liked to have a lot of sex. That meant lots and lots of children, not all of whom could have any rights to the throne. These children were disowned by the royal family and instead given different clan names: The Clan of Minamoto and The Clan of Taira. These disowned boys all studied the art of war, then noticed that since there were so many of them they could easily take over the government. The Minamoto fought the Taira for five years and eventually defeated them. They set up a culture based on working out, meditating and creating homo-erotic artwork. Little attention was paid to women.

Hojo Masako was married to the Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo. Her first son, Minamoto Yoriie, became the next Shogun and so Masako became a nun. Her first son then tried to kill her father, so she intrigued to have the son murdered. Next, her ambitious father tried to kill her second son. At this, Masako and her brother forced her father into retirement. One would think that the second son would have remained in power, but he had no children. When her second son was assassinated in 1219, Masako arranged for her brother to become Shogun. When that brother died in 1224, Masako fought off a conspiracy to seize power and made sure that her other brother became regent.

She died the next year at age 69, having kept her family in control. One wonders when this nun found time to pray!

-E.M.