Sitting Stone


During his time of exile, it is said that Minamoto-no-Yoritomo worshiped at the Mishima Taisha shrine for a hundred days and prayed for the revenge.
Since he sat on this stone to rest after prayer, the stone is called "Sitting Stone" (Left side).
It is also said that his wife Masako Hojo sat on the neighboring.(Right side).

"Minamoto-no-Yoritomo" is famous as the first Shogun(Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force) who established the Kamakura shogunate.
He was born the third son of Minamoto-no-Yoshitomo and was defeated in his first war "Heiji-no-ran" by the Taira family.
His father and eldest brother were killed in the war. Also, his second elder brother was injured during the escape and passed away.
Minamoto-no-Yoritomo was exiled from the capital to Hiruga-kojima island in Izu city by the Taira family.
During 20 years of exile in Izu, he married Masako, the eldest daughter of Hōjō Tokimasa the most powerful family in Izu.
In 1180, he raised an army and on the orders of Prince Mochihito went on an expedition against the Taira family and was defeated again.
In 1185, he finally annihilated the Taira family in the war of Dannoura and united the whole country.
In 1192, he became Shogun and established the Kamakura Shogunate that is the first samurai regime.
In Japan, the samurai regime continued to rule for about 700 years until the Tokugawa Shogunate collapse.

"Masako Hojo", the daughter of the powerful Hojo family in Nirayama area in Izu, became the wife of Yoritomo, and gave birth to 4 children; 2 sons and 2 daughters, such as Ohime, Yoriie, Otohime, and Sanetomo.
She became famous drawing her husbands regime under the name of "Midaidokoro"

After his death in 1199 she became a nun.
Thus she later became known as "Ama-Shogun" (which means "Nun-Shogun").
Because her sons were assassinated one after another, she nominated Yoshitsune Kujo Yoritomo's distant relative, as 4th Shogun.
Since Yoshitsune was still a small child, Masako became an acting shogun and guardianship.