源頼朝

Minamoto no Yoritomo, founder of the Kamakura Shogunate in 1192, transformed Japan by establishing the first warrior government — a system that would endure, in various forms, for nearly seven centuries. Exiled to Izu Province at age thirteen after his father's defeat in the Heiji Rebellion, Yoritomo spent over two decades building alliances with eastern warrior clans before rising to overthrow the Taira and destroy them at the Battle of Dan-no-ura (1185). As head of the Minamoto clan, he inherited legendary heirloom tachi and institutionalized the sword as the supreme symbol of warrior authority: the bestowal of blades from shogun to vassal became the highest form of reward, and their presentation upward the highest token of loyalty. The smiths of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods — the ancient Yamashiro, Ko-Bizen, and Ko-Hōki schools — forged the blades that armed the warriors who built his world.