Hiki Yoshikazu

Who was Hiki Yoshikazu?

Hiki Yoshikazu was a Japanese warrior-noble of the Kamakura period related to the ruling Minamoto clan through his daughter's marriage. He, and much of the Hiki clan, were killed for allegedly conspiring to have one of the Minamoto heirs killed, in order to gain power himself.

Originally from Musashi province, Hiki Yoshikazu rose to prominence in the shogunal court as a result of being adopted by Minamoto no Yoritomo's nurse.

Hiki's daughter was married to Minamoto no Yoriie, the second shogun of the Kamakura shogunate. Seriously ill, Yoriie proposed to name both his younger brother Sanetomo, and his young son Minamoto no Ichiman to succeed him; the two would split power, governing separate parts of the country. It seemed natural that Hiki would then be the regent, even if unofficially, to young Ichiman. He therefore suggested to Yoriie, who would be assassinated shortly afterwards by a separate faction, that they arrange to have Sanetomo killed. Hōjō Masako, Yoriie's mother and wife of the first shogun Yoritomo, overheard this conversation.

Though Masako may have sought to have Hiki formally accused of treason and executed, the Hōjō, under Hōjō Tokimasa, got to him first. In their schemes to dominate the regency and control the shogunate as a puppet government under their clan, Hōjō warriors assassinated Hiki Yoshikazu, and then attacked the palace of young Ichiman, setting a fire and killing both the young heir and a great number of members of the extended Hiki family.