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PERSON
Hojo Sanetoki
Hojo Sanetoki
Founder of Kanazawa Bunko
1224-1276 · 享年 52歳
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系
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生
生涯
Hojo Sanetoki was a prominent member of the Hojo clan and founder of the Kanazawa Bunko, Japan's oldest samurai library. Born in 1224, he was devoted to scholarship from youth, collecting a vast library of Japanese and Chinese texts. He established his residence in Mutsuura (modern Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama) and created the Kanazawa Bunko to house his collection. He also founded Shomyoji Temple as the family temple, operating it alongside the library. He served in important government positions during the Mongol invasions. He died in 1276 at age 53, leaving a legacy of learning that endured throughout the Kamakura period.
人
Personality
An intellectual who valued scholarship above all else despite being a warrior. Well-versed in Japanese and Chinese classics, he devoted himself to copying and collecting texts. Known for his gentle temperament and respected within the clan.
義
Historical Significance
The Kanazawa Bunko is of immense importance in Japanese cultural history, functioning as a center of medieval learning. Today it continues as the Kanagawa Prefectural Kanazawa Bunko, keeping Sanetoki's passion for scholarship alive after 800 years.
話
Famous Anecdotes
其 一
Kanazawa Bunko — Hojo Sanetoki's Intellectual Legacy and Center of Samurai Culture
Hojo Sanetoki was a powerful retainer of the Kamakura shogunate who was also an unusually learned literary figure for a warrior. Adjacent to Shomyoji temple in Kanazawa, Musashi Province (present-day Kanazawa Ward, Yokohama), he founded Kanazawa Bunko, collecting a wide range of texts including Chinese classics, Buddhist scriptures, and Japanese works. Known as Japan's oldest samurai library, some materials are preserved and exhibited today at the Kanagawa Prefectural Kanazawa Bunko. A pioneering figure who gave samurai culture scholarly foundations.
Hojo Sanetoki Timeline
1224
Hojo Sanetoki born in Kamakura
1240
Coming of age. Devotes himself to scholarship
1247
Hoji Incident. Miura clan destroyed
1253
Appointed Rokuhara Tandai, serves in Kyoto
1258
Founds Shomyoji temple
1260
Establishes library in Kanazawa (precursor to Kanazawa Bunko)
1275
Responds to Mongol invasion aftermath
1276
Hojo Sanetoki dies at age 53
事
Related Historical Events
1247
宝治合戦
1247年6月、北条時頼が三浦泰村一族を滅ぼした合戦。鎌倉幕府の有力御家人・三浦氏は安達景盛（北条氏外戚）と対立を深めており、北条時頼は安達氏と連携して三浦氏討滅を決定した。6月5日、安達景盛邸での法要の場を襲撃する形で戦端が開かれ、鎌倉中が戦場となった。三浦泰村は一族郎党と共に法華堂に籠り、五百余人が自害して果てた。この合戦で三浦氏が滅亡し、北条得宗家（嫡流）の専制体制が確立する大きな画期となった。鎌倉幕府の政治史における重要事件である。
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地
Related Places — 4
神
Seto Jinja
神奈川県
Sanetoki based himself in Kanazawa and revered Seto Shrine as his clan shrine. The shrine was patronized alongside the prosperity of the Kanazawa Hojo clan.
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神
Biwajima Jinja
神奈川県
Sanetoki also revered the Benzaiten that Masako had enshrined, as a guardian of the Kanazawa area.
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寺
Shomyoji
神奈川県
Sanetoki founded Shomyoji in 1258 as his private Buddhist hall and devoted his life to collecting books that formed the Kanazawa Bunko library. A man of deep learning and culture rare among Kamakura warriors, he gathered Chinese classics, Buddhist scriptures, and Japanese literature, creating medieval Japan's greatest intellectual treasure. He died in 1276 at age 53 and was buried on the hill behind the temple he created.
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史
Tomb of Hojo Sanetoki (Shomyoji)
神奈川県
The place where Sanetoki himself rests. He was buried at Shomyoji, the temple he founded. Along with the Kanazawa Bunko library, his legacy as a scholar lives on to this day.
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記
Related Articles — 2
記
Seto Shrine and Tokugawa Ieyasu: The Ancient Shrine of Kanazawa Preserved by the Shogun Who Revered Yoritomo
Seto Shrine in Kanazawa, Yokohama, was founded in 1180 by Minamoto no Yoritomo as a guardian of maritime traffic. After entering the Kanto region in 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu visited the shrine and, out of deep reverence for Yoritomo, issued a vermilion-seal land grant of 100 koku. This article examines the sacred site of Kanazawa that links Yoritomo and Ieyasu through the continuity of warrior governance.
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記
Ryugeji Temple (Kanazawa Hakkei) and Tokugawa Ieyasu: Religious Policy Through Vermilion-Seal Land Grants After the Kanto Entry
Ryugeji Temple in Kanazawa Ward, Yokohama, is a head temple of the Omuro branch of Shingon Buddhism. In 1591, Tokugawa Ieyasu reportedly stayed there during a tour of Kanazawa shortly after entering the Kanto region, subsequently granting the temple a five-koku vermilion-seal land holding. While the anecdote of the misreported name 'Ryugenji' remains legendary, the land grant itself is supported by Edo-period temple records and illuminates a facet of Ieyasu's religious control policy.
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