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She Ran Barefoot Through the Storm — Masako and Yoritomo's Forbidden Love

Yoritomo was a convicted exile. Masako fell in love with him, and on the night she was to marry another man, she ran barefoot through a storm to reach him. That elopement began the Kamakura Shogunate.

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Masako’s father had arranged her marriage to another man, but on the wedding night she ran barefoot through a storm to reach exile Yoritomo. This elopement made the Hojo clan Yoritomo’s backers — without that alliance, the Kamakura Shogunate might never have been born.

Portrait of Minamoto no Yoritomo — from exile in Izu to founder of the Kamakura Shogunate, with Masako's elopement as the starting point

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Hojo Masako's grave at Jufukuji, Kamakura — resting place of the woman who supported the shogunate even after Yoritomo's death

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Jufukuji, Kamakura — the Zen temple Masako built for Yoritomo's repose

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

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Key Figures

Hojo Masako