a Taira, who, taking the name Hojo from the locality
of his manor, called himself Hojo Tokimasa. The dispositions of these
two men did not agree with the suggestions of their lineage.
Sukechika might have been expected to sympathize with his ward in
consideration of the sufferings of the Fujiwara at Kiyomori's hands.
Tokimasa, as a Taira, should have been wholly antipathetic. Yet had
Tokimasa shared Sukechika's mood, the Minamoto's sun would never have
risen over the Kwanto.

The explanation is that Tokimasa belonged to a large group of
provincial Taira who were at once discontented because their claims
to promotion had been ignored, and deeply resentful of indignities
and ridicule to which their rustic manners and customs had exposed
them at the hands of their upstart kinsmen in Kyoto. Moreover, it is
not extravagant to suppose, in view of the extraordinary abilities
subsequently shown by Tokimasa, that he presaged the instability of
the Taira edifice long before any ominous symptoms became outwardly
visible. At any rate, while remaining Yoritomo's ostensible warden,
he became his confidant and abettor.

This did not happen immediately, however. Yoritomo was placed
originally under Sukechika's care, and during the latter's absence in
Kyoto a liaison was established between his daughter and the Minamoto
captive, with the result that a son was born. Sukechika, on his
return, caused the child to be thrown into a cataract, married its
mother to Ema Kotaro, and swore to have the life of his ward. But
Yoritomo, warned of what was pending, effected his escape to
Tokimasa's manor. It is recorded that on the way thither he prayed at
the shrine of Hachiman, the tutelary deity of his family: "Grant me
to become sei-i-shogun and to guard the Imperial Court. Or, if I may
not achieve so much, grant me to become governor of Izu, so that I
may be revenged on Sukechika. Or, if that may not be, grant me
death." With Tokimasa he found security. But here again, though now a
man over thirty, he established relations with Masa, his warden's
eldest daughter. In all Yoritomo's career there is not one instance
of a sacrifice of expediency or ambition on the altar of sentiment or
affection. He was a cold, calculating man. No cruelty shocked him nor
did he shrink from any severity dictated by policy. It is in the last
degree improbable that he risked his political hopes for the sake of
a trivial amour. At any rate the event suggests crafty de