who had followed Yoshitsune's fortunes
continuously during eight years, died to a man fighting for him, and
Yoshitsune, having killed his wife and children, committed suicide.
His head was sent to Kamakura.

But this did not satisfy Yoritomo. He wanted something more than
Yoshitsune's head; he wanted the great northern fief, and he had no
idea of losing his opportunity. Three armies soon marched northward.
They are said to have aggregated 284,000 of all arms. One moved up
the western littoral; another up the eastern, and the third, under
Yoritomo himself, marched by the inland route. The men of Mutsu
fought stoutly, but after a campaign of some two months, Yasuhira,
finding himself in a hopeless position, opened negotiations for
surrender. His overtures being incontinently rejected, he appreciated
the truth, namely, that Yoritomo was bent upon exterminating the
Fujiwara of the north and taking possession of their vast estates.
Then Yasuhira fled to Ezo, where, shortly afterwards, one of his own
soldiers assassinated him and carried his head to Yoritomo, who,
instead of rewarding the man, beheaded him for treachery. Thus, from
1189, Yoritomo's sway may be said to have extended throughout the
length and breadth of Japan. In the storehouses of the Fujiwara, who,
since the days of Kiyohira had ruled for a hundred years in the
north, there were found piles of gold, silver, and precious stuffs
with which Yoritomo recompensed his troops.

YORITOMO'S SYSTEM

The system of government established by Yeritomo towards the close of
the twelfth century and kept in continuous operation thereafter until
the middle of the nineteenth, was known as the Bakufu, a word
literally signifying "camp office," and intended to convey the fact
that the affairs of the empire were in the hands of the military.
None of the great Japanese captains prior to Yoritomo recognized that
if their authority was to be permanent, it must be exercised
independently of the Court and must be derived from some source
outside the Court. The Taira chief, in the zenith of his career, had
sufficient strength to do as Yoritomo did, and at one moment, that is
to say, when he established his headquarters at Fukuhara, he appears
to have had a partial inspiration. But he never recognized that
whatever share he obtained in the administration of State affairs was
derived solely from the nature of the office conferred on him by the
Court, and could never exceed the functio