which should secure to him and his family the fruits of his long contest.
In A.D. 1190, he went up to the capital to pay his respects to the Emperor
Go-Toba as well as to the veteran retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. The latter
was now in his sixty-sixth year, and had held his place through five
successive reigns, and was now the friend and patron of the new
government. He died, however, only two years later. Yoritomo knew the
effect produced by a magnificent display, and therefore made his progress
to the capital with all the pomp and circumstance which he could command.
The festivities were kept up for a month, and the court and its
surroundings were deeply impressed with a sense of the power and
irresistible authority of the head of the Minamoto clan.

Yoritomo did not, however, choose to establish himself at Kyoto amid the
atmosphere of effeminacy which surrounded the court. After his official
visit, during which every honor and rank which could be bestowed by the
emperor were showered upon his head and all his family and friends, he
returned to his own chosen seat at Kamakura. Here he busied himself in
perfecting a system which, while it would perpetuate his own power, would
also build up a firm national government.

His first step, A.D. 1184, was to establish a council at which affairs of
state were discussed, and which furnished a medium through which the
administration might be conducted. The president of this council was
Oye-no-Hiromoto.(123) Its jurisdiction pertained at first to the
Kwanto--that is, to the part of the country east of the Hakone barrier.
This region was more completely under the control of the Minamoto, and
therefore could be more easily and surely submitted to administrative
methods. He also established a criminal tribunal to take cognizance of
robberies and other crimes which, during the lawless and violent
disturbances in the country, had largely prevailed.

But the step, which was destined to produce the most far-reaching results,
consisted in his obtaining from the emperor the appointment of five of his
own family as governors of provinces, promising on his part to supervise
their actions and to be responsible for the due performance of their duty.
Up to this time the governors and vice-governors of provinces had always
been appointed from civil life and were taken from the families
surrounding the imperial court. He also was authorized to send into each
province a military man, who was to