Reading Diary: 'Rokuhara Tandai: The Hojo Clan Who Governed Kyoto' (Yukio Mori, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)

An accessible introductory book on the Rokuhara Tandai.

I had the image of them as a 'surveillance agency for the Imperial Court,' but it must have been tough having to maintain public order in Kyoto and deal with the protests of temples and shrines...
The Hojo clan's true base was always in the East, so I wonder what it was like for those who couldn't return to Kamakura and perished along with the Rokuhara Tandai...
I ended up feeling quite somber by the end.
(Though it might be strange for me to say, as someone who loves the Ashikaga and the Muromachi period.)

What surprised me was the 'weakness of authority' cited as one of the factors in the fall of the Rokuhara Tandai.
It seems that 'because they lacked the power to punish, appoint, or grant rewards to those residing in Kyoto, the Rokuhara Tandai had a functional defect that made it difficult to gain centripetal force.'
Also, while the head of the Rokuhara Tandai was of course from the Hojo clan, it wasn't a position passed down within a specific family line like the 'Rokuhara Hojo family.'
Perhaps this was because there was a concern that if they strengthened their authority or allowed a specific family to monopolize the top position, they might become a power independent of Kamakura.

Well then.
Since I found this book so interesting, I've decided to get carried away and read other books on the Rokuhara Tandai as well.
I will write about them here once I finish reading them.