The third shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, second son of Minamoto no Yoritomo. He became shogun at twelve in 1203 after his brother's removal; real power lay with the Hōjō regents, but he cultivated ties with the imperial court and was made Minister of the Right in 1218. The following year he was assassinated at the Tsurugaoka Hachiman shrine by his nephew, ending the Minamoto line of shoguns. A pupil of Teika by correspondence, he wrote vigorous poems in the Man'yō manner collected in the Kinkai Wakashū, greatly admired by modern poets. His Hyakunin Isshu poem watches fishermen hauling their boat along the shore.
世の中は 常にもがもな 渚漕ぐ
海人の小舟の 綱手かなしも
Yo no naka wa tsune ni mogamo na nagisa kogu / ama no obune no tsunade kanashi mo
If only this world could stay unchanged forever. How dear it is, this ordinary sight of a fisherman's small boat rowing along the shore, pulling its tow-rope.