ABSTRACT
In the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, warriors made some impressive accomplishments. They had, for the first time in centuries, created a viable, enduring government—the Kamakura Shogunate—that operated independently of the imperial capital at Kyoto. The significant challenges to effective rule emerged in the late thirteenth century. Some of these challenges were external threats like the Mongols, who twice sent military expeditions to invade the Japanese islands. Others were domestic concerns that affected major segments of the population, such as the periodic famines that devastated peasant communities. Among warriors and nobles, the limited availability of land caused a decline in female property inheritance and forced men into conflict over their rights to landed income. These and other problems led to rising discontent focused on the Kamakura Shogunate by the early fourteenth century, and to its eventual destruction in 1333. During the first half of the Kamakura period, the shogunate rewarded its retainers by giving them secure appointments to land.
