was a Japanese samurai lord who was the first shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate and head of the Hōjō clan. He was shikken from 1203 until his abdication in 1205, and Protector of Kyoto from 1185 to 1186. Background The Hōjō clan is alleged to have been descended from the Taira clan. The Hōjō clan based themselves in a northern part of the Izu Province, which was in the east and quite far away from the center of power in Kyoto. Early life Not much is known about Hōjō Tokimasa's early life prior to Minamoto no Yoritomo's arrival in Izu. There is no information about his parents and early childhood, mainly because culture was not concentrated in Izu, but rather in Kyoto. Tokimasa was born in 1138 into the influential Hōjō clan in the province of Izu. It is believed that his father was either Hōjō Tokikata or Hōjō Tokikane. Tokimasa, as the head of the Hōjō clan, chose to stay out of the civil strife engulfing western Japan based on court succession disputes between the Cloistered Emperor Toba, his son Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa, and Emperor Sutoku--who would be deposed in the fallout of the Hogen Rebellion. This also facilitated the rivalry between the Minamoto clan under Minamoto no Yoshitomo and the Taira clan under Taira no Kiyomori. These two disturbances, known as the Hōgen Rebellion and Heiji Rebellion, ended in a Taira victory and the rule of the Cloistered Emperors Toba and Go-Shirakawa. Minamoto no Yoshitomo of the Minamoto clan was executed in 1160; all but three of his sons also executed, and his daughters sent to convents. Of the three sons that were spared, Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Noriyori were sent to monasteries, while his eldest son, Minamoto no Yoritomo, only 13 years old, was exiled to Tokimasa's domain of Izu. The name of Tokimasa's first official wife is not known. She and Tokimasa had two sons, Hōjō Munetoki (his first son, the date of birth is not clear) and Hōjō Yoshitoki, who became his heir later, in 1163. Tokimasa later married to Maki no Kata, who became his second official wife, and they had another son, Hōjō Masanori, in 1189. Tokimasa also had another son, Hōjō Tokifusa, with an unknown woman. Tokifusa's date of birth is estimated to be in 1175. Tokimasa also had many daughters. His first daughter, Hōjō Masako, who was born