Kakukai Enjo (覚海円成)
Kakukai Enjo (date of birth unknown - August 12, 1345) was a woman who lived from the end Kamakura period to the early period of the Northern and Sothern Courts (Japan). She belonged to the Adachi clan and was a daughter of Yasumune ADACHI. She was a concubine of Sadatoki HOJO, ninth shikken (regent) of the Kamakura bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun). She was the mother of Takatoki HOJO, the last head of the Hojo clan. She had other children including Yasuie HOJO. Kakukai Enjo was a homyo (a Buddhist name given to a person who has entered the priesthood) and her real name is unknown. She was also called Okatadono, an honorific title given to the mother of a noble man.
Biography
Many members of the Adachi clan were killed by TAIRA no Yoritsuna who supported a 14-year-old shikken, Sadatoki, at Shimotsuki Incident in 1285, but the Adachi clan was allowed to return to the political activities at the Kamakura bakufu after Yoritsuna was killed by Sadatoki. Then a daughter of Yasumune ADACHI who was a member of a branch family of the Adachi clan married Sadatoki and gave birth to Takatoki and Yasuie, the first and fourth sons of Sadatoki, respectively.
After Sadatoki died in 1311, Takatoki took over as the head of the Tokuso Family of the Hojo clan (patrimonial head of the main branch of the Hojo clan) at the age of 9 and later became shikken at the age of 14. Takatsuna NAGASAKI, Uchi-Kanrei (head of Tokuso Family), who was appointed as the guardian of a young Takatoki in accordance with Sadatoki's will, and Tokiaki ADACHI, who was Takatoki's father-in-law and a relative on his mother's side, held real power over the affairs of state. In 1323, she had the Kegon-to pagoda erected at Kencho-ji Temple at the memorial service for the 12th anniversary of Sadatoki's death.
On March 13, 1326, Takatoki became a priest because of illness, which led to Karyaku no Sodo (Karyaku Rebellion): the power struggle between the Nagasaki family (uchikanrei) and the Adachi family (the Hojo's maternal relative) over the succession to the Tokuso Family. The Nagasaki clan supported Kunitoki HOJO who was born the eldest son to a Takatoki's concubine and sister of Muneshige GODAIIN, miuchibito (private vassals of the tokuso), in the previous December, while Okatadono and the Adachi family were not happy with his birth as represented by not showing up at the birthplace or not visiting Takatoki when he was born. The Adachi clan supported Yasuie HOJO, Takatoki's younger brother and Okatadono's son, as Takatoki's successor. Sadaaki HOJO who belonged to a branch family of the Hojo clan became interim shikken with the recommendation of the Nagasaki clan, but the rumor that angry Okatadono and Yasuie were trying to kill Sadaaki frightened him so much that he resigned as shikken by becoming a priest. While nobody in the Hojo clan was willing to become shikken in fear of Okatadono's anger, Moritoki HOJO finally took over as shikken and proved to be the last shikken of the Hojo clan. She had a temple bell erected at Tokei-ji Temple on 26 April, 1332.
After Takatoki and other Hojo clan members killed themselves as a result of the fall of the Kamakura bakufu on 22 May, 1333, Okatadono, together with other female members of the clan, moved to Nirayama-machi, Izu Province, where she had a convent erected named Enjo-ji Temple to pray for the souls of the clan members. She died on August 12, 1345.
The temple bell erected at Tokei-ji Temple, transferred to Izu Province, currently belongs to Honryu-ji Temple in Izunokuni City, Shizuoka Prefecture.