Kamakura Japan · 1180-1333

The samurai take power: the Kamakura shogunate

After the Genpei War, Minamoto no Yoritomo set up a warrior government in Kamakura, far from the emperor's court. Students explore how the samurai came to rule Japan for almost 700 years, and why the first shogunate fell in 1333.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1200 to AD 1279
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

After the Genpei War, Minamoto no Yoritomo set up a warrior government in Kamakura, far from the emperor's court. Students explore how the samurai came to rule Japan for almost 700 years, and why the first shogunate fell in 1333.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain how the Minamoto clan won the Genpei War and set up the shogunate.
  • Describe how the shogunate in Kamakura shared power with the emperor in Kyoto.
  • Explain why the Kamakura shogunate fell in 1333.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1200

Far from the court

Open the map in 1200 and find Kyoto and Kamakura, about 350 km apart. Why might a warrior government settle so far from the emperor's court?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1185

War of the clans

Pan west along the Inland Sea to the strait between Honshu and Kyushu, where the Genpei War ended in 1185. Why did so much of this war happen on the water?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1279

Shogun Japan

Jump to 1279 and zoom out. What does the map call Japan now? Find out what the word "shogun" means.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why did the emperor not simply rule Japan himself?
  2. Yoritomo set up his government in Kamakura, far from Kyoto. Why?
  3. In 1232 the shogunate wrote a law code for warriors in plain language. Why would warriors need their own laws?
  4. New Buddhist teachers promised salvation to ordinary people, not just to monks and nobles. Why would that be popular?
  5. The shogunate could not reward its warriors after the Mongol invasions. Why did that help bring it down?
4

Game round

10 min

Play Rule History as Genghis Khan, who rose to power on the steppe in the same years as the Kamakura shogunate. Let students take turns ruling. Then compare: how did Yoritomo's warrior government differ from Genghis Khan's empire?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.