After the death of MINAMOTO no Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura bakufu, political strife over authority within the bakufu continued to happen, resulting in the deaths of political leaders in such cases as the Kagetoki Kajiwara Incident (1200) and the Conspiracy of Yoshikazu HIKI (1203), and it was in fact Tokimasa HOJO who had political authority over 14 year-old MINAMOTO no Sanetomo, the third shogun of the Kamakura bakufu.
鎌倉幕府創設者である初代将軍源頼朝の死後、幕府内部の権力闘争が続き正治2年（1200年）の梶原景時の変、建仁3年（1203年）の比企能員の変によって有力者が滅ぼされ、幕府の実権は14歳の3代将軍源実朝を擁する北条時政が握っていた。