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 aristocracy. Many of his followers were descended from men who, originally serfs of Kyōtō nobles, had been sent to the provinces to till the soil and procure sustenance for their lords. The rise of the Kamakura government was thus a revolution in a double sense, being not only the substitution of a military democracy for an imperial aristocracy, but also the rehabilitation of a large section of the nation who had once been serfs.

It is easy to see that the Fujiwara themselves were directly responsible for the development of provincial autonomy. Their attitude towards everything outside the capital had been one of studied inactivity. When a military disturbance arose in one district and was quelled by the efforts of another, the ministers in Kyōtō refused to recognise the services of the latter, on the plea that local interests alone had been concerned. Even when foreign invaders (the Tartars) were repulsed, the Fujiwara Regent, not having himself raised a finger in defence of the country, nevertheless hesitated to reward the men that had averted the peril. Such a policy, if continued, must have annihilated all national spirit. Happily it worked its own overthrow by teaching the provincials their independence.

Yoritomo made the mistake of estimating his own personality more highly than the interests of the great clan he represented. He killed all the Minamoto leaders that seemed capable of