The Fall of the Hōjō - Aesthetics of Ruin -

The Hōjō clan once upheld the Kamakura shogunate, enduring even the unprecedented threat of the Mongol invasions. Yet, after their era of glory, they were met with the merciless turning of history.
In 1333, the forces of Nitta Yoshisada stormed Kamakura, and at Tosho-ji Temple more than 800 members of the Hōjō family chose to end their lives. Their unwavering pride and loyalty became etched into history as a fierce "aesthetics of ruin."

In the years that followed, other heroic figures such as Nitta Yoshisada and Kusunoki Masashige also fell, opening the turbulent age of the Northern and Southern Courts. The fall of the Hōjō was not merely the end of a clan, but the collapse of a samurai ideal-and at the same time, the dawn of a new era.

Alongside the earlier work The Fall of the Heike, this piece shines light on another great "end" carved into Japanese history. Through the weeping tones of the guitar, it conveys both the sorrow and pride of the Hōjō's final moments, and the profound beauty that lingers within ruin-delivered with the passion of a metal ballad.