(1185-1333)
The period after Nara and before Ashikaga during which the first bakufu ('tent-government'; military government) was established by the Minamoto shogunate at Kamakura in Eastern Japan. Most of the new medieval Buddhist movements such as Zen, Pure Land and Nichiren developed during this time, and neo-Confucianism was introduced by Zen monks from Sung China. The second attempted Mongol invasion of Japan was thwarted at the eleventh hour by a kami-kaze (divine wind) in August 1281. The period ended with a brief three-year recovery of power by the emperor Go-Daigo after which rulership passed to the Ashikaga shogunate.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.