Kanezawa Sanetoki

Kanezawa Sanetoki (金沢 実時 Kanezawa Sanetoki), also called Hōjō Sanetoki (北条実時; 1224 – 1276), was the founder of the Kanazawa Bunko (Kanazawa Library). He was a member of the Kanezawa branch of the Hōjō clan.

He was born to Hōjō Saneyasu in 1224. As his talent was discovered by his uncle Hōjō Yasutoki, Sanetoki was given important posts by four "shikken": Yasutoki, Tsunetoki, Tokiyori and Tokimune. He began his career as the head of "Kosamurai-dokoro" in 1234 and then became "Hikitsukeshu" in 1252 and "Hyojoshu" in 1253. Due to illness, he resigned from all posts and took a rest at his residence at Kanezawa (modern-day Kanazawa), Yokohama.

While attending to government affairs, he was dedicated himself to study. He studied under Kiyohara no Noritaka, who came to Kamakura in Prince Munetaka's retinue. In 1258 he established a temple called Shōmyōji at Kanazawa and put a library within the temple to house his huge manuscript collection.