TAKAUJI ENTERS KYOTO

In the beginning of November, 1335, the Imperial force moved eastward. It was divided into two armies. One, under Yoshisada's direct orders, marched by the Tokaido, or eastern littoral road; the other, under Yoshisada's brother, Wakiya Yoshisuke, with Prince Takanaga for titular general, advanced along the Nakasen-do, or inland mountain-road. The littoral army, carrying everything before it, pushed on to the capital of Izu, and had it forced its attack home at once, might have captured Kamakura. But the Nitta chief decided to await the arrival of the Nakasen-do army, and the respite thus afforded enabled the Ashikaga forces to rally. Tadayoshi reached the Hakone Pass and posted his troops on its western slopes in a position of immense natural vantage, while Takauji himself occupied the routes on the north, his van being at Takenoshita.

The Imperialists attacked both positions simultaneously. Takauji not only held his ground, but also, being joined by a large contingent of the Kyoto men who, under the leadership of Enya Takasada, had deserted in the thick of the fight, he shattered his opponents, and when this news reached Hakone on the following morning, a panic seized Yoshisada's troops so that they either fled or surrendered. The Nitta chieftain himself retired rapidly to Kyoto with a mere remnant of his army, and effected a union with the forces of the ever-loyal Kusunoki Masashige and Nawa Nagatoshi, who had given asylum to Go-Daigo at the time of the escape from Oki. The cenobites of Hiei-zan also took the field in the Imperial cause. Meanwhile, Takauji and Tadayoshi, utilizing their victories, pushed rapidly towards Kyoto. The heart of the samurai was with them, and they constantly received large accessions of strength. Fierce fighting now took place on the south and east of the capital. It lasted for several days and, though the advantage was with the Ashikaga, their victory was not decisive.

An unlooked-for event turned the scale. It has been related above that, in the struggle which ended in the restoration of Go-Daigo, Akamatsu Norimura was chiefly instrumental in driving the Hojo from Rokuhara; and it has also been related that, in the subsequent distribution of rewards, his name was omitted for the slight reason that he had, at one period, entered religion. He now moved up from Harima at the head of a strong force and, attacking from the south, effected an entry into Kyoto, just as he had done three years previously. Go-Daigo fled to Hiei, carrying the sacred insignia with him, and on the 24th of February, 1336, the Ashikaga armies marched into the Imperial capital.

TAKAUJI RETIRES TO KYUSHU

At this stage succour arrived for the Imperialists from the extreme north. In the arrangement of the local administration after Go-Daigo re-occupied the throne, the two northern provinces of Mutsu and Dewa had been separated from the Kwanto and placed under the control of Prince Yoshinaga, with Kitabatake Akiiye for lieutenant. The latter, a son of the renowned Chikafusa, was in his nineteenth year when the Ashikaga revolted. He quickly organized a powerful army with the intention of joining Yoshisada's attack upon Kamakura, but not being in time to carry out that programme, he changed the direction of his march and hastened towards Kyoto. He arrived there when the Ashikaga troops were laying siege to Hiei-zan, and effecting a union with the Imperialists, he succeeded in raising the siege and recovering the city.

It is unnecessary to follow in detail the vicissitudes that ensued. Stratagems were frequent. At one time we find a number of Yoshisada's men, officers and privates alike, disguising themselves, mingling with the Ashikaga army, and turning their arms against the latter at a critical moment. At another, Kusunoki Masashige spreads a rumour of Yoshisada's death in battle, and having thus induced Takauji to detach large forces in pursuit of the deceased's troops, falls on him, and drives him to Hyogo, where, after a heavy defeat, he has to flee to Bingo. Now, for a second time, the Ashikaga cause seemed hopeless when Akamatsu Norimura again played a most important role. He provided an asylum for Takauji and Tadayoshi; counselled them to go to the west for the purpose of mustering and equipping their numerous partisans; advised them to obtain secretly a mandate from the senior branch of the Imperial family so that they too, as well as their opponents, might be entitled to fly the brocade banner, and having furnished them with means to effect their escape, returned to Harima and occupied the fortress of Shirahata with the object of checking pursuit. At this point there is a break in the unrelenting continuity of the operations. It should obviously have been the aim of the Imperialists to strike a conclusive blow before the Ashikaga leaders had time to assemble and organize their multitudinous supporters in Shikoku, Kyushu, and the provinces on the north of the Inland Sea. This must have been fully apparent to Kusunoki Masashige, an able strategist. Yet a delay of some weeks occurred.

A quasi-historical record, the Taiheiki, ascribes this to Yoshinaga's infatuated reluctance to quit the company of a Court beauty whom the Emperor had bestowed on him. Probably the truth is that the Imperialists were seriously in want of rest and that Yoshisada fell ill with fever. Something must also be attributed to a clever ruse on the part of Akamatsu Norimura. He sent to Yoshisada's headquarters a message promising to give his support to the Imperialists if he was appointed high constable of Harima. Ten days were needed to obtain the commission from Kyoto, and Norimura utilized the interval to place the defenses of Shirahata fortress in a thoroughly secure condition. Thus, when his patent of high constable arrived, he rejected it with disdain, saying that he had already received a patent from the shogun, Takauji, and was in no need of an Imperial grant which "could be altered as easily as turning one's hand."

Yoshisada, enraged at having been duped, laid siege to Shirahata but found it almost invulnerable. It was on March 11, 1336, that Takauji went westward from Bingo; it was on the 2nd of April that Yoshisada invested Shirahata, and it was on the 3rd of July that the siege was raised. The Ashikaga brothers had enjoyed a respite of more than three months, and had utilized it vigorously. They were at the Dazai-fu in Chikuzen in June when a message reached them that Shirahata could not hold out much longer. Immediately they set their forces in motion, advancing by land and water with an army said to have numbered twenty thousand and a fleet of transports and war-junks totalling seven thousand. At the island, Itsukushima, they were met by a Buddhist priest, Kenshun, bearer of a mandate signed by the ex-Emperor Kogon of the senior branch, and thus, in his final advance, the Ashikaga chief was able to fly the brocade banner. In the face of this formidable force the Imperialists fell back to Hyogo—the present Kobe—and it became necessary to determine a line of strategy.

DEATH OF MASASHIGE

Go-Daigo, in Kyoto, summoned Kusunoki Masashige to a conference. That able general spoke in definite tones. He declared it hopeless for the Imperialists with their comparatively petty force of worn-out warriors to make head against the great Ashikuga host of fresh fighters. The only wise course was to suffer the enemy to enter Kyoto, and then, while the sovereign took refuge at Hiei-zan, to muster his Majesty's partisans in the home provinces for an unceasing war upon the Ashikaga's long line of communications—a war culminating in an attack from the front and the rear simultaneously. Thus, out of temporary defeat, final victory would be wrested.

All present at the conference, with one exception, endorsed Masashige's view as that of a proved strategist. The exception was a councillor, Fujiwara Kiyotada. He showed himself a veritable example of "those whom the gods wish to destroy." Declaring that all previous successes had been achieved by divine aid, which took no count of numerical disparity, he urged that if the sovereign quitted the capital before his troops had struck a blow, officers and men alike would be disheartened; and if refuge was again taken at Hiei-zan, the Imperial prestige would suffer. To these light words the Emperor hearkened. Masashige uttered no remonstrance. The time for controversy had passed. He hastened to the camp and bid farewell to his son, Masatsura: "I do not think that I shall see you again in life. If I fall to-day, the country will pass under the sway of the Ashikaga. It will be for you to judge in which direction your real welfare lies. Do not sully your father's loyalty by forgetting the right and remembering only the expedient. So long as a single member of our family remains alive, or so much as one of our retainers, you will defend the old castle of Kongo-zan and give your life for your native land."

ENGRAVING: THE PARTING OF KUSONOKI MASASHIGE AND HIS SON MASATSURA

He then handed to his son a sword which he himself had received from the Emperor. Passing thence to Hyogo, Masashige joined Nitta Yoshisada, and the two leaders devoted the night to a farewell banquet. The issue of the next day's combat was a foregone conclusion. Masashige had but seven hundred men under his command. He posted this little band at Minato-gawa, near the modern Kobe, and with desperate courage attacked the van of the Ashikaga army. Gradually he was enveloped, and being wounded in ten places he, with his brother and sixty followers, entered the precincts of a temple and died by their own hands.* Takauji and his captains, lamenting the brave bushi's death, sent his head to his family; and history recognizes that his example exercised an ennobling influence not only on the men of his era but also on subsequent generations. After Masashige's fall a similar fate must have overtaken Yoshisada, had not one of those sacrifices familiar on a Japanese field of battle been made for his sake. Oyamada Takaiye gave his horse to the Nitta general and fell fighting in his stead, while Yoshisada rode away. At first sight these sacrifices seem to debase the saved as much as they exalt the saver. But, according to Japanese ethics, an institution was always more precious than the person of its representative, and a principle than the life of its exponent. Men sacrificed themselves in battle not so much to save the life of a commanding officer, as to avert the loss his cause would suffer by his death. Parity of reasoning dictated acceptance of the sacrifice.

*Kusunoki Masashige is the Japanese type of a loyal and true soldier. He was forty-three at the time of his death. Three hundred and fifty-six years later (1692), Minamoto Mitsukuni, feudal chief of Mito, caused a monument to be erected to his memory at the place of his last fight. It bore the simple epitaph "The Tomb of Kusunoki, a loyal subject."

ENGRAVING: OSONAE (New Year Offering to Family Tutelary Deity)

ENGRAVING: PALANQUINS (Used in Old Japan Only by the Nobility)



CHAPTER XXX

THE WAR OF THE DYNASTIES

OCCUPATION OF KYOTO BY ASHIKAGA

IN July, 1336, Takauji entered Kyoto and established his headquarters at the temple Higashi-dera. Go-Daigo had previously taken refuge at the Hiei-zan monastery, the ex-Emperors, Hanazono and Kogon, remaining in the capital where they looked for the restoration of their branch of the Imperial family. The Ashikaga leader lost no time in despatching a force to attack Hiei-zan, but the Imperialists, supported by the cenobites, resisted stoutly, and no impression was made on the defences for a considerable time. In one of the engagements, however, Nawa Nagatoshi, who had harboured Go-Daigo after the flight from Oki, met his death, and the Imperialist forces gradually dwindled. Towards the close of August, Takauji caused Prince Yutahito (or Toyohito, according to gome authorities), younger brother of Kogon, to be proclaimed Emperor, and he is known as Komyo. Characteristic of the people's political ignorance at that time is the fact that men spoke of the prince's good fortune since, without any special merit of his own, he had been granted the rank of sovereign by the shogun.

Meanwhile, the investment of the Hiei monastery made little progress, and Takauji had recourse to treachery. At the close of October he opened secret communications with Go-Daigo; assured him that the Ashikaga did not entertain any disloyal purpose; declared that their seemingly hostile attitude had been inspired by the enmity of the Nitta brothers; begged Go-Daigo to return to Kyoto, and promised not only that should all ideas of revenge be foregone, but also that the administration should be handed over to the Court, and all their ranks and estates restored to the Emperor's followers.

Go-Daigo ought surely to have distrusted these professions. He must have learned from Takauji's original impeachment of Yoshisada how unscrupulous the Ashikaga leader could be on occasion, and he should have well understood the impossibility of peace between these two men. Yet his Majesty relied on Takauji's assurances. It was in vain that Horiguchi Sadamitsu recounted Yoshisada's services, detailed the immense sacrifices he had made in the Imperial cause, and declared that if the Emperor were determined to place himself in Takauji's hands, he should prepare his departure from Hiei-zan by summoning to his presence Yoshisada with the other Nitta leaders and sentencing them to death. Go-Daigo was not to be moved from his purpose. He gave Yoshisada fair words indeed: "I profoundly praise your loyal services. My wish is to pacify the country by the assistance of your family, but heaven has not yet vouchsafed its aid. Our troops are worn out and the hour is unpropitious. Therefore, I make peace for the moment and bide my time. Do you repair to Echizen and use your best endeavours to promote the cause of the restoration. Lest you be called a rebel after my return to Kyoto, I order the Crown Prince to accompany you."

Thus Go-Daigo, truly faithful neither to the one side nor to the other, set out for the capital. That night, Yoshisada prayed at the shrine of Hiyoshi: "Look down on my loyalty and help me to perform my journey safely so that I may raise an army to destroy the insurgents. If that is not to be, let one of my descendants achieve my aim." Two hundred and six years later, there was born in Mikawa of the stock of Yoshisada one of the greatest generals and altogether the greatest ruler that Japan has ever produced, Minamoto Ieyasu. Heaven answered Yoshisada's prayer tardily but signally.

TAKAUJI'S FAITH

Not one of Takauji's promises did he respect. He imprisoned Go-Daigo; he stripped all the courtiers of their ranks and titles; he placed in confinement all the generals and officers of the Imperial forces, and he ordered the transfer of the insignia to the sovereign of his own nomination, Komyo. Tradition has it that Go-Daigo, victim of so many treacheries, practised one successful deception himself: he reserved the original of the sacred sword and seal and handed counterfeits to Komyo. This took place on November 12, 1336. Some two months later, January 23, 1337, Go-Daigo, disguised as a woman for the second time in his career, fled from his place of detention through a broken fence, and reached Yoshino in Yamato, where he was received by Masatsura, son of Kusunoki Masashige, and by Kitabatake Chikafusa.

Yoshino now became the rendez-vous of Imperialists from the home provinces, and Go-Daigo sent a rescript to Yoshisada in Echizen, authorizing him to work for the restoration.

Thus commenced the War of the Dynasties, known in history as the Conflict of the Northern and Southern Courts, terms borrowed from the fact that Yoshino, where Go-Daigo had his headquarters, lay to the south of Kyoto. Hereafter, then, the junior branch of the Imperial Family will be designated the Southern Court and the senior branch will be spoken of as the Northern Court.

The struggle lasted from 1337 to 1392, a period of fifty-five years. Much has been written and said about the relative legitimacy of the two Courts. It does not appear that there is any substantial material for doubt. Go-Daigo never abdicated voluntarily, or ever surrendered the regalia. Before his time many occupants of the throne had stepped down at the suggestion of a Fujiwara or a Hojo. But always the semblance of free-will had been preserved. Moreover, the transfer of the true regalia constituted the very essence of legitimate succession. But these remained always in Go-Daigo's possession. Therefore, although in the matter of lineage no distinction could be justly set up between the Northern and the Southern Courts, the collaterals of legitimacy were all with the latter.

Of course each complied with all the forms of Imperialism. Thus, whereas the Southern Court used the year-name Engen for 1336-1339, the North kept the year-name Kemmu for two years, and as there were different nengo names for half a century, a new element of confusion was added to the already perplexing chronology of Japan. In administrative methods there was a difference. The Northern Court adhered to the camera system: that is to say, the actual occupant of the throne was a mere figurehead, the practical functions of Government being discharged by the cloistered sovereign. In the Southern Court the Emperor himself, nominally at all events, directed the business of administration. Further, the office of shogun in the Southern Court was held generally by an Imperial Prince, whereas in the Northern Court its holder was an Ashikaga. In brief, the supporters of the Northern Court followed the military polity of the Bakufu while the Southern adopted Imperialism.

NATURE OF THE WAR

As the question at issue lay solely between two claimants to the succession, readers of history naturally expect to find the war resolve itself into a campaign, or a succession of campaigns, between two armies. Such was by no means the case. Virtually the whole empire was drawn into the turmoil, and independent fighting went on at several places simultaneously. The two Courts perpetually made Kyoto their objective. Regardless of its strategical disadvantages, they deemed its possession cardinal. Takauji had been more highly lauded and more generously rewarded than Yoshisada, because the former had recovered Kyoto whereas the latter had only destroyed Kamakura. Thus, while Go-Daigo constantly struggled to capture Kyoto, Komyo's absorbing aim was to retain it. This obsession in favour of the Imperial metropolis left its mark upon many campaigns; as when, in the spring operations of 1336, Yoshisada, instead of being allowed to pursue and annihilate Takauji, was recalled to guard Kyoto, and when, in July of the same year, Kusunoki Masashige was sent to his death rather than temporarily vacate the capital. It must have been fully apparent to the great captains of the fourteenth century that Kyoto was easy to take and hard to hold. Lake Biwa and the river Yodo are natural bulwarks of Yamato, not of Yamashiro. Hiei-zan looks down on the lake, and Kyoto lies on the great plain at the foot of the hill. If, during thirteen generations, the Ashikaga family struggled for Kyoto, they maintained, the while, their ultimate base and rallying-place at Kamakura, and thus, even when shattered in the west, they could recuperate in the east. The Southern Court had no such depot and recruiting-ground. They had, indeed, a tolerable place of arms in the province of Kawachi, but in the end they succumbed to topographical disadvantages.

DEATHS OF YOSHISADA AND AKIIYE

In the fact that he possessed a number of sons, Go-Daigo had an advantage over his fourteen-year-old rival, Komyo, for these Imperial princes were sent out to various districts to stimulate the loyal efforts of local bushi. With Yoshisada to Echizen went the Crown Prince and his brother Takanaga. They entrenched themselves at Kana-ga-saki, on the seacoast, whence Yoshisada's eldest son, Yoshiaki, was despatched to Echigo to collect troops, and a younger brother, Yoshisuke, to Soma-yama on a similar errand. Almost immediately, Ashikaga Takatsune with an army of twenty thousand men laid siege to Kanaga-saki. But Yoshiaki and Yoshisuke turned in their tracks and delivered a rear attack which scattered the besiegers. This success, however, proved only temporary. The Ashikaga leader's deep resentment against Yoshisada inspired a supreme effort to crush him, and the Kana-ga-saki fortress was soon invested by an overwhelming force on sea and on shore. Famine necessitated surrender. Yoshiaki and Prince Takanaga committed suicide, the latter following the former's example and using his blood-stained sword. The Crown Prince was made prisoner and subsequently poisoned by Takauji's orders. Yoshisada and his brother Yoshisuke escaped to Soma-yama and rallied their partisans to the number of three thousand.

The fall of Kana-ga-saki occurred in April, 1338, and, two months later, Go-Daigo took the very exceptional course of sending an autograph letter to Yoshisada. The events which prompted his Majesty were of prime moment to the cause of the Southern Court. Kitabatake Akiiye, the youthful governor of Mutsu and son of the celebrated Chikafusa, marched southward at the close of 1337, his daring project being the capture, first, of Kamakura, and next, of Kyoto The nature of this gallant enterprise may be appreciated by observing that Mutsu lies at the extreme north of the main island, is distant some five hundred miles from Kyoto, and is separated from the latter by several regions hostile to the cause which Akiiye represented. Nevertheless, the brilliant captain, then in his twenty-first year, seized Kamakura in January, 1338, and marched thence in February for Yoshino. He gained three victories on the way, and had nearly reached his objective when, at Ishizu, he encountered a great army of Ashikaga troops under an able leader, Ko no Moronao, and after a fierce engagement the Southern forces were shattered, Akiiye himself falling in the fight. This disaster occurred on June 11, 1338. A brave rally was made by Akiiye's younger brother, Akinobu. He gathered the remnants of the Mutsu army and occupied Otokoyama, which commands Kyoto.

It was at this stage of the campaign that Go-Daigo resorted to the exceptional measure of sending an autograph letter to Yoshisada, then entrenched at Somayama, in Echizen. His Majesty conjured the Nitta leader to march to the assistance of Akinobu at Otoko-yama. Yoshisada responded at once. He despatched his brother, Yoshisuke, with twenty thousand men, remaining himself to cover the rear of the expedition. But Otoko-yama surrendered before this succour reached it, and the Nitta brothers then combined their forces to operate against the Ashikaga. Nothing decisive resulted, and in September, 1338, Yoshisada fell in an insignificant combat near the fortress of Fujishima in Echizen. He caused a comrade to behead him and carry off the head, but the enemy identified him by means of the Imperial letter found on his person.

Yoshisada was only thirty-eight at the time of his death (September, 1338). Rai Sanyo (1780-1832), the great Japanese historian, says: "I saw a letter written by Yoshisada with his own hand for the purpose of admonishing the members of his family. In it he wrote: 'An officer in command of an army should respect the sovereign; treat his subordinates with clemency but decision; leave his fate in heaven's hands, and not blame others.' Yoshisada is open to criticism for not pursuing the Ashikaga when they fled westward from Kyoto; yet it must be remembered that he had no firm base, being hurried from one quarter to another. The strategy he used was not his own free choice nor were the battles he fought contrived by himself. But his devotion to the Imperial cause, his unfailing loyalty, and his indifference to self-interest have kept his memory fresh and will always keep it fresh. If, two hundred years after his death, a chieftain was born of his blood to carry the Minamoto name to the pinnacle of glory, who shall say that heaven did not thus answer the prayer put up by Yoshisada at the shrine of Hiyoshi?"

DEATH OF GO-DAIGO

During these events, Go-Daigo sojourned at Yoshino, which was protected by Kusunoki Masatsura, Wada Masatomo, and others. At the close of August, 1339, his Majesty falling ill, and feeling that his end was near, resigned the throne to his twelve-year-old son, the Crown Prince Yoshinaga, whose historical name is Go-Murakami. Go-Daigo's will declared that his only regret in leaving the world was his failure to effect the restoration, and that though his body was buried at Yoshino, his spirit would always yearn for Kyoto. Tradition says that he expired holding a sword in his right hand, the Hokke-kyo-sutra in his left, and that Kitabatake Chikafusa spoke of the event as a dream within a dream.

It is recorded to Ashikaga Takauji's credit that, when the news reached Kyoto, he ordered five days' mourning; that he himself undertook to transcribe a sacred volume by way of supplication for the repose of Go-Daigo's spirit, and that he caused a temple to be built for the same purpose. Of course, these events cast a cloud over the fortunes of the Southern Court, but its adherents did not abate their activities. Everywhere they mustered in greater or less force. The clearest conception of their strength may be obtained by tabulating the names of their families and of the latter's localities:

FAMILIES PROVINCES

Kitabatake Mutsu and Ise

Nitta Musashi, Shimotsuke, Echizen

Kusunoki Kawachi

Kojima, Sakurayama, Arii, Yoshikawa Sanyo-do

Nawa and Misumi Sanin-do

Kikuchi, Matsura, Kusano Saikai-do

Doi, Tokuno, Yuasa, Yamamoto Nankai-do

Ii Totomi

Neo Mino

Shinto officials Atsuta

This table suggests that partisans of the Southern Court existed in almost every part of the empire. So, in truth, they did. But friends of the Northern Court existed also, and thus it resulted that at no time throughout the fifty-five years of the struggle were the provinces free from strife. It resulted also that frequent changes of allegiance took place, for a family had often to choose between total ruin, on the one hand, and comparative prosperity at the sacrifice of constancy, on the other. Some historians have adduced the incidents of this era as illustrating the shallowness of Japanese loyalty. But it can scarcely be said that loyalty was ever seriously at stake. In point of legitimacy there was nothing to choose between the rival branches of the Imperial family. A samurai might-pass from the service of the one to that of the other without doing any violence to his reverence for the Throne.

What was certainly born of the troubled era, however, was a sentiment of contempt for central authority and a disposition to rely on one's own right arm. It could not have been otherwise. In several provinces official nominees of both Courts administered simultaneously, and men were requisitioned for aid, to-day, to the Northern cause, to-morrow, to the Southern. To be strong enough to resist one or the other was the only way to avoid ruinous exactions. From that to asserting one's strength at the expense of a neighbour who followed a different flag was a short step, if not a duty, and thus purely selfish considerations dictated a fierce quarrel and inspired many an act of unscrupulous spoliation. A few cases are on record of families which resorted to the device of dividing themselves into two branches, each declaring for a different cause and each warring nominally with the other. Thus the sept as a whole preserved its possessions, in part at any rate, whichever Court triumphed. But such double-faced schemes were very rare. A much commoner outcome of the situation was the growth of powerful families which regulated their affairs by means of a council of leading members without reference to Kamakura, Kyoto, or Yoshino. At the same time, minor septs in the neighbourhood saw the advantage of subscribing to the decisions of these councils and deferring to their judgments.

"This was an important step in the development of the feudal system. Another was the abolition of feudal fiefs, as well as of the succession of women to real estate, and a curtailment of the inheritance, not so much of younger sons, as of all sons except the one selected as lord of the clan."* The shugo (high constables) also became a salient element of feudalism. Originally liable to frequent transfers of locality, some of them subsequently came to hold their office hereditarily, and these, together with the great majority of their confreres who had been appointed by the Bakufu, espoused the Ashikaga cause; a choice which impelled many of the military families in their jurisdiction to declare for the Southern Court. The Ashikaga shugo ultimately became leading magnates, for they wielded twofold authority, namely, that derived from their power as owners of broad estates, and that derived from their commission as shogun's delegates entitled to levy taxes locally. The provincial governors, at the outset purely civil officials, occasionally developed military capacity and rivalled the hereditary shugo in armed influence, but such instances were rare.

*Murdoch's History of Japan.

THE COURSE OF THE WAR

After the death of Kusunoki Masashige, of Nitta Yoshisada, and of Kitabatake Akiiye, the strategical direction of the war devolved mainly upon Kitabatake Chikafusa, so far as the Southern Court was concerned. The greater part of the nation may be said to have been in arms, but only a small section took actual part in the main campaign, the troops in the distant provinces being occupied with local struggles. Chikafusa's general plan was to menace Kyoto and Kamakura simultaneously. Just as the eight provinces of the Kwanto formed the base of the Ashikaga armies, so the eight provinces constituting the Kii peninsula—Yamato, Kawachi, Izumi, Ise, Iga, Shima, Kii (in part), and Omi (in part)—served as bases for the partisans of the South. To strike at Kyoto from this base required the previous subjugation of Settsu, and, on the other hand, a strong army in Settsu menaced Yoshino.

Chikafusa's plan, then, was to marshal in Kawachi force sufficient to threaten, if not to overrun, Settsu, and then to push on into the metropolitan province from Omi and Iga, the Ashikaga having been previously induced to uncover Kyoto by the necessity of guarding Kamakura. From the Kii peninsula the obvious route to the Kwanto is by sea. Therefore, the Southerners established a naval base at Shingu, on the east coast of the peninsula, and used it for the purpose not only of despatching a force northward, but also of maintaining communications with Shikoku and Kyushu, where they had many partisans. Chikafusa himself led the oversea expedition to the Kwanto, but the flotilla was wrecked by a storm, and he reached Yedo Bay with only a small following. Nevertheless, he established himself at Oda, in Hitachi, and being there joined by many of the Ashikaga's enemies, he managed, not indeed to seriously menace Kamakura, but at all events to give occupation to a large force of the Northerners. Driven out at last (1343), after more than four years' operations, he returned to Yoshino, where he found Kusunoki Masatsura, son of Masashige, carrying on from Kawachi a vigorous campaign against the Ashikaga in Settsu.

After many minor engagements, in all of which he was successful, Masatsura inflicted such a severe defeat on his opponents at Sumiyoshi that the Bakufu became alarmed, and mustering an army of sixty thousand men, sent it under Ko Moronao and his brother, Moroyasu, to attack Masatsura. This was in December, 1347. Then Masatsura and his younger brother, Masatoki, together with Wada Katahide and other bushi, to the number of 140, made oath to conquer in fight or to die. They repaired to Yoshino, and having taken leave of the Emperor, Go-Murakami, they worshipped at the shrine of the late sovereign, Go-Daigo, inscribed their names upon the wall, and wrote under them:

We that our bows here Swear nevermore to slacken Till in the land of life we Cease to be counted, Our names now record.

It was in February, 1348, that the battle took place at Shijo-nawate in Kawachi. Moronao had sixty thousand men at his disposal; Masatsura only three thousand. The combat raged during six hours, the Kusunoki brothers leading thirty charges, until finally they were both covered with wounds, and only fifty men remained out of the sworn band. Then this remnant committed suicide. Moronao, following up his victory, marched into Yamato, and set fire to the palace there. Go-Murakami escaped to Kanao, and presently the Nitta family in the east and the Kitabatake in the west showed such activity that the Southern cause recovered its vitality, a turn of events largely promoted by dissensions in the Northern camp and by the consequent return of Moronao's forces to Kyoto. It is necessary, therefore, to direct our eyes for a moment to the course of affairs on the side of the Ashikaga.

THE ASHIKAGA POLITY

Ashikaga Takauji's original idea was to follow the system of Yoritomo in everything. Kamakura was to be his capital and he assumed the title of shogun. This was in 1335. Three years later he received the shogunate in due form from the Northern sovereign, Komyo. But he now discovered that Kyoto must be his headquarters so long as the War of the Dynasties lasted, and he therefore established the Bakufu at Muromachi in that city, modelling it on the lines of Yoritomo's institution, but dispensing with a regent (shikkeri) and substituting for him a second shitsuji. The first two shitsuji at Muromachi were Ko Moronao, the great general, and Uesugi Tomosada, a connexion of Takauji. Kamakura was not neglected, however. It became a secondary basis, Takauji's eight-year-old son, Yoshiakira, being installed there as governor-general (kwanryo) of the Kwanto under the guardianship of Uesugi Noriaki as shitsuji, and the old administrative machinery of the Hojo was revived in the main. Takauji's brother, Tadayoshi, became chief of the general staff in Kyoto, and "several Kamakura literati—descendants of Oye, Nakahara, Miyoshi, and others—were brought up to fill positions on the various boards, the services of some of the ablest priests of the time being enlisted in the work of drafting laws and regulations."*

*Murdoch's History of Japan.

To these priests and literati was entrusted the task of compiling a code based on the Joei Shikimoku of the Hojo regents, and there resulted the Kemmu Shikimoku, promulgated in 1337.* This was not a law, properly so called, but rather a body of precepts contained in seventeen articles. They have much interest as embodying the ethics of the time in political circles. "Economy must be universally practised. Drinking parties and wanton frolics must be suppressed. Crimes of violence and outrage must be quelled. The practice of entering the private dwellings of the people and making inquisitions into their affairs must be given up." Then follow two articles dealing with the ownership of vacant plots and rebuilding of houses and fireproof godowns in the devastated sections of the capital. The subsequent paragraphs provide that men of special ability for government work should be chosen for the office of shugo; that a stop must be put to the practice of influential nobles and women of all sorts and Buddhist ecclesiastics making interested recommendations (to the sovereign); that persons holding public posts must be liable to reprimand for negligence and idleness; that bribery must be firmly put down; that presents made from all quarters to those attached to the palace, whether of the inside or outside service, must be sent back; that those who are to be in personal attendance on the rulers must be selected for that duty; that ceremonial etiquette should be the predominant principle; that men noted for probity and adherence to high principle should be rewarded by more than ordinary distinction; that the petitions and complaints of the poor and lowly should be heard and redress granted; that the petitions of temples and shrines should be dealt with on their merits, and that certain fixed days should be appointed for the rendering of decisions and the issue of government orders.**

*Kemmu was the Northern Court's name of the year-period 1334 to 1338: see p. 398.

**The Kemmu Shikimoku by Mr. Consul-General Hall, in the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan;" epitomized by Murdoch.

THE JINNO SHOTOKI

Before proceeding with the history of this troubled era, it is advisable to speak of a great political brochure which was compiled by Kitabatake Chikafusa during the period (1340-1343) of his attempt to harass the Ashikaga from the direction of Hitachi. This was a work designed to establish the divine claim of the sovereign of the Southern Court. Hence the title of the treatise, Correct Genealogy (Shotoki) of the Divine Emperor (Jinno). The reader knows that when, in the eighth century, Japan went to Chinese sources for jurisprudential inspiration, she had to eliminate the Confucian and Mencian doctrine that the sceptre may not be wielded by anyone whose virtues do not qualify him for the task in the eyes of the nation. This same doctrine permeated by construction the commentaries that accompanied the articles of the Kemmu Shikimoku as quoted above, and in that fact Chikafusa saw an opportunity of winning adherents for the Southern Court by proclaiming its heaven-conferred rights.

"Great Yamato," Kitabatake wrote, "is a divine country. It is only our land whose foundations were first laid by the divine ancestor. It alone has been transmitted by the Sun goddess to a long line of her descendants. There is nothing of this kind in foreign countries. Therefore it is called the divine land. . . It is only our country which from the time when the heaven and earth were first unfolded, has preserved the succession to the throne intact in one single family. Even when, as sometimes naturally happened, it descended to a lateral branch, it was held according to just principles. This shows that the oath of the gods (to preserve the succession) is ever renewed in a way which distinguishes Japan from all other countries. . . . It is the duty of every man born on the Imperial soil to yield devoted loyalty to his sovereign, even to the sacrifice of his own life. Let no one suppose for a moment that there is any credit due to him for doing so. Nevertheless, in order to stimulate the zeal of those who came after, and in loving memory of the dead, it is the business of the ruler to grant rewards in such cases (to the children). Those who are in an inferior position should not enter into rivalry with them. Still more should those who have done no specially meritorious service abstain from inordinate ambitions. I have already touched on the principles of statesmanship. They are based on justice and mercy, in the dispensing of which firm action is requisite. Such is the clear instruction vouchsafed to us by the Sun goddess."*

*Aston's Japanese Literature.

It is not to be supposed that these doctrines produced any wide-spread influence on public opinion at the time of their promulgation. In the first place they were not generally accessible; for not until the year 1649 was Kitabatake's brochure printed. That it remained in manuscript during three centuries after its compilation is not attributable to technical difficulties. The art of blockprinting came to Japan from China in very early times, and it is on record that, in 770, the Empress Shotoku caused a million Buddhist amulets to be printed. But the Jinno Shotoki did not fall on fruitful soil. Either its teaching was superfluous or men were too much engrossed with fighting to listen to academical disquisitions. Chikafusa's work was destined to produce great and lasting effects in future ages, but, for the moment, it accomplished little.

DISCORD IN THE CAMP OF THE ASHIKAGA

A prominent feature of the Ashikaga family's annals was continuity of internecine strife. The Hojo's era had been conspicuously free from any such blemish; the Ashikaga's was markedly disfigured by it, so much so that by the debilitating effects of this discord the supremacy of the sept was long deferred. The first outward indications of the trouble were seen in 1348, when the able general, Ko Moronao, instead of following up his victory over the Southern Court after the death of Kusunoki Masatsura, turned suddenly northward from Yamato and hastened back to Kyoto. His own safety dictated that step. For during his absence from the capital on campaign, a plot to effect his overthrow had matured under the leadership of Ashikaga Tadayoshi and Uesugi Shigeyoshi.

The latter held the office of shitsuji, and was therefore Moronao's comrade, while Tadayoshi, as already stated, had the title of commander-in-chief of the general staff and virtually directed administrative affairs, subject, of course, to Takauji's approval. Moronao undoubtedly possessed high strategical ability, and being assisted by his almost equally competent brother, Moroyasu, rendered sterling military service to the Ashikaga cause. But the two brothers were arrogant, dissipated, and passionate. It is recorded of Moronao that he abducted the wife of Enya Takasada, and of Moroyasu that he desecrated the grave of Sugawara in order to enclose its site within his mansion, both outrages being condoned by the shogun, Takauji, In truth, even in the days of Taira overlordship, Kyoto was never so completely under the heel of the military as it was in early Ashikaga times.

Rokuhara did not by any means arrogate such universal authority as did Muromachi. The Court nobles in the middle of the fourteenth century had no functions except those of a ceremonial nature and were frankly despised by the haughty bushi. It is on record that Doki Yorito, meeting the cortege of the retired Emperor Kogon, pretended to mistake the escorts' cry of "In" (camera sovereign) for "inu" (dog), and actually discharged an arrow at the Imperial vehicle. Yorito suffered capital punishment, but the incident illustrates the demeanour of the military class.

The two Ko brothers were conspicuously masterful and made many enemies. But the proximate cause of the plot alluded to above was jealousy on the part of Ashikaga Tadayoshi and Uesugi Shigeyoshi, who resented the trust reposed by Takauji in Moronao and Moroyasu. The conspirators underestimated Moronao's character. Reaching Kyoto by forced marches from Yamato, he laid siege to Tadayoshi's mansion, and presently Tadayoshi had to save himself by taking the tonsure, while Shigeyoshi was exiled to Echizen, whither Moronao sent an assassin to make away with him. The Ashikaga chief, whose trust in Moronao was not at all shaken by these events, summoned from Kamakura his eldest son, Yoshiakira, and entrusted to him the functions hitherto discharged by his uncle, Tadayoshi, replacing him in Kamakura by a younger son, Motouji.

Yoshiakira was not Takauji's eldest son; he was his eldest legitimate son. An illegitimate son, four years older, had been left in Kamakura as a priest, but was recognized as the possessor of such abilities that, although his father refused to meet him, his uncle, Tadayoshi, summoned him to Kyoto and procured for him the high office of tandai of the west. This Tadafuyu was discharging his military duties in Bingo when news reached him of Moronao's coup d'etat in Kyoto and of his own patron, Tadayoshi's discomfiture. At once Tadafuyu crossed the sea to Higo in Kyushu, where a large number of discontented samurai rallied to his banner, and Shoni, the Ashikaga tandai of Kyushu, soon found himself vigorously attacked. The struggle presently assumed such importance that Kyoto's attention was attracted. The normal course would have been for Moronao to take the field against Tadafuyu. But Moronao was looking always for an opportunity to compass the death of his enemy, Tadayoshi, and thinking that his chance had now come, he persuaded Takauji to take personal command of the expedition to Kyushu, the idea being to finally dispose of Tadayoshi during the absence of the Ashikaga shogun from Kyoto. Tadayoshi, however, obtained timely information of this design and escaping to Yamato, offered to surrender to the Southern Court. This was in January, 1350.

The advisers of the Emperor Go-Murakami differed radically in their counsels, but it was finally decided that every effort should be made to widen the rift in the Ashikaga lute, and the Court commissioned Tadayoshi to attack Takauji and recover Kyoto. Thus was presented the spectacle of a father (Takauji) fighting against his son (Tadafuyu), and a brother (Tadayoshi) fighting against a brother (Takauji). Tadayoshi was joined by many men of note and puissance whom the arrogance of the two Ko, Moronao and Moroyasu, had offended. A desperate struggle ensued, and the Ko generals had to retreat to Harima, where they joined with Takauji, the latter having abandoned his expedition to Kyushu. Meanwhile, Yoshiakira, Takauji's eldest son, had escaped from Kyoto and entered his father's camp. After a time negotiations for peace were concluded (1351), one of the conditions being that Moronao and Moroyasu should lay down their offices and enter the priesthood. But the blood of the shitsuji, Uesugi Shigeyoshi, was still fresh on Moronao's hands. Shigeyoshi's son, Akiyoshi, waylaid the two Ko on their route to Kyoto to take the tonsure, and Moronao and Moroyasu were both killed.

YEAR-PERIODS AND COURTS

Three years before the death of Moronao, that is to say, in 1348, the sovereign of the Northern Court, Komyo, abdicated in favour of Suko. Ever since 1332 there had been a dual year-period, outcome of the divided Imperialism, and history was thus not a little complicated. It will be convenient here to tabulate, side by side, the lines of the two dynasties:

SOUTHERN COURT NORTHERN COURT

96th Sovereign, Go-Daigo 1318-1339 Kogon 1332-1335

97th " Go-Murakami 1339-1368 Komyo 1335-1348

98th " Chokei 1368-1372 Suko 1348-1352

99th " Go-Kameyama 1372-1392 Go-Kogon 1352-1371

Go-Enyu 1371-1382

100th " Go-Komatsu 1392-1412 Go-Komatsu 1382-1412

It is observable that the average duration of a Southern sovereign's reign was eighteen years, whereas that of a Northern sovereign was only thirteen years.

DEATH OF TADAYOSHI

The peace concluded between the Ashikaga chief and his brother, Tadayoshi, was of brief duration; their respective partisans distrusted one another too much. The Nikki, the Hosokawa, the Doki, and the Sasaki, all followed Takauji, but the Ishido, the Uesugi, and the Momonoi adhered to Tadayoshi. At last the situation became so strained that Tadayoshi withdrew to Echizen and from thence made his way to Kamakura. In these circumstances, Takauji desired to take the field himself, but since to do so would have exposed Kyoto to danger from the south, he attempted to delude the Court at Yoshino into crediting his loyalty and his willingness to dethrone Suko by way of preliminary to welcoming the return of Go-Murakami to Kyoto.

Takauji's professions were now appraised at their true value, however. The Court at Yoshino commissioned him to punish his rebellious brother, but took steps, as will presently be seen, to turn the resulting situation to its own advantage. Takauji now placed himself at the head of a strong army, and moving eastward, marched to Kamakura practically unopposed. Tadayoshi escaped to Izu, where he took poison, or was given it. Takauji remained in the Kwanto during the greater part of two years (1352-1353). The task of restoring order and re-establishing the Ashikaga supremacy demanded all his ability and resources. "In the Kwanto alone, during these two years, more battles were fought—some of considerable magnitude—than during the thirty years between 1455 and 1485 in England."*

*Murdoch's History of Japan.

THE SOUTHERN COURT IN KYOTO

In this state of affairs the Southern Court found its opportunity. In accepting Takauji's overtures, Kitabatake Chikafusa, who directed the politics and strategy of the Southern Court, had designed to dethrone Suko, to adopt the year name, Shohei, solely, and to establish an administrative council in Kyoto under his own presidency. He knew well that Takauji's surrender had not been sincere, but he counted on an access of strength from the partisans of Tadayoshi, and he looked for some occasion capable of being turned to advantage. Yoshiakira, who ruled Kyoto in the absence of his father, Takauji, made no difficulty about dethroning Suko and requesting the return of the Southern sovereign, Go-Murakami. Neither did he hesitate to hand over the false insignia which had been given by Go-Daigo to the Northern Court. In February, 1352, Go-Murakami paid a visit to Otoko-yama on the southeast of Kyoto, and ordered a number of officials, under Kitabatake Chikafusa and Kusunoki Masanori, to enter the capital and conduct affairs. But his Majesty did not trust his own person into the city. He waited until his plans were mature, and then a strong force of Southern troops was launched against Kyoto, while a powerful army of Kwanto bushi, led by the Nitta brothers, Yoshioki and Yoshimune, as well as by Wakiya Yoshiharu, marched into Musashi and defeated Takauji on the Kotesashi moor.

The invaders actually got possession of Kamakura, but the superior strategy of the Ashikaga chief ultimately reversed the situation. Yoshimune had to fly to Echigo with a petty remnant of followers, and Yoshioki and Yoshiharu, evacuating Kamakura, took refuge in the Kawamura fortress. Meanwhile, in Kyoto, things had fared in a somewhat similar manner. The Southern generals carried everything before them at the outset, and Yoshiakira had to fly to Omi. But, after a brief period of quiet, the Northern troops rallied and expelled the Southern. Yoshiakira found himself again supreme. A strange dilemma presented itself, however. There was no sovereign. The retired sovereigns, Kogon, Komyo, and Suko, had all been carried to a place well within the Southern lines, and even the false regalia were not available. Nevertheless, Yoshiakira, regardless of forms, raised to the throne the younger brother of Suko, who is known in history as Go-Kogon. Thenceforth, on the accession of a Northern sovereign a merely nominal ceremony of transferring the sacred regalia sufficed. As for the ex-Emperors Kogon and Komyo, they turned their backs finally on the world and became priests of the Zen sect of Buddhism.

CAPTURE AND RE-CAPTURE OF KYOTO

In 1353, the Southern court received a signal accession of strength in the allegiance of the Yamana family and of Tadafuyu. The latter has already been spoken of as an illegitimate son of Takauji, who, through the influence of his uncle, Tadayoshi, was appointed tandai of the western provinces. The death of his patron inclined this able captain to join the Southern Court, and his inclination was translated into action early in 1353, owing to need of support against the partisans of the Ashikaga in the island of Kyushu and the western provinces. As for the Yamana, they were of Minamoto lineage; their influence was supreme in Hoki and Inaba, and they faithfully espoused the Ashikaga cause until an unfulfilled promise of a manor alienated their good-will. For to such considerations of self-interest men not infrequently sacrificed their duty of allegiance in the troublous times of the fourteenth century.

Thus re-enforced, the Southern troops, under the supreme command of Tadafuyu, marched against Kyoto in July, 1353, and captured the city. Yoshiakira, guarding the young sovereign, Go-Kogon, effected his escape, and the Southern Emperor, Go-Murakami, issued a decree depriving of their official ranks and possessions all Court nobles who had assisted at the ceremony of the fugitive monarch's coronation. But the supremacy of the South did not last long. In August, Yoshiakira was strong enough to countermarch against the capital and to drive out Tadafuyu. Moreover, Takauji himself now found it safe to leave the Kwanto. Placing his son Motouji in charge at Kamakura, he returned to Kyoto accompanying the Emperor Go-Kogon, and thenceforth during nearly two years the supremacy of the North was practically undisputed.

DEATH OF CHIKAFUSA

Fate willed that while his enemies were thus triumphant, death should overtake the great statesman, strategist, and historian, Kitabatake Chikafusa. He died in 1354, at the age of sixty-two. Japanese annalists say of Chikafusa: "It was through his ability that the Southern forces were co-ordinated and kept active in all parts of the empire. It was due to his clever strategy that Kyoto lay under constant menace from the south. If the first great protagonists in the struggle between the Northern and the Southern Courts were Prince Morinaga and Takauji, and those of the next were Nitta Yoshisada and Takauji, the third couple was Kitabatake Chikafusa and Takauji." Chikafusa was of wide erudition; he had a wonderful memory, and his perpetual guides were justice and righteousness. After his death the Southern Court fell into a state of division against itself; and its spirit sensibly declined.

DEATH OF TAKAUJI

Takauji survived Chikafusa by only four years; he expired in 1358. Undoubtedly his figure is projected in very imposing dimensions on the pages of his country's history, and as the high mountain in the Chinese proverb is gilded by the sunbeams and beaten by the storm, so condemnation and eulogy have been poured upon his head by posterity. An annalist of his time says: "Yoritomo was impartial in bestowing rewards, but so severe in meting out punishments as to seem almost inhuman. Takauji, however, in addition to being humane and just, is strong-minded, for no peril ever summons terror to his eye or banishes the smile from his lip; merciful, for he knows no hatred and treats his foes as his sons; magnanimous, for he counts gold and silver as stones or sand, and generous, for he never compares the gift with the recipient, but gives away everything as it comes to hand. It is the custom for people to carry many presents to the shogun on the first day of the eighth month, but so freely are those things given away that nothing remains by the evening, I am told."

A later historian, Rai Sanyo (1780-1832), wrote: "There were as brave men and as clever in the days of the Minamoto as in the days of the Ashikaga. Why, then, did the former never dare to take up arms against the Bakufu, whereas the latter never ceased to assault the Ashikaga? It was because the Minamoto and the Hojo understood the expediency of not entrusting too much power to potential rivals, whereas the Ashikaga gave away lands so rashly that some families—as the Akamatsu, the Hosokawa, and the Hatakeyama—came into the possession of three or four provinces, and in an extreme case one family—that of Yamana—controlled ten provinces, or one-sixth of the whole empire. These septs, finding themselves so powerful, became unmanageable. Then the division of the Ashikaga into the Muromachi magnates and the Kamakura chiefs brought two sets of rulers upon the same stage, and naturally intrigue and distrust were born, so that, in the end, Muromachi was shaken by Hosokawa, and Kamakura was overthrown by Uesugi. An animal with too ponderous a tail cannot wag it, and a stick too heavy at one end is apt to break. The Ashikaga angled with such valuable bait that they ultimately lost both fish and bait. During the thirteen generations of their sway there was no respite from struggle between family and family or between chief and vassal." Takauji's record plainly shows that deception was one of his weapons. He was absolutely unscrupulous. He knew also how to entice men with gain, but he forgot that those who came for gain will go also for gain. It would seem, too, that he sacrificed justice to the fear of alienating his supporters. Not otherwise can we account for his leniency towards the Ko brothers, who were guilty of such violations of propriety.

THE SECOND ASHIKAGA SHOGUN

Takauji was succeeded in the shogunate by his eldest son, Yoshiakira, of whom so much has already been heard. The fortunes of the Southern Court were now at low ebb. During the year (1359) after Takauji's death, Kamakura contributed materially to the support of the Ashikaga cause. The Kwanto was then under the sway of Takauji's fourth son, Motouji, one of the ablest men of his time. He had just succeeded in quelling the defection of the Nitta family, and his military power was so great that his captains conceived the ambition of marching to Kyoto and supplanting Yoshiakira by Motouji. But the latter, instead of adopting this disloyal counsel, despatched a large army under Hatakeyama Kunikiyo to attack the Southern Court. Marching by the two highways of Settsu and Kawachi, this army attacked Yoshino and gained some important successes. But the fruits of these victories were not gathered. The Hatakeyama chief developed ambitions of his own, and, on returning to the Kwanto, was crushed by Motouji and deprived of his office of shitsuji, that post being given again to Uesugi Noriaki, "who had been in exile since the death of Tadayoshi in 1352. At, or shortly after, this time, Kai and Izu and, later on, Mutsu, were put under Kamakura jurisdiction, and their peaceful and orderly condition formed a marked contrast to the general state of the rest of the empire."*

*Murdoch's History of Japan.

The next event of cardinal importance in this much disturbed period was the defection of Hosokawa Kiyouji, one of the shitsuji in Kyoto. This powerful chief, disappointed in his expectations of reward, went over to the Southern Court in 1361, and the result was that the Ashikaga shogun had to flee from Kyoto, escorting Go-Kogon. The situation soon changed however. Hosokawa Kiyouji, returning to his native province, Awa, essayed to bring the whole of Shikoku into allegiance to the Southern Court, but was signally worsted by his cousin, Hosokawa Yoriyuki—afterwards very famous,—and scarcely a month had elapsed before Yoshiakira was back in the capital. In the same year (1362), the Northerners received a marked increase of strength by the accession of the Yamana family, which was at that time supreme in the five central provinces of eastern Japan—namely, Tamba, Inaba, Bizen, Bitchu, and Mimasaka. During ten years this family had supported the Southern Court, but its chief, Tokiuji, now yielded to the persuasion of Yoshiakira's emissaries, and espoused the Ashikaga cause on condition that he, Tokiuji, should be named high constable of the above five provinces.

Meanwhile, the partisans of the late Tadayoshi—the Kira, the Ishido, the Momonoi, the Nikki, and others—constituted a source of perpetual menace, and even among the Ashikaga themselves there was a rebel (Takatsune). Yoshiakira became weary of the unceasing strife. He addressed overtures to the Southern Court and they were accepted on condition that he made formal act of surrender. This the shogun refused to do, but he treated Go-Murakami's envoy with every mark of respect, and though the pourparlers proved finally abortive, they had continued for five months, an evidence that both sides were anxious to find a path to peace. Yoshiakira died in the same year, 1367.

THE SOUTHERN COURT

Previously to this event, a new trouble had occurred in the Southern Court. The Emperor Go-Murakami signified his desire to abdicate, and thereupon the Court nobles who had followed the three ex-Emperors into the Southern lines in 1352 fell into two cliques, each advocating the nomination of a different successor. This discord exercised a debilitating influence, and when Go-Murakami died (1368), the Southerners found themselves in a parlous condition. For his son and successor, Chokei, failing to appreciate the situation, immediately planned an extensive campaign against Kyoto from the east and the south simultaneously. Then Kusunoki Masanori passed into the Northern camp. Few events have received wider historical comment in Japan. The Kusunoki family stood for everything loyal and devoted in the bushi's record, and Masanori was a worthy chief of the sept. So conspicuous were his virtues and so attractive was his personality that a samurai of the Akamatsu family, who had planned a vendetta against him, committed suicide himself rather than raise his hand to slay such a hero.

How, then, are we to account for Masanori's infidelity to the cause he had embraced? The answer of his country's most credible annalists is that his motive was to save the Southern Court. He saw that if the young Emperor. Chokei, persisted in his design of a general campaign against Kyoto, a crushing defeat must be the outcome, and since the sovereign would not pay heed to his remonstrances, he concluded that the only way to arrest the mad enterprise was his own defection, which would weaken the South too much to permit offensive action. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was then shogun at Muromachi. He had succeeded to that office in 1367, at the age of nine, and his father, then within a year of death, had entrusted him to the care of Hosokawa Yoriyuki, one of the ablest men of his own or any generation. There are strong reasons for thinking that between this statesman and Masanori an understanding existed. So long as Yoriyuki remained in power there was nothing worthy of the name of war between the two Courts, and when, after his retirement in 1379, the struggle re-opened under the direction of his successor (a Yamana chief), Masanori returned to his old allegiance and took the field once more in the Southern cause. His action in temporarily changing his allegiance had given ten years' respite to the Southerners.

PEACE BETWEEN THE TWO COURTS

The Southern Emperor, Chokei, coming to the throne in 1368, abdicated in 1372 in favour of his brother, known in history as Go-Kameyama. During his brief tenure of power Chokei's extensive plans for the capture of Kyoto did not mature, but he had the satisfaction of seeing the whole island of Kyushu wrested from Ashikaga hands. It is true that under the able administration of Imagawa Sadayo (Ryoshun), a tandai appointed by the Ashikaga, this state of affairs was largely remedied during the next ten years, but as the last substantial triumph of the Yoshino arms the record of Chokei's reign is memorable. It was, in truth, the final success. The decade of comparative quiet that ensued on the main island proved to be the calm before the storm.

The most prominent figures in the closing chapter of the great dynastic struggle are Hosokawa Yoriyuki and Yamana Mitsuyuki. When the second Ashikaga shogun, Yoshiakira, recognized that his days were numbered, he summoned his trusted councillor, Hosokawa Yoriyuki, and his son Yoshimitsu, and said to the latter, "I give you a father," and to the former, "I give you a son." Yoriyuki faithfully discharged the trust thus reposed in him. He surrounded his youthful charge with literary and military experts, and secured to him every advantage that education could confer. Moreover, this astute statesman seems to have apprehended that if the cause of the Southern Court were not actually opposed, it would die of inanition, and he therefore employed all his influence to preserve peace. He endeavoured also to enforce strict obedience to the economical precepts of the Kemmu code, and altogether the ethics he favoured were out of harmony with the social conditions of Kyoto at the time and with the natural proclivities of the young shogun himself. In fine, he had to leave the capital, too full of his enemies, and to retire to his native province, Awa.

During ten years he remained in seclusion. But, in 1389, a journey made by the shogun to Miya-jima revealed so many evidences of Yoriyuki's loyalty that he was invited to return to Kyoto, and with his assistance the organization of the Ashikaga forces at Muromachi was brought to a high state of efficiency, partly because the astute Yoriyuki foresaw trouble with the Yamana family, which was then supreme in no less than ten provinces, or nearly one-sixth of all Japan. In 1391 Yamana Ujikiyo and his kinsman Mitsuyuki took the field against Kyoto under the standard of the Southern Court. He commanded a great army, and there resulted a desperate struggle known in history as the Meitoku War, after the name of the year-period when it occurred. The Yamana leader was killed and his army completely routed. In the following year, the great Hosokawa Yoriyuki died. He had lived to see the ten provinces recovered from Yamana rule and partitioned among the Muromachi generals.

But he expired just before the final triumph to which his genius had so materially contributed. For within a few months of his demise the War of the Dynasties came at last to a close. The proximate cause was the fall of the Kusunoki stronghold, which had been built by Masashige, and during sixty years had remained unconquered. With its reduction, preceded as it had been by the annihilation of the Yamana, the fortunes of the Southern Court had become hopeless, and overtures carried from Kyoto by one of the most distinguished of the Muromachi generals, Ouchi Yoshihiro, were accepted. Go-Komatsu then occupied the Northern throne. He had succeeded Go-Enyu, in 1382, and the latter, had succeeded Go-Kogon, in 1371. Go-Komatsu, having been only six years of age at the time of his accession, was in his sixteenth year when the two Courts came to an agreement.

For a time the terms proved very difficult of adjustment, but ultimately it was decided that the Southern sovereign, Go-Kameyama, should abdicate in favour of the Northern, the former being thenceforth treated as the latter's father. This compact having been concluded, the sacred insignia were transported from Yoshino to Kyoto with all solemnity. Six Court nobles accompanied them from the South; twenty went out from the North to receive them, and a numerous body of troops formed the escort. The retiring Emperor spent ten days at the palace in Kyoto, throughout which time a magnificent banquet was held to celebrate the conclusion of the fifty-five years' war. Yoshino and other districts were assigned for the support of the ex-Emperor, and pensions or domains were conferred on the Court nobles of the South, some of whom, however, declining to compromise their sense of honour by accepting favours from the North, withdrew to the provinces; and their exile was shared by several of the military leaders who had remained true to the South throughout. There can be little doubt that among these apparent implacables were some of a selfishly calculating disposition, who, anticipating a reversion to the system of alternate succession, as instituted by the Hojo interpreters of Go-Saga's testament, looked for greater personal advantage when the Crown should come to the Southern branch than anything that could be hoped for by submitting to the Northern. They were mistaken. That testament, which had done so much mischief in its time, was ignored from the close of the War of the Dynasties. It did not fall into total abeyance, however, without some further bloodshed, and the facts may be interpolated here so as to dispose finally of the subject.

In 1412, the abdication of Go-Komatsu should have been followed by the accession of a Southern prince had the principle of alternation been pursued. It was not so followed. On the contrary, the sceptre fell to Shoko—101st sovereign—son of Go-Komatsu. Hence, in 1413, Date Yasumune, in Mutsu, and, in 1414, Kitabatake Mitsumasa, in Ise, made armed protests, gallant but ineffective. Again, in 1428, on the childless death of Shoko, the claims of the Southern line were tacitly ignored in favour of Go-Hanazono, grandson of the third Northern Emperor, Suko. The same Mitsumasa now took the field, aided this time by Masahide, head of the ever loyal house of Kusunoki, but signal failure ensued. The last struggle in behalf of the Southern line took place in 1443, when "a band of determined men under Kusunoki Jiro and the Court noble, Hino Arimitsu, suddenly assailed the palace from two directions; all but succeeded in killing or capturing the Emperor, and actually got possession of the regalia. They were soon driven out, however, and in their flight to Hiei-zan, where one body of them entrenched themselves, the mirror and the sword were dropped and recovered by the pursuers. The other body made good their escape to the wilds of Odai-ga-hara, carrying with them the seal; and it was not till a year later that it found its way back to Kyoto, when the rebels had been destroyed."*

*Murdoch's History of Japan.

ENGRAVING: KOZUKA AND MENUKI (SWORD FURNITURE)



CHAPTER XXXI

THE FALL OF THE ASHIKAGA

TWO BRANCHES OF THE ASHIKAGA

THE Ashikaga family was divided into two main branches, both descended from Takauji. The representatives of one, the senior, branch had their headquarters at Muromachi in Kyoto and held the office of shogun as a hereditary right. There were fifteen generations:

Name Born Succeeded Abdicated Died

(1) Takauji 1305 1338 .... 1358

(2) Yoshiakira 1330 1358 1367 1368

(3) Yoshimitsu 1358 1367 1395 1408

(4) Yoshimochi 1386 1395 1423 1428

(5) Yoshikazu 1407 1423 .... 1425

(6) Yoshinori 1394 1428 .... 1441

(7) Yoshikatsu 1433 1441 .... 1443

(8) Yoshimasa 1435 1443 1474 1490

(9) Yoshihisa 1465 1474 .... 1489

(10) Yoshitane (#1) 1465 1490 1493 ....

(11) Yoshizumi 1478 1493 1508 1511

Yoshitane (#2) .... 1508 1521 1522

(12) Yoshiharu 1510 1521 1545 1550

(13) Yoshiteru 1535 1545 .... 1565

(14) Yoshihide 1565 1565 .... 1568

(15) Yoshiaki 1537 1568 1573 1597

The apparent clashing of dates in the case of the fourth and fifth shoguns, Yoshimochi and Yoshikazu, is due to the fact that on the death of the latter, in 1425, the former resumed the office and held it until his own death, in 1428.

THE KAMAKURA KWANRYO AND KUBO

Born Died

(1) Motouji 1340 1367

(2) Ujimitsu 1357 1398

(3) Mitsukane 1376 1409

(4) Mochiuji 1398 1439

(5) Shigeuji 1434 1497

(6) Masatomo .... 1491

(7) Takamoto .... ....

(8) Haruuji .... 1560

(9) Yoshiuji .... ....

The title "kwanryo," as already stated, signifies "governor-general," and the region governed was the eight provinces of the Kwanto, together with Izu and Kai. The first of the Ashikaga kwanryo, Motouji, was Takauji's youngest son, and the following eight names on the above list were direct descendants. But not all had the title of kwanryo or wielded the extensive power attached to that office. Only the first four were thus fortunate. From the days of the fifth, Shigeuji, evil times overtook the family. Driven out of Kamakura by the Uesugi, who had hitherto served as manager (shitsuji), they were obliged to change their domicile to Koga in Shimosa; their sphere of jurisdiction was reduced to four provinces, namely, Shimosa, Shimotsuke, Kazusa, and Awa; their official title was altered to gosho or kubo, and their former title of kwanryo passed to the Uesugi family who also replaced them at Kamakura. These things fell out in 1439, when Mochiuji died. To avoid confusion it is necessary to note that the chief official in the shogun's court at Muromachi in Kyoto was also called kwanryo. He had originally been termed "manager" (shitsuji), but, in 1367, this was changed to "governor-general," and the corresponding functions were practically those discharged by the regent (shikken) in the polity of the old Bakufu. The first Muromachi kwanryo was Shiba Yoshimasa, and it became the ultimate custom to give the post to a member of one of three families, the Shiba, the Hosokawa, and the Hatakeyama.

STATE OF THE PROVINCES

When swords were sheathed after the long and wasting War of the Dynasties, the Ashikaga found themselves in a strong position. Having full control of the Court, they could treat as a rebel anyone opposing them by force of arms, and their partisans were so numerous in Kyoto and its vicinity that they could impose their will upon all. In the east, the Kwanto was effectually ruled by a branch of their own family, and in the north as well as in the south they were represented by tandai, who governed stoutly and loyally. But trouble began very soon. In Kyushu the office of tandai was held by Imagawa Ryoshun, a man ever memorable in Japanese history as the author of the precept that military prowess without education is worse than useless. Ryoshun had been selected for service in Kyushu by the great shitsuji of Muromachi, Hosokawa Yoriyuki, who saw that only by the strongest hands could the turbulent families of the southern island be reduced to order—the Shimazu, the Otomo, the Shoni, and the Kikuchi. Everything went to show that Imagawa would have succeeded had not that familiar weapon, slander, been utilized for his overthrow. The Otomo chief persuaded Ouchi Yoshihiro to traduce Ryoshun, and since the Ouchi sept exercised great influence in the central provinces and had taken a prominent part in composing the War of the Dynasties, the shogun, Yoshimitsu, could not choose but listen to charges coming from such a source. Imagawa Ryoshun was recalled (1396), and thenceforth Kyushu became the scene of almost perpetual warfare which the Muromachi authorities were powerless to check.

THE OUCHI FAMILY

It was to the same Ouchi family that the Muromachi shogun owed his first serious trouble after the close of the War of the Dynasties. The ancestor of the family had been a Korean prince who migrated to Japan early in the seventh century, and whose descendants, five and a half centuries later, were admitted to the ranks of the samurai. The outbreak of the War of the Dynasties had found the Ouchi ranged on the Southern side, but presently they espoused the Ashikaga cause, and distinguished themselves conspicuously against the Kikuchi in Kyushu and, above all, in promoting the conclusion of the dynastic struggle.

These eminent services were recognized by Ouchi Yoshihiro's appointment to administer no less than six provinces—Nagato, Suwo, Aki, Buzen, Kii, and Izumi. In fact he guarded the western and eastern entrances of the Inland Sea, and held the overlordship of western Japan. At his castle in Sakai, near Osaka, he amassed wealth by foreign trade, and there he received and harboured representatives of the Kusunoki and Kikuchi families, while at the same time he carried on friendly communications with the Doki, the Ikeda, and the Yamana. In short, he grew too powerful to receive mandates from Muromachi, especially when they came through a kwanryo of the Hatakeyama family who had just risen to that distinction.

Suddenly, in November, 1399, the Ouchi chief appeared in Izumi at the head of a force of twenty-three thousand men, a force which received rapid and numerous accessions. His grounds of disaffection were that he suspected the shogun of a design to deprive him of the two provinces of Kii and Izumi, which were far remote from the other five provinces in his jurisdiction and which placed him within arm's length of Kyoto, and, further, that no sufficient reward had been given to the family of his younger brother, who fell in battle. There were minor grievances, but evidently all were pretexts: the real object was to overthrow Muromachi. The shogun, Yoshimitsu, acted with great promptitude. He placed Hatakeyama Mitsuiye at the head of a powerful army, and on January 18, 1400, Sakai fell and Yoshihiro committed suicide. Thereafter the province of Kii was placed under the jurisdiction of the Hatakeyama family, and Izumi under that of Hosokawa, while the Shiba ruled in Echizen, Owari, and Totomi. In short, these three families became the bulwarks of the Ashikaga.

KAMAKURA AND MUROMACHI

An important episode of the Ouchi struggle was that Mitsukane, the third Kamakura kwanryo of the Ashikaga line, moved an army into Musashi to render indirect assistance to the Ouchi cause. In truth, from an early period of Kamakura's tenure by an Ashikaga governor-general of the Kwanto, there had been an ambition to transfer the office of shogun from the Kyoto to the Kamakura branch of the family. The matter was not mooted during Takauji's lifetime, but when, on his demise, the comparatively incompetent Yoshiakira came into power at Muromachi, certain military magnates of the eastern provinces urged the Kamakura kwanryo, Motouji, to usurp his brother's position. Motouji, essentially as loyal as he was astute, spurned the proposition. But it was not so with his son and successor, Ujimitsu. To him the ambition of winning the shogunate presented itself strongly, and was only abandoned when Uesugi Noriharu committed suicide to add weight to a protest against such an essay. Japanese annals contain many records of lives thus sacrificed on the altar of devotion and loyalty. From the outset the Uesugi family were the pillars of the Ashikaga kwanryo in Kamakura. Uesugi Noriaki served as shitsuji in the time of the first kwanryo, and the same service was rendered by Noriaki's son, Yoshinori, and by the latter's nephew, Tomomune, in the time of the second kwanryo, Ujimitsu. Confusing as are the multitude of names that confront the foreign student of Japanese history, it is necessary to note that from the time of their appointment as shitsuji at Kamakura, Yoshinori took the family name of Yamanouchi, and Tomomune that of Ogigayatsu. Balked in his design against Kyoto, Ujimitsu turned his hand against the Nitta, old enemies of his family, and crushing them, placed the Ashikaga power on a very firm basis in the Kwanto. His son, Mitsukane, had the gift of handling troops with great skill, and in his time the prestige of the Kamakura kwanryo reached its highest point.

In the eyes of the military men of the eastern provinces, the shogun in distant Kyoto counted for little compared with the governor-general in adjacent Kamakura. The latter's mansion was called gosho (palace); its occupant was termed kubo, an epithet hitherto applied to the shogun only, and the elder and younger branches of the Uesugi family, in which the office of kwanryo of Muromachi was hereditary, were designated Ryo Uesugi (the Two Uesugi). Mitsukane, when he abetted the Ouchi's attempt to overthrow the Kyoto shogun, persuaded himself that he was only carrying out his father's unachieved purpose, and the shogun, Yoshimitsu, took no step to punish him, preferring to accept his overtures—made through Uesugi Tomomune.

THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF YOSHIMITSU

There is little question that whatever applause history can extend to the administration of the third Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimitsu, was won for him by his profoundly sagacious guardian and chief minister, Hosokawa Yoriyuki. After the latter's death, in 1392, many abuses and few meritorious acts appear in the shogun's record. Alike, the wise self-effacement and the admirable frugality which distinguished the Hojo rule were wholly foreign to the mood of Yoshimitsu. He insisted on being raised to the post of chancellor of the empire, and he openly spoke of himself as "king," designating as Go-sekke (Five Regent Houses) the families of Shiba, Hosokawa, Hatakeyama, Rokkaku, and Yumana. At the ceremony of his investiture as chancellor (dajo daijiri) he presented to the Throne a sword forged by Kunimitsu; one hundred pieces of white silk; one thousand silver coins; ten tigers' skins, and fifty pounds of dyed silk. To the ex-Emperor he gave a thousand silver coins; fifty pieces of white silk, and a sword, and among the Imperial princes and Court nobles he distributed ten thousand pieces of silver. Such was his parade of opulence.

ENGRAVING: ASHIKAGA YOSHIMITSU

The chief obstacle to conferring on him the title of chancellor had been that the records contained only one instance of a military man's appointment to that exalted post. That instance was Taira no Kiyomori, whose example should have been deterrent to a Minamoto. Yoshimitsu overcame the difficulty by nominally transferring his military functions to his son Yoshimochi (1423), and constituting himself the patron of literature. It was now that his love of luxury and splendour assumed its full dimensions. He had already beautified his Muromachi mansion by constructing there a park so spacious and so brilliant at all seasons that it went by the name of Hana no Gosho (Palace of Flowers). This he now assigned as a residence for his son and successor, Yoshimochi, transferring his own place of abode to the site occupied by the Saionji family, to whom was given in exchange an extensive manor in Kawachi. Here the Ashikaga chancellor built a palace of such dimensions that sixteen superintendents and twenty assistant superintendents were required to oversee the work. Most conspicuous was the Kinkaku-ji, or golden pavilion shrine, so called because its interior was gilt, the gold foil being thickly superposed on lacquer varnish. On this edifice, on the adjacent palace, and on a park where deer roamed and noble pine trees hung over their own shadows in a picturesque lake, immense sums were expended. Works of art were collected from all quarters to enhance the charm of a palace concerning which the bonze Sekkei declared that it could not be exchanged for paradise.

Yoshimitsu prayed the Emperor to visit this unprecedentedly beautiful retreat and Go-Komatsu complied. During twenty days a perpetual round of pastimes was devised for the entertainment of the sovereign and the Court nobles—couplet composing, music, football, boating, dancing, and feasting. All this was typical of the life Yoshimitsu led after his resignation of the shogun's office. Pleasure trips engrossed his attention—trips to Ise, to Yamato, to Hyogo, to Wakasa, and so forth. He set the example of luxury, and it found followers on the part of all who aimed at being counted fashionable, with the inevitable result that the producing classes were taxed beyond endurance. It has to be noted, too, that although Yoshimitsu lived in nominal retirement at his Kita-yama palace, he really continued to administer the affairs of the empire.

INTERNATIONAL HUMILIATION

It is not for arrogance, or yet for extravagance, that Japanese historians chiefly reproach Yoshimitsu. His unpardonable sin in their eyes is that he humiliated his country. From the accession of the Ming dynasty (1368) China made friendly overtures to Japan, especially desiring the latter to check the raids of her corsairs who, as in the days of the Hojo after the repulse of the Mongol armada, so also in the times of the Ashikaga, were a constant menace to the coastwise population of the neighbouring continent. Upon the attitude of the shogun towards these remonstrances and overtures depended the prosecution of commerce with the Middle Kingdom, and the profits accruing from that commerce were too considerable to be neglected by a ruler like Yoshimitsu, whose extravagance required constant accessions of revenue. Moreover, the Muromachi shogun was a disciple and patron of the Zen sect of Buddhism, and the priests of that sect always advocated peaceful intercourse with China, the source of philosophic and literary learning.

All these considerations induced the Ashikaga chief not only to issue orders for the restraint of the corsairs, but also to receive from the Chinese Court despatches in which he was plainly designated the king of a country tributary to China, and to make answer in language unequivocally endorsing the propriety of such terminology. In one despatch, dated February, 1403, Yoshimitsu described himself as a "subject of Ming" and, "prostrate, begged to present twenty horses, ten thousand catties of sulphur, thirty-two pieces of agate, three gold-foil folding screens, one thousand lances, one hundred swords, a suit of armour, and an ink-stone." It is recorded that he even humbled himself so far as to ask for supplies of Chinese coins, and certainly these comparatively pure copper tokens remained largely in circulation in Japan down to Tokugawa times, under the name of Eiraku-tsuho, Eiraku being the Japanese sound of the Chinese year-period, Yunglo (1403-1422).

DEATH OF YOSHIMITSU

Yoshimitsu died in 1408. He was accorded by the Court the posthumous rank of Dajo Tenno (ex-Emperor), a proof of the extraordinary confusion of etiquette caused by his arrogant pretensions. The Chinese sovereign, Yunglo, sent a message of sympathy to the Japanese potentate's son, Yoshimochi, in which the deceased was designated "Prince Kung-hsien," but Yoshimochi, though not distinguished for ability, had sufficient wisdom ultimately to adopt the advice of the kwanryo, Shiba Yoshimasa, and to decline the rank of Dajo Tenno, as well as to break off relations with the Ming ruler. Yoshimochi also handed over the magnificent edifice at Kita-yama to the Buddhist priesthood.

THE EMPEROR SHOKO

In 1412, the Emperor Go-Komatsu abdicated in favour of his son Shoko (101st sovereign), then twelve years old. This sovereign abandoned himself to the profligacy of the era. It is doubtful whether his reason was not unhinged. Some accounts say that he fell into a state of lunacy; others, that he practised magic arts. At all events he died childless in 1428, and was succeeded by a grandson of the Emperor Suko, Go-Hanazono, then in his tenth year. Thus, the claims of the Southern dynasty were ignored twice consecutively, and its partisans made armed protests in the provinces, as has been already noted. But these struggles proved abortive, and thereafter history is no more troubled with such episodes. The Daikagu-ji line disappears altogether from view, and the throne is occupied solely by representatives of the Jimyo-in. There can be very little doubt that the former was the legitimate branch; but fortune was against it.

YOSHIMOCHI, YOSHIKAZU, AND YOSHINORI

Yoshimochi, son of Yoshimitsu, became shogun (1395) at the age of nine, and the administration was conducted by Hosokawa Mitsumoto, Shiba Yoshishige, and Hatakeyama Mitsuiye. Twenty-eight years later, that is to say, in 1423, he abdicated in favour of his son, Yoshikazu. The cause of that step deserves notice. Yoshimitsu had intended to pass over Yoshimochi, his first-born, in favour of his second son, Yoshitsugu, but death prevented the consummation of that design. Yoshimochi, however, knew that it had been entertained. Therefore, after the death of their father, he seized Yoshitsugu, threw him into prison, and ultimately caused him to be killed. With the blood of his younger brother on his hands he abdicated in favour of his own sixteen-year-old son, Yoshikazu. But the latter died—some historians say that dissipation destroyed him—in two years, and having no second son to succeed, Yoshimochi himself resumed the office of shogun, holding it until his death, in 1428.

During his thirty-three years' tenure of power this ruler seems to have aimed solely at enjoying the sweets of ease and tranquillity. He left the provinces severely alone and thought only of the peace of the metropolis. Turbulent displays on the part of self-appointed partisans of the Southern Court; intrigues in the Kwanto; revolts among his own immediate followers—all these things were treated by Yoshimochi with gloved hands so long as the atmosphere of Kyoto was not troubled. In 1428, he fell sick, and, the end being in sight, he ordered his advisers to consult about his successor. Some advocated the appointment of his kinsman, Mochiuji, governor-general of the Kwanto, and Mochiuji himself prayed that it should be so. But the choice ultimately fell on Yoshimochi's younger brother, Gien, who had embraced religion and was then serving as abbot of the temple Shoren-in.

This man, then in his thirty-fourth year, hesitated to accept the nomination, but was induced to do so. He changed his name to Yoshinori, and assuming the office in 1428, showed high talents and great intrepidity. He was, in truth, a ruler as efficient as his predecessor had been perfunctory. One of the most important events of his time was the ruin of the Ashikaga Bakufu at Kamakura. Between Kamakura and Muromachi there had been friction from an early date. We have seen the second and third governors-general of the Kwanto, Ujimitsu and Mitsukane, plotting to supplant the elder branch of their family in Kyoto, and we have seen how the accession of the priest, Yoshinori, had disappointed the ambition of the fourth governor-general, Mochiuji, who, if unable to become shogun himself, would fain have obtained that high office for his son, Yoshihisa. Several years previously, namely, in 1417, there had occurred a feud between the Yamanouchi and the Ogigayatsu branches of the Uesugi family in the Kwanto, the former represented by Norimoto, the latter by Ujinori. The Uesugi stood next to the Ashikaga at Kamakura, the important office of manager (shitsuji) being invariably held by the head of the former house. It would have been well-nigh impossible therefore for the governor-general to view such a feud with indifference. Mochiuji, then in his twentieth year, sympathized with Norimoto, and in the sequel, Ujinori, with whom was allied Mochiuji's younger brother, Mochinaka, took the field at the head of such a force that the governor-general must have succumbed had not the shogun, Yoshimochi, rendered aid.

This should have placed Kamakura under a heavy debt of gratitude to Muromachi. But Mochiuji was not subject to such emotions. He rebelled vehemently against the lenient treatment accorded to Ujinori's son after their father's death, and the shogun had difficulty in placating him. So long, however, as Yoshimochi ruled in Kyoto, the Kamakura kwanrya abstained from further intrigues; but on the accession of the sometime bonze, Yoshinori, to the shogunate, all sense of restraint was removed. The governor-general now made no attempt to conceal his hostility to the Muromachi shogun. Certain family rights imperatively demanding reference to the shogun were not so referred, and Mochiuji not only spurned the remonstrances of the manager (shitsuji), Uesugi Norimoto, but even attempted to kill the latter's son, Norizane. All efforts to reconcile the Kwanto and the shitsuji proved futile, and Norizane had to flee to Kotsuke. No sooner did these things come to the ears of the shogun, Yoshinori, than he obtained an Imperial commission to quell the insurgents, and placing an army under the orders of Mochifusa, a son of Ujinori, directed him to march against Kamakura.