Chris Perry, Author

Tag: Kyoto politics

  • The Meio Coup

    The Meio Coup

    As we’ve discussed previously, by the 1490s, the Ashikaga Shogun was a shadow of its former self. The Onin War had effectively ended even the pretence of Shogunate power, and in the provinces, what would later be called the Sengoku Jidai was already underway.

    The Onin War ultimately broke the Shogun’s power.

    There’s a post on the Onin War if you want details, but very briefly, the war was fought over who would succeed Ashikaga Yoshimasa as Shogun, his son (Yoshihisa), or his brother (Yoshimi). When the war ended in 1477, it was his son who became Shogun.

    Yoshihisa was apparently a bit of a lush, and contemporary sources paint him as a young man who was too fond of wine and women. In fact, when he died suddenly in 1489, aged just 25, it was widely blamed on his hedonistic lifestyle (not a bad way to go, mind you).

    Despite his proclivities, Yoshihisa died without a male heir, and it was at this point that the son of the defeated brother, Ashikaga Yoshitane, became Shogun. This might seem like a strange choice, and it certainly wasn’t unopposed, but he apparently had the support of Hino Tomiko, Yoshihisa’s mother, who was widely regarded as one of the most influential women in Japanese history.

    Quite why Tomiko chose to support Yoshitane isn’t documented, but given her reputation for political intrigue, she probably had some long game in mind. Yoshitane wouldn’t actually become Shogun until July 1490, and even when he took the throne, his position was weak.

    Ashikaga Yoshitane was a surprising and ultimately controversial choice for Shogun.

    There were myriad problems in and around the Shogun’s government, but the fundamental issue seems to have been that Yoshitane was the son of the man who had been defeated in the Onin War just 13 years earlier. The men who had won that war were still in government, and they weren’t fans of the idea of having to serve someone who was probably going to be out for revenge.

    When Tomiko announced her support for Yoshitane, several high-ranking members of the government resigned their positions rather than serve under him. Initially, this might not have been a problem. Yoshitane was a young man (just 23) who enjoyed the support of one of the realm’s most powerful figures, Hino Tomiko, and the advice and guidance of his father, Yoshimi, who might have been Shogun himself, if things had gone differently.

    Yoshitane was also aided by his kanrei (deputy), Hosokawa Masamoto, an experienced (if slightly eccentric) politician. As seems to be inevitable with the Ashikaga, though, this initial optimism didn’t last. Ashikaga Yoshimi died in January 1491, just months into the new Shogun’s reign, and it seems that his relationship with Hino Tomiko soured too. Some sources (admittedly biased against Tomiko) suggest this was because Yoshitane turned out to be not as compliant as Tomiko had intended, but whatever the reason, Yoshitane was obliged to find a new way to shore up his power.

    To do this, he turned to the time-honoured tradition of his forebears and went to war. The region around Kyoto had been devastated by the Onin War, and recovery had been unequal at best. There were numerous uprisings from angry peasants and religious movements throughout the decades of ‘peace’, and Yoshitane saw an opportunity to flex his muscles and put these troublemakers in their place.

    The first blow was struck against the Rokkaku Clan. Like his predecessors, Yoshitane had few military resources of his own to call on, so he summoned several powerful lords to do the fighting for him. They agreed eagerly, but one figure who opposed the campaign was Hosokawa Masatomo. Quite why the kanrei was against the campaign isn’t clear, but this led to a schism between the Shogun and his most powerful official.

    Hosokawa Masamoto, the Shogun’s Deputy and most powerful official.

    In response, Yoshitane began relying on other lords to do his bidding, attempting to cut Masatomo out of the picture. In 1493, he launched another campaign, this time seeking to bring an end to the division in the once powerful Hatakeyama Clan. This time, Masatomo’s opposition is easier to understand. The Hatakeyama and Hosokawa Clans were historic rivals, and the ‘civil war’ in the Hatakeyama Clan had been to the Hosokawa’s benefit. If the Shogun succeeded in ending the fighting, then the Hatakeyama might regain their strength, and Masatomo couldn’t have that.

    When the Shogun issued orders for an army to be gathered in January 1493, Masatomo went to work. He contacted the faction within the Hatakeyama that the Shogun intended to attack and made arrangements with them to earn their support for what came next. Throughout early spring that year, Masatomo gathered others who were unhappy with Yoshitane. Some were partisans of the armies that had opposed Yoshitane’s father; others were disgruntled with the political situation, like Hino Tomiko, who now sided against the man she had supported just a few years earlier.

    Others were almost certainly just opportunists, but by April, Masatomo was ready to move. He waited for the Shogun’s army to attack the Hatakeyama in Kawachi Province (in modern Osaka), and when Kyoto was vulnerable, he launched his coup.

    It all went relatively smoothly for Masatomo. His forces took the city without much trouble, and Hino Tomiko issued an order commanding that Masatomo take control to restore order, giving his actions the veneer of legality. Masatomo then announced he would depose Yoshitane and replace him with Ashikaga Yoshizumi, who had been adopted by Hino Tomoki and Shogun Yoshimasa.

    Ashikaga Yoshizumi, installed as Shogun after the Meio Coup.
    Geneast – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示-継承 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21645552による

    When the news reached the army in Kawachi, it disintegrated almost immediately, with many vassals supporting the new Shogun and effectively legitimising Masatomo’s coup. Yoshitane could still call on around 8000 loyalists to fight for his cause, but the situation was dire.

    As well as Yoshitane’s (much reduced) loyalists, the Emperor himself was apparently against the coup. You may remember that the Shogun was technically a servant of the Imperial Court, and although it had been centuries since the Emperor had actually had the power to decide who would be Shogun, the idea that someone else could overthrow him was an affront to what remained of Imperial prestige.

    The Emperor was so angry that he even threatened to abdicate, but the impotence of his position was highlighted when Imperial officials pointed out that a) even if he abdicated, the coup would not be reversed, and b) the Imperial Court couldn’t afford the ceremony, and might have to resort to borrowing money for it from the very Shogunate they sought to protest.

    So the Imperial Court prevaricated by engaging in some religious ceremonies that the Emperor was required to attend, and would therefore be unavailable to condone or condemn the coup. This led to a strange stalemate, where the Imperial Court could do nothing to change the course of events, but the Shogunate (controlled by Masatomo) could not compel the court to obey, denying the coup the full support of Japan’s ‘legal’ sovereign.

    Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado was on the throne during the coup and was pretty annoyed about it.

    Political difficulties aside, the reality was that Masatomo was now in control, and to demonstrate this, he ordered an army to be dispatched to Kawachi Province to deal with what was left of the old Shogun’s loyalists. Chronicles at the time suggest the force was as large as 40,000, and, faced with such odds, Yoshitane and his supporters retreated to and fortified a nearby temple, where they hoped to hold out.

    The situation got worse for Yoshitane, however, as a relief force sent by his supporters met Masatomo’s army near Sakai (modern Osaka), where they were defeated, effectively ending any chance Yoshitane had of reversing the coup.

    Not long afterwards, Masatomo’s forces attacked the temple and quickly overwhelmed its defences. Several of Yoshitane’s prominent supporters committed suicide, but Yoshitane himself was captured and taken back to Kyoto and held at the Ryoanji Temple.

    A modern scene of Ryoanji Temple, where Yoshitane was held. Picturesque as prisons go.
    663highland – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示-継承 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=159351811による

    In the aftermath of this battle, Masatomo had several of his more powerful opponents killed or exiled, and consolidated power in the capital and by the Autumn of 1493, his position was practically unassailable.

    Quite why Masatomo decided to get rid of Yoshitane has been debated from the start. The man himself claimed it was due to the Shogun’s military campaigns putting an unsustainable burden on the more powerful lords, and while there’s probably some truth to that claim, it also seems likely that the relationship between Masatomo and the Shogun had broken down, and Masatomo decided to strike while he was in a position of strength.

    That being said, Masatomo wouldn’t have succeeded if he’d acted alone. The fact that he had the support of Hino Tomiko and that most of Yoshitane’s supporters abandoned him almost immediately suggests that the dissatisfaction with his rule ran deep. It has also been suggested that Tomiko herself was the instigator of the coup, as she had come to regret her earlier decision to support Yoshitane.

    Although the Meio Coup left Masatomo as the dominant political figure in Kyoto, in the long term, it did nothing to reverse the catastrophic decline of Shogunate power. Although the supreme military power, Masatomo, did not have control of the bureaucracy, which remained with Hino Tomiko and her supporters.

    Additionally, the swift collapse of the Shogun’s ‘loyalists’ demonstrated how fragile that system really was, and after the coup, instead of relying on several powerful clans, the Shogunate was forced to rely on one, the Hosokawa and by extension, Masatomo.

    Masatomo certainly didn’t have it all his own way, then, and the situation only got worse when Yoshitane (who had been left alive) escaped captivity in Kyoto and fled to Etchu Province, from where he issued calls for his supporters to deal with Masatomo.

    Masatomo would dispatch an army to deal with Yoshitane, but it was defeated, and not long after that, several powerful clans declared their support for the deposed Shogun, though in reality, they offered little practical support in the short term.

    Internally too, opposition to Masatomo grew as Yoshizumi, who had been a boy when Masatomo installed him as Shogun, grew into a man (as they do) and began trying to assert control of what was supposed to be ‘his’ government, so, despite the success of his coup, Masatomo found himself with problems on all sides, and the power of the Shogun declined further still.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E9%87%8E%E5%AF%8C%E5%AD%90
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%98%8E%E5%BF%9C%E3%81%AE%E6%94%BF%E5%A4%89
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E5%B0%9A
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E8%A6%96
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%B0%E5%B7%9D%E6%94%BF%E5%85%83
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E6%BE%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A0%BA
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BE%8D%E5%AE%89%E5%AF%BA
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BE%8C%E5%9C%9F%E5%BE%A1%E9%96%80%E5%A4%A9%E7%9A%87

  • Shaky Foundations

    Shaky Foundations

    In 1336, Ashikaga Takauji overthrew Emperor Go-Daigo, bringing an end to the brief Kenmu Restoration, which had seen Go-Daigo and his supporters take power from the Kamakura Shogunate and their Hojo regents.

    Go-Daigo’s self-serving policies, which sought to restore the power of the Emperor and the Court at the expense of landholding Samurai, had proved to many of the warrior class that Imperial rule wasn’t in their interest, and Takauji had had no problem rallying his supporters against the Emperor.

    Ashikaga Takauji, serial turncoat and founder of the Ashikaga Shogunate.

    However, it would be wrong to suggest that all the warrior class supported Takauji, there were plenty who remained loyal to Go-Daigo and the idea of ruling without a Shogun, and even after he was defeated, Go-Daigo was able to set himself up with a rival ‘Southern’ Court, opposing the ‘Northern’ Court which relied on the Shogun, thus beginning the Nanbokucho, or “Northern and Southern Court” Period.

    There were political problems at home, too. Though Takauji had proven himself an effective warrior, he wasn’t much for politics, and so his brother, Tadayoshi, became responsible for day-to-day administration, and dealing with matters of justice, whilst Takauji dealt with military matters, including the appointment of Shugo, the military governors in the provinces.

    It will surprise no one to know that this dual system didn’t lead to stable government, but initially, the presence of Emperor Go-Daigo at the Souther Court in Yoshino served as something the new Shogunate could rally against. A series of battles in 1338 and 1339 generally ended in favour of the Shogunate, and when Go-Daigo died in 1339, the initial phase of the conflict came to an end. However, the peace would be fragile and frequently broken, especially further from Kyoto.

    Ko Moronao

    The dual nature of the new government led to immediate power struggles, with rival factions siding with or against each other, and external opponents, mostly at the Southern Court, seeking to take advantage of the division. One figure that emerged early on was Ko Moronao, whom Takauji appointed Shitsuji or deputy in 1336.

    Moronao was a talented warrior, but unlike Takauji, he proved to be a savvy politician as well and emerged as one of the most iconoclastic members of the new regime. He saw no need for an Emperor and favoured the rule of the Samurai without reference to either the Northern or Southern court.

    Ko Moronao, general, iconoclast, and main political player.

    In traditional Japanese historiography, Moronao is portrayed as uniquely violent and cruel, even by the standards of the time. Although not without controversy (he infamously ordered the burning of a famous shrine in which his enemy had taken refuge), Moronao’s main crime seems to have been his vociferous opposition to the Imperial Court, and it wouldn’t be until the post-1945 period that his reputation would begin to recover.

    Moronao quickly found himself at odds with Tadayoshi, who was seen as conservative and increasingly courtly, and every time Tadayoshi made a decision with which Samurai disagreed, Moronao’s popularity would only grow, but it shouldn’t be understood that Moronao’s position was due entirely to his opposition to Tadayoshi.

    Moronao was arguably the Ashikaga’s most effective commander, leading Shogunate forces to victory against the Southern Court and others throughout the chaotic period of the late 1330s and into the 1340s. Arguably, his most consequential victory came in 1348 at the Battle of Shijonawate. Here, Southern Court forces, under the leadership of the famed Kusunoki Clan, who had been advancing north since August of the previous year, were met and decisively defeated by the army of the Shogunate/Northern Court, led by Moronao.

    The Southern forces were so completely defeated that Moronao was able to advance as far as their capital at Yoshino, capturing it temporarily before withdrawing. The Kusunoki Clan, with their famed loyalty to the ‘true’ Emperor, were badly mauled, and with that, a serious military threat to the Shogun and the Northern Court was ended.

    The Kusunoki Clan meet their fate at the Battle of Shijonawate.

    The Bigger they are…

    Just as Moronao’s power seemed to be at its peak, his enemies at court moved against him. In 1349, in response to his alleged ‘misdeeds’, Moronao was stripped of his position as Shitsuji by Takauji, who was apparently pressured into doing it by Tadayoshi and his allies, the Uesugi Clan (I know, it’s another new name).

    Tadayoshi, not satisfied with having Moronao removed from office, apparently tried to have him assassinated, and when they failed, he even tried to enlist retired Emperor Kogon (of the Northern Court), asking him to issue an official order for Moronao’s death.

    Whether the Emperor refused, or there was simply no one to enforce the order, isn’t clear, but Moronao wasn’t about to hang around and let them try again. In August 1349, he and his brother marched on Kyoto at the head of an army. There was apparently relatively little fighting as Tadayoshi, taken by surprise, fled to his residence, where he was quickly surrounded and put under siege.

    The crisis was eventually resolved by negotiation. Tadayoshi would leave Kyoto and become a monk, and his closest allies, those who had conspired against Moronao, were sent into exile. Though nominally a victory for Moronao, the position of Takauji remained controversial. He had facilitated negotiations, but his actual role in the events is unclear, with some speculating that he was actually working towards the removal of his brother.

    Whatever the truth of it, the peace would not last long. Forces loyal to Tadayoshi had been gathering in the Chugoku region, but when Takauji gave the order for them to disperse, their leaders fled to Kyushu, far from Kyoto, and rebuilt their support. In late 1350, seeing the threat posed by the growing opposition, Takauji made the decision to personally march out and defeat them.

    The Chugoku Region, where Takauji’s enemies gathered.
    By TUBS – This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this file:, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16385915

    However, with his brother distracted, Tadayoshi took his chance and fled Kyoto, arriving in nearby Kawachi Province (near modern Osaka), before raising an army with the stated goal of overthrowing Moronao and his supporters.

    Meanwhile, in the Kanto (around modern Tokyo), the Uesugi (remember them?) rose up as well, defeating forces that had remained loyal to Takauji and Moronao, handing effective control of Kamakura and the surrounding area to Tadayoshi.

    In response to all this, Takauji turned his army around and had the Emperor of the Northern Court declare Tadayoshi and his supporters to be enemies of the throne. When he heard this, Tadayoshi made the shocking decision to openly declare for the Southern Court, which had, up until then, been the Shogunate’s most implacable foes.

    Shogun Showdown

    Takauji tried to return to Kyoto but was defeated by the combined Tadayoshi/Southern Court forces at Komyo-ji, and then again at Uchidehama shortly afterwards. These defeats convinced Takauji to seek peace with his brother, and the matter was settled by further negotiation.

    In public, Takauji insisted that Moronao being allowed to become a monk was a prerequisite for peace, but allegedly, he secretly agreed with Tadayoshi that Moronao could be removed permanently. Peace was formally agreed on February 20th, and on February 26th, Moronao and his family were ambushed by forces loyal to the Uesugi (them again), and killed.

    With Moronao removed, the official reasons for the conflict between Takauji and Tadayoshi were removed, but it will probably not shock you to learn that the peace didn’t hold. The fact that Tadayoshi had sided with the Southern Court was not forgotten, and his attempts at reconciliation fell on deaf ears. He compounded this issue by continuing one of his most unpopular policies, refusing to reward Samurai who fought bravely with land confiscated from their defeated enemies.

    Takauji, for his part, sought to weaken his brother’s support by actively prosecuting his followers whilst overlooking the crimes of his own. This obviously bred considerable resentment amongst Tadayoshi’s base, but it had the side-effect of increasing support for Takauji; after all, he might reward you with land for supporting him, whilst opposing him carried the risk of prosecution.

    In the Spring of 1351, one of Tadayoshi’s most capable generals was assassinated by unknown assailants. Later, one of his commanders was attacked but was able to flee. Then, in the summer, Takauji ordered forces to move against his brother’s allies in Omi and Harima Provinces, seeking to attack from two sides.

    Alerted to the danger, Tadayoshi was able to flee Kyoto and made it to Kamakura. Although driven from the capital, he still controlled vast areas of the nation and could command the loyalty of thousands of warriors. Takauji, seeking any support he could, made an agreement with the Southern Court, effectively handing the entire Northern Court over to them in the so-called (and short-lived) Shohei Unification.

    With support in Kyoto secured, Takauji set off for Kamakura, defeating his brother’s forces in a series of battles throughout late 1351 and into 1352, eventually forcing him back to Kamakura, where he had little choice but to surrender.

    As punishment for his rebellion, Tadayoshi was confined to a temple in Kamakura, where he conveniently died only a few weeks later, allegedly by poison, but also possibly by a sudden illness.

    The main hall (Hondo) at Jomyo-ji Temple in Kamakura.

    Tadayoshi’s death brought an end to the political crisis in the short term, but it wasn’t to last. The reconciliation of the Imperial Court was already fraying at the edges, and it wouldn’t be long before conflict between Emperor and Shogun broke out again, but more on that next time.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A6%B3%E5%BF%9C%E3%81%AE%E6%93%BE%E4%B9%B1#%E8%96%A9%E5%9F%B5%E5%B3%A0%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashikaga_Tadayoshi
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%89%93%E5%87%BA%E6%B5%9C%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%89%E6%98%8E%E5%AF%BA%E5%90%88%E6%88%A6
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A6%B3%E5%BF%9C%E3%81%AE%E6%93%BE%E4%B9%B1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E5%B8%AB%E7%9B%B4
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%91%E3%83%B6%E5%B4%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84_(%E5%8D%97%E5%8C%97%E6%9C%9D%E6%99%82%E4%BB%A3)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sieges_of_Kuromaru
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Kanegasaki_(1337)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shij%C5%8Dnawate
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8D_no_Moronao
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kann%C5%8D_disturbance
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashikaga_Takauji
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenmu_Restoration
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanboku-ch%C5%8D_period
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashikaga_shogunate

  • Kamakura V – The More things change…

    As we’ve already seen, by the mid-13th century, the Kamakura Shogunate was ruled in all but name by the powerful Hojo Clan, who ruled as shikken or regents for the Shoguns, who were nothing more than puppets.

    In Kyoto, the Emperor, whilst technically being the overlord of everyone as a son of heaven, was also just a figurehead, whose position and finances relied entirely on the goodwill of the Hojo. Successive Emperors accepted this situation with varying degrees of good grace, concluding that comfortable irrelevance was better than uncomfortable exile.

    Hojo power, however, became a double-edged sword; as their power grew, so did their arrogance. They began to rely on an increasingly small pool of retainers to fill powerful positions, and this led to disillusionment amongst other Samurai houses, who saw their path to wealth and influence blocked by entrenched Hojo interests.

    This situation worsened in the aftermath of the Mongol Invasions. Despite successfully defending the country, the cost of mounting the defence had been ruinous to Hojo finances, and the expected rewards of land and titles were not forthcoming (the Samurai didn’t fight for honour, you see.)

    This brewing resentment took time to reach a boiling point, but as the 14th century went on, anger towards the government in Kamakura continued to grow, and the Hojo, in what they believed to be an unassailable position, were practically blind to it.

    In 1318, Emperor Go-Daigo took the throne. His choice of name was significant, as it had been Emperor Daigo (the Go prefix means ‘later’) who had successfully opposed the power of the Fujiwara during the Heian Period, and Go-Daigo intended to emulate his namesake, and overthrow the Shogunate and restore independent Imperial Rule.

    Go-Daigo’s plans were first uncovered during the so-called Shochu Incident in 1324, where comrades of the Emperor were arrested after being accused of plotting against the Shogun. In response, the Emperor sent a letter to the Shogun, ‘ordering’ them to find the real culprits. It is generally believed that the Shogunate were well aware of Go-Daigo’s involvement, but, wanting to avoid a direct conflict with the Court, they played along, and several conspirators were exiled, whilst the Emperor himself remained officially blameless.

    Go-Daigo, though, didn’t learn his lesson, and tried again in 1331; he gathered supporters and retainers, evidently planning to launch a coup against the Shogunate. Once again, his plans were discovered, and the Shogunate dispatched forces to Kyoto to put the planned uprising down. Go-Daigo fled, but was captured shortly afterwards and exiled to the remote Oki Islands (off the coast of modern Shimane Prefecture).

    The Hojo replaced Go-Daigo with Emperor Kogon, but partisans of Go-Daigo, including his son, Prince Morinaga (sometimes called Moriyoshi) and legendary Samurai, Kusunoki Masashige, continued to oppose the Shogun, until 1333, when Go-Daigo escaped from exile.

    Landing in Hoki Province, Go-Daigo made his base at Mt Senjo and gathered a new “Imperial” Army. In April, Go-Daigo won the Battle of Mt Senjo, gaining him support of many powerful warlords in Western Japan, allowing him to march on Kyoto and take the city in June, re-establishing himself as Emperor.

    Hoki Province, where Go-Daigo landed after escaping from exile.
    By Ash_Crow – Own work, based on Image:Provinces of Japan.svg, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1682393

    The Hojo dispatched Ashikaga Takauji, one of their foremost generals, with orders to crush Go-Daigo and reassert Shogunate power. Takauji marched, but for reasons that are still unclear, he switched sides, turned his army around, and launched an attack on Kamakura. One possible reason for Takauji’s defection is that the Ashikaga Clan were descendants of the Minamoto, the family that had established the Shogunate, and he hoped to be named Shogun himself, but his real reasons will probably never be known for sure.

    Deprived of their main army, the Hojo suffered a series of defeats, culminating with the Siege of Kamakura in July 1333, where the Hojo were surrounded, and would eventually commit mass suicide in a cave behind the Tosho-ji Temple in Kamakura, bringing their power and their family to an end.

    The alleged site of the cave where the Hojo Clan committed mass suicide.

    In the aftermath of Go-Daigo’s victory, he almost seemed to go out of his way to piss away the goodwill he had accumulated in the years leading up to the so-called “Kenmu Restoration”. The problems stemmed from the fact that those who had supported the overthrow of the Shogunate had done so for a variety of reasons, ranging from genuine loyalty to the Emperor to an ambition to replace the Hojo as regents.

    Commoners hoped for land reform, and though there is little evidence of specific goals, it has been speculated that they were hoping for something akin to land redistribution, ending the peasant’s reliance on powerful, and often fickle, landlords.

    The Samurai who had fought for the Emperor sought rewards in land and titles, hoping to replace the governors and administrators put in place by the Shogunate.

    Finally, Imperial Courtiers hope for a true return to Imperial Rule, where the whole nation was under their control, and they could get back to the good old days of poetry, fancy clothes, and absentee landlordism.

    In the end, all three factions were to be disappointed. Go-Daigo, like the proverbial dog chasing a car, didn’t know what to do with power once he’d got it, beyond a vague notion that he should be in charge.

    In the first place, the commoners were never likely to get land reform; the Emperor had relied on the land-owning Samurai to do the fighting for them, and they were (unsurprisingly) likely to get on board with sharing the land that they had come to view as rightfully theirs.

    So what about the land taken from the Hojo and their allies? Well, that might have gone to the Samurai who had fought for the Imperial cause, but instead, Go-Daigo either took it for himself, or else gifted it to courtiers and cronies, alienating the Samurai who had expected a reward for their efforts.

    Finally, we have the Emperor and his courtiers. For whatever reason, they seemed to believe that they could just rule without the Samurai, despite all evidence telling them otherwise. Positions in regional governance, which had been the domain of Samurai for nearly 300 years at this point, went instead to courtiers.

    Quite what he had thought was going to happen isn’t clear, but within two years, the Emperor had managed to alienate just about everyone, so it should come as no surprise that his position soon became extremely precarious.

    Emperor Go-Daigo, who really didn’t know what he was doing.

    Ashikaga Takauji, the man whose defection had proved essential to the ultimate Imperial victory, now emerged as the leader of the Samurai opposition to the Emperor. The problem started when Takauji began appointing governors to Provinces himself, ignoring Imperial instructions.

    This was exactly how the first Shogunate had gotten started, and it wasn’t long before the Imperial court rightly guessed what Takauji was up to. In response, the Emperor named his son, Morinaga, Shogun, a move which further antagonised the already restless Samurai, as the title of Shogun, even before it became a powerful political position, had always been awarded to a member of the military class.

    Takauji doesn’t seem to have considered himself a turncoat in this case; the Ashikaga were descendants of the Minamoto, after all, so he portrayed himself as the redeemer of their power and, by extension, the power of the warrior class, earning himself the respect and loyalty of the disaffected Samurai.

    Prince Morinaga continued to be the leader of the opposition to Takauji, and so Takauji had him arrested on some flimsy pretext and transported to Kamakura. The situation there was tense, with Hojo loyalists launching sporadic, often poorly organised revolts, until the summer of 1335 when the son of the last Hojo regent, Tokiyuki, successfully took control of the city.

    In fleeing the city, Takauji’s brother, Tadayoshi, had Prince Morinaga beheaded, leaving Kamakura to the Hojo rebels. Upon hearing the news of the city’s fall, Takauji asked the Emperor to bestow the title of Shogun on him, to give me the authority to crush the rebellion and restore order. The Emperor refused, guessing correctly what Takauji was up to.

    Takauji raised an army and took Kamakura back anyway, and when he was ‘invited’ to Kyoto to explain himself, he refused. At this point, civil war was inevitable, and both sides ordered all Samurai in the realm to join their side.

    Again, it’s not clear exactly what Go-Daigo thought was going to happen, after all, he’d spent five years pissing off just about everyone, so it should have come as no surprise when the vast majority of warriors, and peasants too, for that matter, joined Takauji.

    Takauji’s forces quickly secured Kyoto in February 1336, only to be driven out in a counter-attack a short while after. Regrouping in the west, he advanced again, defeating the Emperor’s forces at Minatogawa and securing final control of the capital in July.

    The Battle of Minatogawa, where Ashikaga Takauji overcome the forces of Emperor Go-Daigo.

    Not long after, Takauji had the new Emperor, Komyo, declare him Shogun, giving birth to the Ashikaga, or Muromachi Shogunate. Go-Daigo was down, but not out, however, and he would return to plague the new government, but more about that next time.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BB%BA%E6%AD%A6%E3%81%AE%E6%96%B0%E6%94%BF
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%AD%B7%E8%89%AF%E8%A6%AA%E7%8E%8B
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A5%A0%E6%9C%A8%E6%AD%A3%E6%88%90
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusunoki_Masashige
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Moriyoshi
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AD%A3%E4%B8%AD%E3%81%AE%E5%A4%89
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genk%C5%8D_War
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenmu_Restoration