The , also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period, was a period in Japanese history between 1336 and 1392, during the formative years of the Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate. During this time, two opposing Imperial courts and their respective claimants as Emperor were engaged in conflict over their claims to the Chrysanthemum Throne, with the Southern Court ultimately renouncing their claim in favor of the Northern Court in 1392. This period became a source of contention for many Japanese historians and scholars over the following centuries. Initially, the North's victory in the dispute led official histories to paint them as the legitimate claimants. In function, the Northern pretenders were puppet rulers under the direct control of the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates, while the Southern claimants maintained control of the Japanese Imperial Treasures, the sacred artifacts that confirmed an Emperor's legitimacy. To officially resolve this historical dilemma, in 1911 Emperor Meiji issued an edict that the Emperors of the Southern Court were the legitimate claimants during this period.Mehl 1997: 140–147.
The destruction of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333 and the failure of the Kenmu Restoration in 1336 opened up a legitimacy crisis for the new shogunate.Weber 1968: 212–297. Throughout this article this question becomes central for the Muromachi regime. Institutional changes in the estate system (shōen) that formed the bedrock of the income of nobles and warriors altered the status of the various social groups. The establishment of the Ashikaga shogunate broadened the economic base of the warriors, while undercutting the noble proprietors. However, this trend had started already with the Kamakura bakufu.
Background During the early period, there existed a Northern Imperial Court, established by Ashikaga Takauji in Kyoto, and a Southern Imperial Court, established by Emperor Go-Daigo in Yoshino.
The main conflicts that contributed to the outbreak of the civil war between the courts were the growing conflict between the Hōjō clan and other warrior groups in the wake of the Mongol invasions of Japan of 1274 and 1281 and the failure of the Kenmu Restoration, which triggered the struggle between the supporters of the imperial loyalists and supporters of the Ashikaga clan.
Disaffection towards the Hōjō-led Kamakura regime appeared among the warriors towards the end of the 13th century. This resentment was caused by the growing influence of the Hōjō over other warrior families within the regime. The Mongol invasions were the main cause behind this centralization of power that took place during the regency of Hōjō Tokimune (1268–1284). During the crisis, three things occurred: Hōjō family appointments to the council of state increased; the Hōjō private family council became the most important decision making body; and direct vassals of the Hōjō were increasingly promoted to the shugo (governor) posts. This reduced the base of support to encompass Hōjō family members and their direct vassals.Hori 1974:193–195, 198 When a coalition against the Hōjō emerged in 1331, it took only two years to topple the regime.
Since wealth in pre-industrial, agrarian societies is tied to land, land became the main reason for much discontent among the warrior class. Since the Kamakura period, victory in battle would be rewarded by land grants. Due to the nature of a foreign invasion, the victory against the Mongol invasions meant that there were no lands to hand out to the victors.
When the Kamakura bakufu was destroyed in 1333, the Kyoto court society emerged to confront the warrior class. In the transition from the Heian to the Kamakura period, the warriors were free from the domination of court patrimonialism. With the demise of the Kamakura, the imperial court attempted to restore its power in the Kenmu Restoration. Not until the Meiji Restoration of the 19th century did this occur again.
Kenmu Restoration: 1333–1336
In the spring of 1333, the Emperor Go-Daigo and his supporters planned to restore the glory of the imperial court. Emperor Daigo (AD 901–923), who lived at a time when the court had no strong rivals and effective rule was exercised directly from the throne, became Go-Daigo's adopted name and model.Varley 1971:67 The Kenmu Restoration was a conscious movement to restore the imperial power vis-a-vis the warrior class. Two of the movement's greatest spokesmen were Prince Morinaga and Kitabatake Chikafusa. Prince Morinaga was Go-Daigo's son, and archrival to Ashikaga Takauji since he advocated the militarization of the nobles as a necessary step towards effective rule.Varley 1971:76–77 Morinaga epitomized Chikafusa as the latter was a Kyoto noble who was also military general. During the long siege in Hitachi (1338–1343), Chikafusa wrote the Jinnō Shōtōki, an influential work on the legitimacy of the Japanese imperial system. This text would later become an ideological base of the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century.Varley 1971:100–112
However, the Kenmu Restoration failed due to Go-Daigo's desire to restore not only imperial power, but also its culture. He wrote a treatise (Kenmu Nenchū Gyōji) to revive court ceremonies that had fallen out of use.Sansom 1961: 22. However, shortly thereafter, the samurai clans became increasingly disillusioned with the reestablished imperial court, which sought to return to the social and political systems of the Heian period. Sensing their discontent, Takauji pleaded with the emperor to do something before rebellion would break out, however his warnings were ignored.Sansom 1961: 34. Hōjō Tokiyuki, son of Takatoki, took the opportunity to start the Nakasendai rebellion to try to reestablish the shogunate in Kamakura in 1335. Takauji put down the rebellion and took Kamakura for himself. Taking up the cause of his fellow samurai, he claimed the title of Sei-i Taishōgun and allotted land to his followers without permission from the court. Takauji announced his allegiance to the imperial court, but Emperor Go-Daigo sent Nitta Yoshisada to reclaim Kamakura.Sansom 1961: 37-39. In 1336 Takauji rebelled against the imperial court and proclaimed the beginning of a new shogunate. He captured Kyoto for a few days in February 1336, only to be driven out and fled to Kyūshū due to the arrival of forces under Prince Takanaga, Prince Norinaga, Kitabatake Akiie and Yūki Munehiro, who attacked and defeated him near Kyoto.Sansom 1961: 43. This betrayal of the Kenmu Restoration by Takauji blackened his name in later periods of Japanese history, and officially started the Nanboku-chō War. Earlier historiography taught the Restoration failed due to the ineffectiveness in rewarding lands to the samurai. However, it is now clear that the Restoration was effective in this respect.Mass 1989:113 Therefore, Takauji's rebellion and desire to create a new warrior regime was a prime determinant in the Restoration's failure. His rebellion encouraged the warrior class who desired to see the creation of another military regime modeled after the Kamakura bakufu. After Takauji and his brother were forced to retreat to the west, he then allied himself with the clans native to Kyūshū. After defeating the Kikuchi clan at Hakata Bay in the Battle of Tatarahama (1336), Takauji was "virtually master of Kyushu".Sansom 1961: 44-47. At the decisive Battle of Minatogawa in 1336, Takauji defeated Yoshisada again and killed Masashige, allowing him to seize Kyoto for good, beginning the turbulent period which saw two emperors fight each other and which would last for almost 60 years. When Ashikaga's army entered Kyōto, Emperor Go-Daigo resisted, fleeing to Mount Hiei, but seeking reconciliation, he sent the imperial regalia to the Ashikaga side. Takauji enthroned the Jimyōin-tō emperor, Kōmyō, and officially began his shogunate with the enactment of the Kenmu Law Code.Sansom 1961: 54-58. Go-Daigo escaped from the capital in January 1337, the regalia that he had handed over to the Ashikaga being counterfeit, and set up the Southern Court among the mountains of Yoshino.Sansom 1961: 55, 59.
The Nanboku-chō War was an ideological struggle between loyalists who wanted the Emperor back in power, and those who believed in creating another military regime modeled after Kamakura. Chikafusa was pragmatic on the need for warriors to participate in the Restoration but a severe divergence between Chikafusa and Takauji polarized the leaders for many years. The failure of the Restoration led to the emergence of the Ashikaga shogunate.
Internal conflicts: 1350s
Takauji was nominally shōgun but, having proved not to be up to the task of ruling the country, for more than ten years Ashikaga Tadayoshi governed in his stead.Encyclopædia Britannica Online accessed on August 11, 2009 Relations soured between the brothers during the Kannō disturbance. This started when Takauji made Kō no Moronao his shitsuji (deputy), which led Tadayoshi to unsuccessfully have him assassinated.Papinot (1972:29) His plot was discovered, so Tadayoshi in 1349 was forced by Moronao to leave the government, shave his head and become a Buddhist monk under the name Keishin. In 1350 he rebelled and joined his brother's enemies, the supporters of the Southern Court, whose Emperor Go-Murakami appointed him general of his entire army. In 1351 he defeated Takauji, occupied Kyoto, and entered Kamakura. During the same year he captured and executed the Kō brothers at Mikage (Settsu Province). The following year his fortunes turned and he was defeated by Takauji at Sattayama. A reconciliation between the brothers proved to be brief. Tadayoshi fled to Kamakura, but Takauji pursued him there with an army. In March 1352, shortly after an ostensible second reconciliation, Tadayoshi died suddenly, according to the Taiheiki by poisoning.
Reasons of conflict
In the 1350s, the Kannō disturbance and its aftermath divided and nearly destroyed the early regime.Sansom 1961:78–95. This event divided the Muromachi regime and put a temporary hold on integration. On the surface the incident appeared as a personal struggle between Tadayoshi against the Kō brothers, backed by Takauji.Wintersteen 1974:215; Arnesen 1979:53–54. However, differences in opinion regarding the estate system and the separation of bureaucracies controlled by Takauji and Tadayoshi played a larger part in the conflict.
Since the bureaucracy were under separate jurisdictions between Takauji and Tadayoshi, this created a disunited administration. Takauji was the leader of the house vassals, and thus controlled the Board of Retainers where disciplinary actions towards house vassals: brigandage and other crimes were prosecuted.Grossberg 1981:88, 107. He also led the Office of Rewards which heard claims of and to enfeoff deserving vassals. It was used to enroll new warriors who were potential adversaries of the regime.
Tadayoshi meanwhile led the Board of Inquiry which had control over the judicial functions of the regime.Sato 1977:48; Grossberg 1981:21–24. The major judicial organ, the Board of Coadjutors, decided on all land dispute cases and quarrels involving inheritance.Grossberg 1981:88. Bureaucrats (bugyōnin) for the new regime were recruited from the ranks of those who served the Hōjō regime before its fall.Grossberg 1981: 90. They were valuable because they knew how to read and write, a task beyond the reach of most warriors.
Takauji encouraged innovation, while Tadayoshi was a conservative who wanted to preserve the policies of the past. As a military leader, Takauji appointed vassals to shugo posts as a reward for battlefield heroics, and he divided the shōen estates giving half of it to his vassals in fief or as stewardships, both of which was contested by Tadayoshi. He also opposed any sort of outright division of estate lands.Grossberg 1981:23–24.