Kenmu Restoration: Difference between revisions
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==Objectives of the restoration== |
==Objectives of the restoration== |
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When Emperor Go-Daigo ascended to the throne in 1318, he immediately manifested his intentions to rule without interference from Kamakura<ref name="sansom22">Sansom (2000 |
When Emperor Go-Daigo ascended to the throne in 1318, he immediately manifested his intentions to rule without interference from Kamakura<ref name="sansom22">{{cite book |last=Sansom |first=George |title=A History of Japan (3-volume boxed set) |publisher=Charles E. Tuttle Co. |date=January 1, 1977 |edition=2000 |volume=Vol. 2 |isbn=4-8053-0375-1 |pages=pp.22-42}}</ref>. Historical documents show that, disregarding evidence to the contrary, he and his advisers believed that a revival of the Imperial House's and of the nobility's fortunes was possible, and Kamakura was the greatest and most obvious of the obstacles<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
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Another situation that begged for a solution was the land-ownership problem posed by the manors and their lands (see the article [[shōen]])<ref name="sansom22"/>. The great landowners ([[shugo]] (governors) and [[jitō]] (manor's lord)), with their political independence and their tax exemptions were impoverishing the government and undermining its authority, and [[Kitabatake Chikafusa]], Go-Daigo's future chief adviser, discussed the situation in his works on succession<ref name="sansom22"/>. Chikafusa admitted that nobody had any intention of abolishing those privileges, so the hope of success on this front was from the beginning clearly very dim<ref name="sansom22"/>. What he planned to replace ''shugo'' and ''jitō'' with is unclear, but he surely had no intention of sharing power with the samurai class<ref name="sansom22"/>. However serious the land ownership problem, Go-Daigo and his advisers made no serious effort to solve it, partly because it was samurai from the manors in the western provinces that had defeated the Bakufu for him<ref name="sansom22"/>. In such a situation, any effort to regulate the manors was bound to cause resentment among key allies<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
Another situation that begged for a solution was the land-ownership problem posed by the manors and their lands (see the article [[shōen]])<ref name="sansom22"/>. The great landowners ([[shugo]] (governors) and [[jitō]] (manor's lord)), with their political independence and their tax exemptions were impoverishing the government and undermining its authority, and [[Kitabatake Chikafusa]], Go-Daigo's future chief adviser, discussed the situation in his works on succession<ref name="sansom22"/>. Chikafusa admitted that nobody had any intention of abolishing those privileges, so the hope of success on this front was from the beginning clearly very dim<ref name="sansom22"/>. What he planned to replace ''shugo'' and ''jitō'' with is unclear, but he surely had no intention of sharing power with the samurai class<ref name="sansom22"/>. However serious the land ownership problem, Go-Daigo and his advisers made no serious effort to solve it, partly because it was samurai from the manors in the western provinces that had defeated the Bakufu for him<ref name="sansom22"/>. In such a situation, any effort to regulate the manors was bound to cause resentment among key allies<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
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The Emperor reclaimed the property of some manors his family had previously lost control of, rewarding with them, among others, Buddhist temples like [[Tō-ji]] and [[Daitoku-ji]] in the hope to obtain their support<ref name="sansom22"/>. He however failed to protect the rights of tenants and workers, whose complaints poured into the monasteries<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
The Emperor reclaimed the property of some manors his family had previously lost control of, rewarding with them, among others, Buddhist temples like [[Tō-ji]] and [[Daitoku-ji]] in the hope to obtain their support<ref name="sansom22"/>. He however failed to protect the rights of tenants and workers, whose complaints poured into the monasteries<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
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He didn't understand the importance to him of the warrior class either, because he never properly rewarded his minor samurai supporters, as he could have done using lands from the confiscated Hōjō lands, indulging instead in favoritism<ref name="sansom22"/>. These errors are the key to understand the events of the next few decades<ref name="sansom22"/>. After rewarding religious institutions, he prepared to redistribute Hōjō lands, and samurai came to him in great numbers to lay their claims<ref name="sansom22"/>. The biggest rewards were given to samurais, among them [[Nitta Yoshisada]], the man who had destroyed the Kamakura shogunate, and [[Ashikaga Takauji]]. In so doing, however, he failed to return control of the provinces to civilians<ref name="sansom22"/>. But he made his greatest error when he failed to properly reward minor warriors that had supported him<ref name="sansom22"/>. The tribunals set up to the purpose were inefficient and too inexperienced for the task, and corruption was rife<ref name="sansom22"/>. Samurai anger was made worse by the fact Go-Daigo, wanting to build a palace for himself but having no funds, levied extra taxes from the samurai class<ref name="sansom22"/>. A wave of enmity towards the nobility started to run across the country, growing stronger with time<ref name="sansom22"/>. The [[Taiheiki]] also records that, although Takauji and Yoshisada were richly rewarded, the offices of ''shugo'' and ''jito'' in more than fifty provinces went to nobles and court bureaucrats, leaving no spoils for the warriors <ref name="hall184"> |
He didn't understand the importance to him of the warrior class either, because he never properly rewarded his minor samurai supporters, as he could have done using lands from the confiscated Hōjō lands, indulging instead in favoritism<ref name="sansom22"/>. These errors are the key to understand the events of the next few decades<ref name="sansom22"/>. After rewarding religious institutions, he prepared to redistribute Hōjō lands, and samurai came to him in great numbers to lay their claims<ref name="sansom22"/>. The biggest rewards were given to samurais, among them [[Nitta Yoshisada]], the man who had destroyed the Kamakura shogunate, and [[Ashikaga Takauji]]. In so doing, however, he failed to return control of the provinces to civilians<ref name="sansom22"/>. But he made his greatest error when he failed to properly reward minor warriors that had supported him<ref name="sansom22"/>. The tribunals set up to the purpose were inefficient and too inexperienced for the task, and corruption was rife<ref name="sansom22"/>. Samurai anger was made worse by the fact Go-Daigo, wanting to build a palace for himself but having no funds, levied extra taxes from the samurai class<ref name="sansom22"/>. A wave of enmity towards the nobility started to run across the country, growing stronger with time<ref name="sansom22"/>. The [[Taiheiki]] also records that, although Takauji and Yoshisada were richly rewarded, the offices of ''shugo'' and ''jito'' in more than fifty provinces went to nobles and court bureaucrats, leaving no spoils for the warriors <ref name="hall184">{{cite book |
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| ⚫ | [[Image:Ashikaga Takauji.JPG|thumb|200 px|A portrait of Ashikaga Takauji bearing his son [[Ashikaga Yoshiakira|Yoshiakira]]'s cipher]]Go-Daigo wanted to re-establish his rule on the Western provinces, but without sending there a shogun, as this was seen as still too dangerous<ref name="sansom22"/>. As a compromise, he sent his six-year-old son Prince Norinaga, to [[Mutsu province]]s (in today's [[Aomori]] region) and nominated him Governor-General of the Mutsu and [[Dewa province]]<ref name="sansom22"/>. In an obvious reply to this move, Ashikaga Takauji's younger brother [[Ashikaga Tadayoshi|Tadayoshi]], without an order from the Emperor escorted another of his sons, eleven-year-old Nariyoshi (a.k.a. Narinaga) to Kamakura, where he installed him as Governor of the [[Kōzuke province]] with himself as a Deputy ({{nihongo|Sagami no Kami|相模守}} and de-facto ruler<ref name="sansom22"/><ref name="ksk24"> |
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| ⚫ | [[Image:Kamakura-gu Treasure.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Prince Morinaga's statue at [[Kamakura-gū]] in Kamakura]]Prince Morinaga, with his prestige and his devotion to the civilian government cause, was Takauji's natural enemy and could count therefore on the support of his adversaries, among them Nitta Yoshisada, whom Takauji had offended<ref name="sansom22"/>. Tension between the Emperor and the Ashikaga gradually grew, until Takauji had Morinaga arrested on a pretext and first confined him in Kyoto, then transported him to Kamakura, where the Prince was kept prisoner until late August 1335<ref name="shirai301"/>. The situation in Kamakura continued to be tense, with Hōjō supporters staging sporadic revolts here and there<ref name="sansom22"/>. In the course of the same year [[Hōjō Tokiyuki]], son of last [[shikken|regent]] [[Hōjō Takatoki|Takatoki]], tried to re-establish the shogunate by force and defeated Tadayoshi in Musashi, in today's [[Kanagawa prefecture]]<ref name="ksk24"/>. Tadayoshi had to flee, so before leaving he ordered the beheading of Prince Morinaga<ref name="shirai301"/>. Kamakura was therefore temporarily in Tokiyuki's hands<ref name="ksk24"/>. Heard the news, Takauji asked the Emperor to make him ''seii taishogun'' so that he could quell the revolt and help his brother<ref name="sansom22"/>. When his request was denied, Takauji organized his forces and returned to Kamakura without the Emperor's permission, defeating the Hōjō<ref name="ksk24"/><ref>Unlike every other source consulted, for example Goble (1996:246), on page 38 of his "History of Japan" (see references), [[George Sansom]] states that Tokiyuki was killed on September 8, 1335 by Ashikaga forces entering Kamakura. This is also certainly an error.</ref>. He then installed himself in Kamakura's [[Nikaidō]] neighborhood<ref>Sansom says Ashikaga was staying at a temple called Eifukuji. This is an error, because Takauji in 1335 is known to have stayed at the ''[[bettō]]'s'' residence at {{nihongo|Yōfuku-ji|永福寺}} |
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| ⚫ | Kyoto by now was aware that Takauji had assumed wide powers without an imperial permission, for example nominating a [[Uesugi clan]] member to the post of Constable of Kōzuke, Nitta Yoshisada's native province<ref name="sansom22"/>. By late 1335 several thousand of the emperor's men were ready to go to Kamakura, while a great army at the command of [[Kō no Moroyasu]] was rushing there to help it resist the attack<ref name="sansom22"/>. On November 17, 1335 Tadayoshi issued a message in his brother's name asking all samurai to join the Ashikaga and destroy Nitta Yoshisada<ref name="sansom22"/>. The Court, meanwhile, had done the opposite, ordering samurai from all provinces to join Yoshisada and destroy the two Ashikaga<ref name="sansom22"/>. The war started with most samurai convinced that Takauji was the man they needed to have their grievances redressed, and most peasants persuaded that they had been better off under the shogunate<ref name="sansom22"/>. The campaign was therefore enormously successful for the Ashikaga, with huge numbers of samurai rushing to join the two brothers<ref name="sansom22"/>. By February 23 of the following year Nitta Yoshisada and the Emperor had lost, and Kyoto itself had fallen<ref name="sansom22"/>. On February 25, 1336 Ashikaga Takauji entered the capital and the Kenmu restoration ended<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
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| ⚫ | The ''[[Kemmu|Kenmu]]'' era is in the anomalous condition of having two different durations. Because [[Japanese era name]]s (''nengō'') change with the Emperor and the Imperial House split in two after 1336, the Kenmu era was counted by the two sides in two different ways. ''"Kenmu"'' is the era after the ''"[[Genkō (second)|Genkō]]"'' era, and it is understood to have spanned the years 1334 through 1336 before the beginning of the ''"[[Engen]]"'' era, as time was reckoned by the Southern Court; and it is concurrently said to have spanned the years 1334 through 1338 before ''"[[Ryakuo|Ryakuō]]"'', as time was reckoned by the rival Northern Court. Because the Southern Court, the loser, is nonetheless considered the legitimate one, its time reckoning is the one used by historians. |
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==Notes== |
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| title = Kamakura Kankō Bunka Kentei Kōshiki Tekisutobukku |
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| isbn = 978-4-7740-0386-3 |
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}} |
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* {{cite book |
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* {{cite book |
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|last=John Whitney Hall |
|last=John Whitney Hall |
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|first=Peter Duus |
|first=Peter Duus |
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| Line 63: | Line 24: | ||
|isbn=978-0521223546 |
|isbn=978-0521223546 |
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|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=nT9CI5YQF_4C&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&dq=kubo+kanto&source=web&ots=DvvDpRzmqR&sig=xV1xoJzUyheUXf1VLI9Ec6fCt6s&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result |
|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=nT9CI5YQF_4C&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&dq=kubo+kanto&source=web&ots=DvvDpRzmqR&sig=xV1xoJzUyheUXf1VLI9Ec6fCt6s&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result |
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|pages = pp.184-187 |
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}} |
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}}</ref> By the end of 1335 the Emperor and the nobility had lost all support of the warrior class<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
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* {{cite book |
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| ⚫ | [[Image:Ashikaga Takauji.JPG|thumb|200 px|A portrait of Ashikaga Takauji bearing his son [[Ashikaga Yoshiakira|Yoshiakira]]'s cipher]]Go-Daigo wanted to re-establish his rule on the Western provinces, but without sending there a shogun, as this was seen as still too dangerous<ref name="sansom22"/>. As a compromise, he sent his six-year-old son Prince Norinaga, to [[Mutsu province]]s (in today's [[Aomori]] region) and nominated him Governor-General of the Mutsu and [[Dewa province]]<ref name="sansom22"/>. In an obvious reply to this move, Ashikaga Takauji's younger brother [[Ashikaga Tadayoshi|Tadayoshi]], without an order from the Emperor escorted another of his sons, eleven-year-old Nariyoshi (a.k.a. Narinaga) to Kamakura, where he installed him as Governor of the [[Kōzuke province]] with himself as a Deputy ({{nihongo|Sagami no Kami|相模守}} and de-facto ruler<ref name="sansom22"/><ref name="ksk24">{{cite book |
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| coauthors = |
| coauthors = |
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| title = |
| title = Kamakura Kankō Bunka Kentei Kōshiki Tekisutobukku |
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| publisher = Kamakura Shunshūsha |
| publisher = Kamakura Shunshūsha |
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| date = 2008 |
| date = 2008 |
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| location = Kamakura |
| location = Kamakura |
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| language = Japanese |
| language = Japanese |
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| isbn = |
| isbn = 978-4-7740-0386-3 |
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| pages = pp.24-25 |
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}}</ref>. The appointment of a warrior to an important post was intended to show the Emperor that the samurai class was not ready for a purely civilian rule<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
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}} |
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* {{cite book |
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Later, a third son of Go-Daigo's, [[Prince Morinaga]], was appointed ''seii taishogun'' together with his brother Norinaga, a move that immediately aroused [[Ashikaga Takauji]]'s hostility<ref name="shirai301">{{cite book |
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|last=Sansom |
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|first=George |
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|title=A History of Japan (3-volume boxed set) |
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|publisher=Charles E. Tuttle Co. |
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|date=January 1, 1977 |
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|edition=2000 |
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|volume=Vol. 2 |
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|isbn=4-8053-0375-1 |
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}} |
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* {{cite book |
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|last=Shirai |
|last=Shirai |
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|first=Eiji |
|first=Eiji |
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|isbn=4-490-10303-4 |
|isbn=4-490-10303-4 |
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|language=Japanese |
|language=Japanese |
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|pages=pp.301-302 |
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| ⚫ | }}</ref><ref name="hall184"/><ref>In his "History of Japan" (see references), [[George Sansom]] states that Prince Morinaga was not in fact appointed shogun. This is surely an error, because contradicted by more recent and reliable sources in English and Japanese, for example Shirai and Hall.</ref>. Takauji believed the military class had the right to rule and considered himself not a usurper but, since the Ashikaga were descended from a branch of the Minamoto clan, rather a restorer of Minamoto power<ref name="sansom22"/>. When the Hōjō garrison at Rokuhara was destroyed in 1333, he immediately stepped in and installed there his office ([[bugyō]]sho)<ref name="sansom22"/>. It kept order in the city and in general took over the original's function<ref name="sansom22"/>. Extending its authority to controlling travel along highways, issuing passports and exercising rights previously belonging to the shogunate's deputies (the [[Rokuhara Tandai]]), Takauji showed he believed that samurai political power must continue<ref name="sansom22"/>. His setting himself apart as a representative of the military made him an aggregation point for the warriors' discontent<ref name="sansom22"/>. Samurai saw him as the man who could bring back the shogunate's heyday, and therefore his strength was superior to that of any other samurai, Nitta Yoshisada included<ref name="sansom22"/>. His only obstacle to the shogunate was Prince Morinaga<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
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| ⚫ | [[Image:Kamakura-gu Treasure.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Prince Morinaga's statue at [[Kamakura-gū]] in Kamakura]]Prince Morinaga, with his prestige and his devotion to the civilian government cause, was Takauji's natural enemy and could count therefore on the support of his adversaries, among them Nitta Yoshisada, whom Takauji had offended<ref name="sansom22"/>. Tension between the Emperor and the Ashikaga gradually grew, until Takauji had Morinaga arrested on a pretext and first confined him in Kyoto, then transported him to Kamakura, where the Prince was kept prisoner until late August 1335<ref name="shirai301"/>. The situation in Kamakura continued to be tense, with Hōjō supporters staging sporadic revolts here and there<ref name="sansom22"/>. In the course of the same year [[Hōjō Tokiyuki]], son of last [[shikken|regent]] [[Hōjō Takatoki|Takatoki]], tried to re-establish the shogunate by force and defeated Tadayoshi in Musashi, in today's [[Kanagawa prefecture]]<ref name="ksk24"/>. Tadayoshi had to flee, so before leaving he ordered the beheading of Prince Morinaga<ref name="shirai301"/>. Kamakura was therefore temporarily in Tokiyuki's hands<ref name="ksk24"/>. Heard the news, Takauji asked the Emperor to make him ''seii taishogun'' so that he could quell the revolt and help his brother<ref name="sansom22"/>. When his request was denied, Takauji organized his forces and returned to Kamakura without the Emperor's permission, defeating the Hōjō<ref name="ksk24"/><ref>Unlike every other source consulted, for example Goble (1996:246), on page 38 of his "History of Japan" (see references), [[George Sansom]] states that Tokiyuki was killed on September 8, 1335 by Ashikaga forces entering Kamakura. This is also certainly an error.</ref>. He then installed himself in Kamakura's [[Nikaidō]] neighborhood<ref>Sansom says Ashikaga was staying at a temple called Eifukuji. This is an error, because Takauji in 1335 is known to have stayed at the ''[[bettō]]'s'' residence at {{nihongo|Yōfuku-ji|永福寺}},<ref name="kamiya-v1">{{cite book |
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| title = Fukaku Aruku - Kamakura Shiseki Sansaku Vol. 1 & 2 |
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| isbn = 4774003409 |
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| oclc = 169992721 |
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| page = p.97 |
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}}</ref> a famous temple in Nikaidō built by Minamoto no Yoritomo which disappeared at some point during the 15th century. Yōfuku-ji was a traditional vacation residence of the shoguns, and the characters of its name are indeed usually read "Eifuku-ji". See the article [[Nikaidō]]. Sansom's error is understandable, as Japanese themselves in this case very often pronounce those characters incorrectly. </ref>. When invited to return to Kyoto, he let it be known through his brother Tadayoshi that he felt safer where he was, and started to build himself a mansion in [[Ōkura Bakufu|Ōkura]], where (first Kamakura shogun) Yoritomo's residence used to be<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
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| ⚫ | Kyoto by now was aware that Takauji had assumed wide powers without an imperial permission, for example nominating a [[Uesugi clan]] member to the post of Constable of Kōzuke, Nitta Yoshisada's native province<ref name="sansom22"/>. By late 1335 several thousand of the emperor's men were ready to go to Kamakura, while a great army at the command of [[Kō no Moroyasu]] was rushing there to help it resist the attack<ref name="sansom22"/>. On November 17, 1335 Tadayoshi issued a message in his brother's name asking all samurai to join the Ashikaga and destroy Nitta Yoshisada<ref name="sansom22"/>. The Court, meanwhile, had done the opposite, ordering samurai from all provinces to join Yoshisada and destroy the two Ashikaga<ref name="sansom22"/>. The war started with most samurai convinced that Takauji was the man they needed to have their grievances redressed, and most peasants persuaded that they had been better off under the shogunate<ref name="sansom22"/>. The campaign was therefore enormously successful for the Ashikaga, with huge numbers of samurai rushing to join the two brothers<ref name="sansom22"/>. By February 23 of the following year Nitta Yoshisada and the Emperor had lost, and Kyoto itself had fallen<ref name="sansom22"/>. On February 25, 1336 Ashikaga Takauji entered the capital and the Kenmu restoration ended<ref name="sansom22"/>. |
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| ⚫ | The ''[[Kemmu|Kenmu]]'' era is in the anomalous condition of having two different durations. Because [[Japanese era name]]s (''nengō'') change with the Emperor and the Imperial House split in two after 1336, the Kenmu era was counted by the two sides in two different ways. ''"Kenmu"'' is the era after the ''"[[Genkō (second)|Genkō]]"'' era, and it is understood to have spanned the years 1334 through 1336 before the beginning of the ''"[[Engen]]"'' era, as time was reckoned by the Southern Court; and it is concurrently said to have spanned the years 1334 through 1338 before ''"[[Ryakuo|Ryakuō]]"'', as time was reckoned by the rival Northern Court. Because the Southern Court, the loser, is nonetheless considered the legitimate one, its time reckoning is the one used by historians. |
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==Additional reading== |
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* [[Isaac Titsingh|Titsingh]], Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/[[Hayashi Gahō]], 1652], ''[[Nipon o daï itsi ran]]; ou, [http://books.google.com/books?id=18oNAAAAIAAJ&dq=nipon+o+dai+itsi+ran Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés.''] Paris: [[Royal Asiatic Society|Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.]] |
* [[Isaac Titsingh|Titsingh]], Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/[[Hayashi Gahō]], 1652], ''[[Nipon o daï itsi ran]]; ou, [http://books.google.com/books?id=18oNAAAAIAAJ&dq=nipon+o+dai+itsi+ran Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés.''] Paris: [[Royal Asiatic Society|Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.]] |
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Revision as of 04:54, 5 March 2009
| Part of a series on the |
| History of Japan |
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The Kenmu (or Kemmu) restoration (建武の新政, Kenmu no shinsei) (1333 - 1336) is the short period of Japanese history between the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period.[1] It represents the effort made by Emperor Go-Daigo to bring the Imperial House and the nobility it represented back into power, thus restoring a civilian government after almost a century and a half of military rule[2]. The attempted restoration ultimately failed and was replaced by the Ashikaga shogunate (1336 - 1575)[2]. This was to be the last time the Emperor had any power until the Meiji restoration of 1867[2]. The many and serious political errors made by the Imperial House during this three year period were to have important repercussions in the following decades[2].
Background
The Emperor's role had been usurped by the Minamoto and Hōjō families ever since Minamoto no Yoritomo had obtained from the Emperor the title of seii taishōgun (征夷大将軍) in 1192, ruling thereafter from Kamakura[2]. For various reasons, the Kamakura shogunate decided to allow two contending imperial lines—known as the Southern Court, or junior line, and the Northern Court, or senior line—to alternate on the throne[2]. The method worked for several successions until a member of the Southern Court ascended to the throne as Emperor Go-Daigo[2]. Go-Daigo wanted to overthrow the shogunate and openly defied Kamakura by naming his own son his heir[2]. In 1331 the shogunate exiled Go-Daigo but loyalist forces, including Kusunoki Masashige, rebelled[2]. They were aided by Ashikaga Takauji, a samurai who turned against Kamakura when dispatched to put down Go-Daigo's rebellion[2]. At the same time, Nitta Yoshisada, another eastern chieftain, rebelled against the shogunate, which quickly disintegrated[2].
Objectives of the restoration
When Emperor Go-Daigo ascended to the throne in 1318, he immediately manifested his intentions to rule without interference from Kamakura[2]. Historical documents show that, disregarding evidence to the contrary, he and his advisers believed that a revival of the Imperial House's and of the nobility's fortunes was possible, and Kamakura was the greatest and most obvious of the obstacles[2].
Another situation that begged for a solution was the land-ownership problem posed by the manors and their lands (see the article shōen)[2]. The great landowners (shugo (governors) and jitō (manor's lord)), with their political independence and their tax exemptions were impoverishing the government and undermining its authority, and Kitabatake Chikafusa, Go-Daigo's future chief adviser, discussed the situation in his works on succession[2]. Chikafusa admitted that nobody had any intention of abolishing those privileges, so the hope of success on this front was from the beginning clearly very dim[2]. What he planned to replace shugo and jitō with is unclear, but he surely had no intention of sharing power with the samurai class[2]. However serious the land ownership problem, Go-Daigo and his advisers made no serious effort to solve it, partly because it was samurai from the manors in the western provinces that had defeated the Bakufu for him[2]. In such a situation, any effort to regulate the manors was bound to cause resentment among key allies[2].
Failure of Go-Daigo's policies
The Emperor reclaimed the property of some manors his family had previously lost control of, rewarding with them, among others, Buddhist temples like Tō-ji and Daitoku-ji in the hope to obtain their support[2]. He however failed to protect the rights of tenants and workers, whose complaints poured into the monasteries[2].
He didn't understand the importance to him of the warrior class either, because he never properly rewarded his minor samurai supporters, as he could have done using lands from the confiscated Hōjō lands, indulging instead in favoritism[2]. These errors are the key to understand the events of the next few decades[2]. After rewarding religious institutions, he prepared to redistribute Hōjō lands, and samurai came to him in great numbers to lay their claims[2]. The biggest rewards were given to samurais, among them Nitta Yoshisada, the man who had destroyed the Kamakura shogunate, and Ashikaga Takauji. In so doing, however, he failed to return control of the provinces to civilians[2]. But he made his greatest error when he failed to properly reward minor warriors that had supported him[2]. The tribunals set up to the purpose were inefficient and too inexperienced for the task, and corruption was rife[2]. Samurai anger was made worse by the fact Go-Daigo, wanting to build a palace for himself but having no funds, levied extra taxes from the samurai class[2]. A wave of enmity towards the nobility started to run across the country, growing stronger with time[2]. The Taiheiki also records that, although Takauji and Yoshisada were richly rewarded, the offices of shugo and jito in more than fifty provinces went to nobles and court bureaucrats, leaving no spoils for the warriors [3] By the end of 1335 the Emperor and the nobility had lost all support of the warrior class[2].
The rise of the Ashikaga brothers
Go-Daigo wanted to re-establish his rule on the Western provinces, but without sending there a shogun, as this was seen as still too dangerous[2]. As a compromise, he sent his six-year-old son Prince Norinaga, to Mutsu provinces (in today's Aomori region) and nominated him Governor-General of the Mutsu and Dewa province[2]. In an obvious reply to this move, Ashikaga Takauji's younger brother Tadayoshi, without an order from the Emperor escorted another of his sons, eleven-year-old Nariyoshi (a.k.a. Narinaga) to Kamakura, where he installed him as Governor of the Kōzuke province with himself as a Deputy (Sagami no Kami (相模守) and de-facto ruler[2][4]. The appointment of a warrior to an important post was intended to show the Emperor that the samurai class was not ready for a purely civilian rule[2].
Later, a third son of Go-Daigo's, Prince Morinaga, was appointed seii taishogun together with his brother Norinaga, a move that immediately aroused Ashikaga Takauji's hostility[5][3][6]. Takauji believed the military class had the right to rule and considered himself not a usurper but, since the Ashikaga were descended from a branch of the Minamoto clan, rather a restorer of Minamoto power[2]. When the Hōjō garrison at Rokuhara was destroyed in 1333, he immediately stepped in and installed there his office (bugyōsho)[2]. It kept order in the city and in general took over the original's function[2]. Extending its authority to controlling travel along highways, issuing passports and exercising rights previously belonging to the shogunate's deputies (the Rokuhara Tandai), Takauji showed he believed that samurai political power must continue[2]. His setting himself apart as a representative of the military made him an aggregation point for the warriors' discontent[2]. Samurai saw him as the man who could bring back the shogunate's heyday, and therefore his strength was superior to that of any other samurai, Nitta Yoshisada included[2]. His only obstacle to the shogunate was Prince Morinaga[2].
Prince Morinaga
Prince Morinaga, with his prestige and his devotion to the civilian government cause, was Takauji's natural enemy and could count therefore on the support of his adversaries, among them Nitta Yoshisada, whom Takauji had offended[2]. Tension between the Emperor and the Ashikaga gradually grew, until Takauji had Morinaga arrested on a pretext and first confined him in Kyoto, then transported him to Kamakura, where the Prince was kept prisoner until late August 1335[5]. The situation in Kamakura continued to be tense, with Hōjō supporters staging sporadic revolts here and there[2]. In the course of the same year Hōjō Tokiyuki, son of last regent Takatoki, tried to re-establish the shogunate by force and defeated Tadayoshi in Musashi, in today's Kanagawa prefecture[4]. Tadayoshi had to flee, so before leaving he ordered the beheading of Prince Morinaga[5]. Kamakura was therefore temporarily in Tokiyuki's hands[4]. Heard the news, Takauji asked the Emperor to make him seii taishogun so that he could quell the revolt and help his brother[2]. When his request was denied, Takauji organized his forces and returned to Kamakura without the Emperor's permission, defeating the Hōjō[4][7]. He then installed himself in Kamakura's Nikaidō neighborhoodCite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). a famous temple in Nikaidō built by Minamoto no Yoritomo which disappeared at some point during the 15th century. Yōfuku-ji was a traditional vacation residence of the shoguns, and the characters of its name are indeed usually read "Eifuku-ji". See the article Nikaidō. Sansom's error is understandable, as Japanese themselves in this case very often pronounce those characters incorrectly. </ref>. When invited to return to Kyoto, he let it be known through his brother Tadayoshi that he felt safer where he was, and started to build himself a mansion in Ōkura, where (first Kamakura shogun) Yoritomo's residence used to be[2].
Civil war
Kyoto by now was aware that Takauji had assumed wide powers without an imperial permission, for example nominating a Uesugi clan member to the post of Constable of Kōzuke, Nitta Yoshisada's native province[2]. By late 1335 several thousand of the emperor's men were ready to go to Kamakura, while a great army at the command of Kō no Moroyasu was rushing there to help it resist the attack[2]. On November 17, 1335 Tadayoshi issued a message in his brother's name asking all samurai to join the Ashikaga and destroy Nitta Yoshisada[2]. The Court, meanwhile, had done the opposite, ordering samurai from all provinces to join Yoshisada and destroy the two Ashikaga[2]. The war started with most samurai convinced that Takauji was the man they needed to have their grievances redressed, and most peasants persuaded that they had been better off under the shogunate[2]. The campaign was therefore enormously successful for the Ashikaga, with huge numbers of samurai rushing to join the two brothers[2]. By February 23 of the following year Nitta Yoshisada and the Emperor had lost, and Kyoto itself had fallen[2]. On February 25, 1336 Ashikaga Takauji entered the capital and the Kenmu restoration ended[2].
Calendrical peculiarities of the era
The Kenmu era is in the anomalous condition of having two different durations. Because Japanese era names (nengō) change with the Emperor and the Imperial House split in two after 1336, the Kenmu era was counted by the two sides in two different ways. "Kenmu" is the era after the "Genkō" era, and it is understood to have spanned the years 1334 through 1336 before the beginning of the "Engen" era, as time was reckoned by the Southern Court; and it is concurrently said to have spanned the years 1334 through 1338 before "Ryakuō", as time was reckoned by the rival Northern Court. Because the Southern Court, the loser, is nonetheless considered the legitimate one, its time reckoning is the one used by historians.
References
- ^ Spelling note: A modified Hepburn romanization system for Japanese words is used throughout Western publications in a range of languages including English. Unlike the standard system, it maintains the "n" even when it's followed by "homorganic consonants" (e.g., shinbun, not shimbun).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba Sansom, George (January 1, 1977). A History of Japan (3-volume boxed set). Vol. Vol. 2 (2000 ed.). Charles E. Tuttle Co. pp. pp.22-42. ISBN 4-8053-0375-1.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help);|volume=has extra text (help) - ^ a b John Whitney Hall, Peter Duus (1990). Yamamura Kozo (ed.). The Cambridge History of Japan (Hardcover). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. pp.184-187. ISBN 978-0521223546.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ a b c d Kamakura Shōkō Kaigijo (2008). Kamakura Kankō Bunka Kentei Kōshiki Tekisutobukku (in Japanese). Kamakura: Kamakura Shunshūsha. pp. pp.24-25. ISBN 978-4-7740-0386-3.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c Shirai, Eiji (1976). Kamakura Jiten (in Japanese). Tōkyōdō Shuppan. pp. pp.301-302. ISBN 4-490-10303-4.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ In his "History of Japan" (see references), George Sansom states that Prince Morinaga was not in fact appointed shogun. This is surely an error, because contradicted by more recent and reliable sources in English and Japanese, for example Shirai and Hall.
- ^ Unlike every other source consulted, for example Goble (1996:246), on page 38 of his "History of Japan" (see references), George Sansom states that Tokiyuki was killed on September 8, 1335 by Ashikaga forces entering Kamakura. This is also certainly an error.
Additional reading
- Goble, Andrew Edmund (1996). Kenmu: Go-Daigo's Revolution. Harvard Univ Asia Center. ISBN 9780674502550.
- Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
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