Emperor Go-Daigo

Emperor Go-Daigo (????? Go-Daigo Tenn?) (November 26, 1288?September 19, 1339) was the 96th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned from March 29, 1318 to September 18, 1339 (with complications, see below). His personal name was Takaharu (??).

Life

In 1318, upon the abdication of the Jimy?in-t? Emperor Hanazono (his second cousin), Emperor Go-Daigo became emperor at the age of 29, in the prime of his life. In 1324, with the discovery of Emperor Go-Daigo's plans to overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate, the Rokuhara Tandai disposed of his close associate Hino Suketomo in the Sh?ch? Incident.

Related Topics:
1318 - Emperor Hanazono - Kamakura Shogunate - Rokuhara Tandai

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the Genk? Incident of 1331, Emperor Go-Daigo's plans were again discovered, this time by a betrayal by his close associate Yoshida Sadafusa. He quickly hid the Sacred Treasures in a secluded castle in Kasagiyama (the modern town of Kasagi, S?raku district, Ky?to Prefecture) and raised an army, but the castle fell to the Bakufu's army the following year, and they enthroned Emperor K?gon, exiling Emperor Go-Daigo to Oki Province (the Oki Islands in modern-day Shimane Prefecture), the same place to which Emperor Go-Toba was exiled in 1198.

Related Topics:
1331 - Sacred Treasures - Kasagi - S?raku district - Ky?to Prefecture - Bakufu - Emperor K?gon - Oki Province - Oki Islands - Shimane Prefecture - Emperor Go-Toba - 1198

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1333, Emperor Go-Daigo escaped from Oki with the help of Nawa Nagatoshi and his family, raising an army at Funagami Mountain in H?ki Province (the modern town of Kotoura in T?haku District, Tottori Prefecture). Ashikaga Takauji, who had been sent by the Bakufu to find and destroy this army, sided with the Emperor and captured the Rokuhara Tandai. Immediately following this, Nitta Yoshisada, who had raised an army in the East, destroyed the Hojo clan and captured the Bakufu.

Related Topics:
1333 - H?ki Province - T?haku District - Tottori Prefecture - Ashikaga Takauji - Bakufu - Rokuhara Tandai - Nitta Yoshisada - Hojo clan

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Returning to Ky?to, Emperor Go-Daigo denied the throne to Emperor K?gon and began the Kemmu Restoration. The Restoration was ostensibly a revival of the older ways, but, in fact, the emperor had his eye set on an imperial dictatorship like that of the emperor of China. Impatient reforms, litigation over land rights, rewards, and the exclusion of the samurai from the political order caused much complaining, and his political order began to fall apart. In 1335, Ashikaga Takauji, who had travelled to eastern Japan without obtaining an imperial edict in order to suppress the Nakasendai Rebellion, became disaffected with the Restoration. Emperor Go-Daigo ordered Nitta Yoshisada to track dow and destroy Ashikaga. Ashikaga defeated Nitta Yoshisada at the Battle of Takenoshita, Hakone. Kusunoki Masashige and Kitabatake Akiie, in communication with Kyoto, smashed the Ashikaga army. Takauji fled to Ky?sh?, but the following year, after restructuring his army in Ky?sh?, he again approached Ky?to. Kusunoki Masashige proposed a reconciliation with Ashikaga Takauji to the emperor, but Go-Daigo rejected this. He ordered Masashige and Yoshisada to destroy Takauji. Kusunoki's army was defeated at the Battle of Minatogawa (?????)

Related Topics:
Ky?to - Emperor K?gon - Kemmu Restoration - Emperor of China - Ashikaga Takauji - Kusunoki Masashige - Kitabatake Akiie - Ky?sh? - Battle of Minatogawa

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Ashikaga's army entered Ky?to, Emperor Go-Daigo resisted, fleeing to Mount Hiei, but seeking reconciliation, he sent the Sacred Treasures to the Ashikaga side. Takauji enthroned the Jimy?in-t? emperor, K?my?, and officially began his shogunate with the enactment of the Kemmu Law Code.

Related Topics:
Mount Hiei - Sacred Treasures - K?my?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Go-Daigo escaped from the capital, the Sacred Treasures that he had handed over to the Ashikaga being counterfeit, and set up the Southern Court among the mountains of Yoshino, beginning the Period of Northern and Southern Courts in which the Northern Dynasty in Ky?to and the Southern Dynasty in Yoshino faced off against each other.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Emperor Go-Daigo ordered Imperial Prince Kaneyoshi to Ky?sh? and Nitta Yoshisada and Imperial Prince Tsuneyoshi to Hokuriku, and so forth, dispatching his sons all over, so that they could oppose the Northern Court.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1339, he died in Yoshino. Ashikaga Takauji constructed the Tenryuuji in Ky?to for his burial.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~