oops and move against the "rebels," for to that category the Hojo
now belonged in the absence of an Imperial commission.

This Kusunoki Masashige (called Nanko) is one of Japan's ideal types
of loyalty and courage. He and Nitta Yoshisada are the central
figures in the long campaign upon which Japan now entered. Masashige
belonged to the Tachibana family, which stood second among the four
great septs of Japan--the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, the Minamoto, and
the Taira--and Yoshisada claimed kinship with the Minamoto. Receiving
Go-Daigo's order, Kusunoki Masashige quickly collected a troop of
local bushi and constructed entrenchments at Akasaka, a naturally
strong position in his native province of Kawachi. Takatoki now
caused Prince Kazuhito to be proclaimed sovereign under the name of
Kogon. But this monarch was not destined to find a place among the
recognized occupants of the throne. For a time, indeed, fortune
smiled on the Hojo. Within a few days after Kogon's assumption of the
sceptre, Go-Daigo's retreat at Kasagi became untenable, and he fled,
still escorted by the faithful Fujiwara Fujifusa. It must be
recognized that, whatever the Fujiwara family's usurpations in the
past, their loyalty to the Throne throughout this era of cruel
vicissitudes redeems a multitude of sins.

During his flight from Kasagi, the Emperor was without food for three
days, and had to sleep with a rock for pillow. Overtaken by the
Rokuhara troops, his Majesty was placed in a bamboo palanquin and
carried to the temple Byodoin, where, after the battle of the Uji
Bridge, the aged statesman and general, Yorimasa, had fallen by his
own hand, a century and a half previously. Here Go-Daigo received a
peremptory order to surrender the Imperial insignia to the Hojo
nominee, Kogon. He refused. The mirror and gem, he alleged, had been
lost, and there remained only the sacred sword, which he kept to
defend himself against the traitors when they fell upon him. The high
courage of this answer would have been finer had Go-Daigo's statement
been true; but in reality the three insignia were intact. It was then
announced to his Majesty that he should be removed to Rokuhara where
he would be entirely in the power of the Hojo. Nevertheless, he
maintained his lofty bearing, and refused to make the journey unless
all appropriate forms of etiquette were observed. At Rokuhara the
demand for the insignia was repeated and the Emperor handed over
duplicates, secretly