ed the Emperor's exile and
assisted his escape from Oki. It had long been her ambition to have
her son, Tsunenaga, nominated Crown Prince, but as Prince Morinaga
was older and had established a paramount title by his merits, his
removal must precede the accomplishment of her purpose. Fate
furnished a powerful ally. Prince Morinaga, detecting that Ashikaga
Takauji concealed a treacherous purpose under a smooth demeanour,
solicited the Emperor's mandate to deal with him. Go-Daigo refused,
and thereafter the lady Ren and the Ashikaga chief, whose influence
increased daily, entered into a league for the overthrow of Prince
Morinaga.

It was at this time, when symptoms of disorder were growing more and
more apparent, that Fujiwara Fujifusa, a high dignitary of the Court
and one of the great statesmen of his era, addressed a solemn warning
to Go-Daigo. The immediate occasion was curious. There had been
presented to the Court by the governor of Izumo a horse of
extraordinary endurance, capable of travelling from Tomita, in that
province, to Kyoto, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles,
between dawn and darkness. The courtiers welcomed the appearance of
this horse as an omen of peace and prosperity, but Fujiwara Fujifusa
interpreted it as indicating that occasion to solicit speedy aid from
remote provinces would soon arise. He plainly told the Emperor that
the officials were steeped in debauchery; that whereas, in the early
days of the restoration, the palace gates had been thronged with
warriors, to-day none could be seen, thousands upon thousands having
left the capital disgusted and indignant to see Court favourites
enriched with the rewards which should have fallen to the military;
that the already distressed people were subjected to further heavy
exactions for building or beautifying Imperial palaces; that grave
injustice had been done to Akamatsu Norimura, and that unless the
sovereign refrained from self-indulgence and sought to govern
benevolently, a catastrophe could not be averted. But Go-Daigo was
not moved, and finally, after repeating his admonition on several
occasions, Fujifusa left the Court and took the tonsure. It says much
for the nobility of the Emperor's disposition that he commissioned
Nobufusa, father of Fujifusa, to seek out the persistent critic and
offer him a greatly higher office if he would consent to return, and
it says much for Fujifusa's sincerity that, hoping to give weight to
his counsels