ed them to obtain secretly a mandate from
the senior branch of the Imperial family so that they too, as well as
their opponents, might be entitled to fly the brocade banner, and
having furnished them with means to effect their escape, returned to
Harima and occupied the fortress of Shirahata with the object of
checking pursuit. At this point there is a break in the unrelenting
continuity of the operations. It should obviously have been the aim
of the Imperialists to strike a conclusive blow before the Ashikaga
leaders had time to assemble and organize their multitudinous
supporters in Shikoku, Kyushu, and the provinces on the north of the
Inland Sea. This must have been fully apparent to Kusunoki Masashige,
an able strategist. Yet a delay of some weeks occurred.

A quasi-historical record, the Taiheiki, ascribes this to Yoshinaga's
infatuated reluctance to quit the company of a Court beauty whom the
Emperor had bestowed on him. Probably the truth is that the
Imperialists were seriously in want of rest and that Yoshisada fell
ill with fever. Something must also be attributed to a clever ruse on
the part of Akamatsu Norimura. He sent to Yoshisada's headquarters a
message promising to give his support to the Imperialists if he was
appointed high constable of Harima. Ten days were needed to obtain
the commission from Kyoto, and Norimura utilized the interval to
place the defenses of Shirahata fortress in a thoroughly secure
condition. Thus, when his patent of high constable arrived, he
rejected it with disdain, saying that he had already received a
patent from the shogun, Takauji, and was in no need of an Imperial
grant which "could be altered as easily as turning one's hand."

Yoshisada, enraged at having been duped, laid siege to Shirahata but
found it almost invulnerable. It was on March 11, 1336, that Takauji
went westward from Bingo; it was on the 2nd of April that Yoshisada
invested Shirahata, and it was on the 3rd of July that the siege was
raised. The Ashikaga brothers had enjoyed a respite of more than
three months, and had utilized it vigorously. They were at the
Dazai-fu in Chikuzen in June when a message reached them that
Shirahata could not hold out much longer. Immediately they set their
forces in motion, advancing by land and water with an army said to
have numbered twenty thousand and a fleet of transports and war-junks
totalling seven thousand. At the island, Itsukushima, they were met
by a Buddhist pries