ry essence of legitimate
succession. But these remained always in Go-Daigo's possession.
Therefore, although in the matter of lineage no distinction could be
justly set up between the Northern and the Southern Courts, the
collaterals of legitimacy were all with the latter.

Of course each complied with all the forms of Imperialism. Thus,
whereas the Southern Court used the year-name Engen for 1336-1339,
the North kept the year-name Kemmu for two years, and as there were
different nengo names for half a century, a new element of confusion
was added to the already perplexing chronology of Japan. In
administrative methods there was a difference. The Northern Court
adhered to the camera system: that is to say, the actual occupant of
the throne was a mere figurehead, the practical functions of
Government being discharged by the cloistered sovereign. In the
Southern Court the Emperor himself, nominally at all events, directed
the business of administration. Further, the office of shogun in the
Southern Court was held generally by an Imperial Prince, whereas in
the Northern Court its holder was an Ashikaga. In brief, the
supporters of the Northern Court followed the military polity of the
Bakufu while the Southern adopted Imperialism.

NATURE OF THE WAR

As the question at issue lay solely between two claimants to the
succession, readers of history naturally expect to find the war
resolve itself into a campaign, or a succession of campaigns, between
two armies. Such was by no means the case. Virtually the whole empire
was drawn into the turmoil, and independent fighting went on at
several places simultaneously. The two Courts perpetually made Kyoto
their objective. Regardless of its strategical disadvantages, they
deemed its possession cardinal. Takauji had been more highly lauded
and more generously rewarded than Yoshisada, because the former had
recovered Kyoto whereas the latter had only destroyed Kamakura. Thus,
while Go-Daigo constantly struggled to capture Kyoto, Komyo's
absorbing aim was to retain it. This obsession in favour of the
Imperial metropolis left its mark upon many campaigns; as when, in
the spring operations of 1336, Yoshisada, instead of being allowed to
pursue and annihilate Takauji, was recalled to guard Kyoto, and when,
in July of the same year, Kusunoki Masashige was sent to his death
rather than temporarily vacate the capital. It must have been fully
apparent to the great captains of the fourteenth