century that Kyoto
was easy to take and hard to hold. Lake Biwa and the river Yodo are
natural bulwarks of Yamato, not of Yamashiro. Hiei-zan looks down on
the lake, and Kyoto lies on the great plain at the foot of the hill.
If, during thirteen generations, the Ashikaga family struggled for
Kyoto, they maintained, the while, their ultimate base and
rallying-place at Kamakura, and thus, even when shattered in the
west, they could recuperate in the east. The Southern Court had no
such depot and recruiting-ground. They had, indeed, a tolerable place
of arms in the province of Kawachi, but in the end they succumbed to
topographical disadvantages.

DEATHS OF YOSHISADA AND AKIIYE

In the fact that he possessed a number of sons, Go-Daigo had an
advantage over his fourteen-year-old rival, Komyo, for these Imperial
princes were sent out to various districts to stimulate the loyal
efforts of local bushi. With Yoshisada to Echizen went the Crown
Prince and his brother Takanaga. They entrenched themselves at
Kana-ga-saki, on the seacoast, whence Yoshisada's eldest son,
Yoshiaki, was despatched to Echigo to collect troops, and a younger
brother, Yoshisuke, to Soma-yama on a similar errand. Almost
immediately, Ashikaga Takatsune with an army of twenty thousand men
laid siege to Kanaga-saki. But Yoshiaki and Yoshisuke turned in their
tracks and delivered a rear attack which scattered the besiegers.
This success, however, proved only temporary. The Ashikaga leader's
deep resentment against Yoshisada inspired a supreme effort to crush
him, and the Kana-ga-saki fortress was soon invested by an
overwhelming force on sea and on shore. Famine necessitated
surrender. Yoshiaki and Prince Takanaga committed suicide, the latter
following the former's example and using his blood-stained sword. The
Crown Prince was made prisoner and subsequently poisoned by Takauji's
orders. Yoshisada and his brother Yoshisuke escaped to Soma-yama and
rallied their partisans to the number of three thousand.

The fall of Kana-ga-saki occurred in April, 1338, and, two months
later, Go-Daigo took the very exceptional course of sending an
autograph letter to Yoshisada. The events which prompted his Majesty
were of prime moment to the cause of the Southern Court. Kitabatake
Akiiye, the youthful governor of Mutsu and son of the celebrated
Chikafusa, marched southward at the close of 1337, his daring project
being the capture, first, of Kamakura, and next, of Kyoto