ater he received the
shogunate in due form from the Northern sovereign, Komyo. But he now
discovered that Kyoto must be his headquarters so long as the War of
the Dynasties lasted, and he therefore established the Bakufu at
Muromachi in that city, modelling it on the lines of Yoritomo's
institution, but dispensing with a regent (shikkeri) and substituting
for him a second shitsuji. The first two shitsuji at Muromachi were
Ko Moronao, the great general, and Uesugi Tomosada, a connexion of
Takauji. Kamakura was not neglected, however. It became a secondary
basis, Takauji's eight-year-old son, Yoshiakira, being installed
there as governor-general (kwanryo) of the Kwanto under the
guardianship of Uesugi Noriaki as shitsuji, and the old
administrative machinery of the Hojo was revived in the main.
Takauji's brother, Tadayoshi, became chief of the general staff in
Kyoto, and "several Kamakura literati--descendants of Oye, Nakahara,
Miyoshi, and others--were brought up to fill positions on the various
boards, the services of some of the ablest priests of the time being
enlisted in the work of drafting laws and regulations."*

*Murdoch's History of Japan.

To these priests and literati was entrusted the task of compiling a
code based on the Joei Shikimoku of the Hojo regents, and there
resulted the Kemmu Shikimoku, promulgated in 1337.* This was not a
law, properly so called, but rather a body of precepts contained in
seventeen articles. They have much interest as embodying the ethics
of the time in political circles. "Economy must be universally
practised. Drinking parties and wanton frolics must be suppressed.
Crimes of violence and outrage must be quelled. The practice of
entering the private dwellings of the people and making inquisitions
into their affairs must be given up." Then follow two articles
dealing with the ownership of vacant plots and rebuilding of houses
and fireproof godowns in the devastated sections of the capital. The
subsequent paragraphs provide that men of special ability for
government work should be chosen for the office of shugo; that a stop
must be put to the practice of influential nobles and women of all
sorts and Buddhist ecclesiastics making interested recommendations
(to the sovereign); that persons holding public posts must be liable
to reprimand for negligence and idleness; that bribery must be firmly
put down; that presents made from all quarters to those attached to
the palace, whether of