step. For during his absence from the capital on
campaign, a plot to effect his overthrow had matured under the
leadership of Ashikaga Tadayoshi and Uesugi Shigeyoshi.

The latter held the office of shitsuji, and was therefore Moronao's
comrade, while Tadayoshi, as already stated, had the title of
commander-in-chief of the general staff and virtually directed
administrative affairs, subject, of course, to Takauji's approval.
Moronao undoubtedly possessed high strategical ability, and being
assisted by his almost equally competent brother, Moroyasu, rendered
sterling military service to the Ashikaga cause. But the two brothers
were arrogant, dissipated, and passionate. It is recorded of Moronao
that he abducted the wife of Enya Takasada, and of Moroyasu that he
desecrated the grave of Sugawara in order to enclose its site within
his mansion, both outrages being condoned by the shogun, Takauji, In
truth, even in the days of Taira overlordship, Kyoto was never so
completely under the heel of the military as it was in early Ashikaga
times.

Rokuhara did not by any means arrogate such universal authority as
did Muromachi. The Court nobles in the middle of the fourteenth
century had no functions except those of a ceremonial nature and were
frankly despised by the haughty bushi. It is on record that Doki
Yorito, meeting the cortege of the retired Emperor Kogon, pretended
to mistake the escorts' cry of "In" (camera sovereign) for "inu"
(dog), and actually discharged an arrow at the Imperial vehicle.
Yorito suffered capital punishment, but the incident illustrates the
demeanour of the military class.

The two Ko brothers were conspicuously masterful and made many
enemies. But the proximate cause of the plot alluded to above was
jealousy on the part of Ashikaga Tadayoshi and Uesugi Shigeyoshi, who
resented the trust reposed by Takauji in Moronao and Moroyasu. The
conspirators underestimated Moronao's character. Reaching Kyoto by
forced marches from Yamato, he laid siege to Tadayoshi's mansion, and
presently Tadayoshi had to save himself by taking the tonsure, while
Shigeyoshi was exiled to Echizen, whither Moronao sent an assassin to
make away with him. The Ashikaga chief, whose trust in Moronao was
not at all shaken by these events, summoned from Kamakura his eldest
son, Yoshiakira, and entrusted to him the functions hitherto
discharged by his uncle, Tadayoshi, replacing him in Kamakura by a
younger son, Motouji.

Yoshiaki