f cardinal importance in this much disturbed period
was the defection of Hosokawa Kiyouji, one of the shitsuji in Kyoto.
This powerful chief, disappointed in his expectations of reward, went
over to the Southern Court in 1361, and the result was that the
Ashikaga shogun had to flee from Kyoto, escorting Go-Kogon. The
situation soon changed however. Hosokawa Kiyouji, returning to his
native province, Awa, essayed to bring the whole of Shikoku into
allegiance to the Southern Court, but was signally worsted by his
cousin, Hosokawa Yoriyuki--afterwards very famous,--and scarcely a
month had elapsed before Yoshiakira was back in the capital. In the
same year (1362), the Northerners received a marked increase of
strength by the accession of the Yamana family, which was at that
time supreme in the five central provinces of eastern Japan--namely,
Tamba, Inaba, Bizen, Bitchu, and Mimasaka. During ten years this
family had supported the Southern Court, but its chief, Tokiuji, now
yielded to the persuasion of Yoshiakira's emissaries, and espoused
the Ashikaga cause on condition that he, Tokiuji, should be named
high constable of the above five provinces.

Meanwhile, the partisans of the late Tadayoshi--the Kira, the Ishido,
the Momonoi, the Nikki, and others--constituted a source of perpetual
menace, and even among the Ashikaga themselves there was a rebel
(Takatsune). Yoshiakira became weary of the unceasing strife. He
addressed overtures to the Southern Court and they were accepted on
condition that he made formal act of surrender. This the shogun
refused to do, but he treated Go-Murakami's envoy with every mark of
respect, and though the pourparlers proved finally abortive, they had
continued for five months, an evidence that both sides were anxious
to find a path to peace. Yoshiakira died in the same year, 1367.

THE SOUTHERN COURT

Previously to this event, a new trouble had occurred in the Southern
Court. The Emperor Go-Murakami signified his desire to abdicate, and
thereupon the Court nobles who had followed the three ex-Emperors
into the Southern lines in 1352 fell into two cliques, each
advocating the nomination of a different successor. This discord
exercised a debilitating influence, and when Go-Murakami died (1368),
the Southerners found themselves in a parlous condition. For his son
and successor, Chokei, failing to appreciate the situation,
immediately planned an extensive campaign against Kyoto from the east
and