e blood of his younger brother on his hands he abdicated in favour
of his own sixteen-year-old son, Yoshikazu. But the latter died--some
historians say that dissipation destroyed him--in two years, and
having no second son to succeed, Yoshimochi himself resumed the
office of shogun, holding it until his death, in 1428.

During his thirty-three years' tenure of power this ruler seems to
have aimed solely at enjoying the sweets of ease and tranquillity. He
left the provinces severely alone and thought only of the peace of
the metropolis. Turbulent displays on the part of self-appointed
partisans of the Southern Court; intrigues in the Kwanto; revolts
among his own immediate followers--all these things were treated by
Yoshimochi with gloved hands so long as the atmosphere of Kyoto was
not troubled. In 1428, he fell sick, and, the end being in sight, he
ordered his advisers to consult about his successor. Some advocated
the appointment of his kinsman, Mochiuji, governor-general of the
Kwanto, and Mochiuji himself prayed that it should be so. But the
choice ultimately fell on Yoshimochi's younger brother, Gien, who had
embraced religion and was then serving as abbot of the temple
Shoren-in.

This man, then in his thirty-fourth year, hesitated to accept the
nomination, but was induced to do so. He changed his name to
Yoshinori, and assuming the office in 1428, showed high talents and
great intrepidity. He was, in truth, a ruler as efficient as his
predecessor had been perfunctory. One of the most important events of
his time was the ruin of the Ashikaga Bakufu at Kamakura. Between
Kamakura and Muromachi there had been friction from an early date. We
have seen the second and third governors-general of the Kwanto,
Ujimitsu and Mitsukane, plotting to supplant the elder branch of
their family in Kyoto, and we have seen how the accession of the
priest, Yoshinori, had disappointed the ambition of the fourth
governor-general, Mochiuji, who, if unable to become shogun himself,
would fain have obtained that high office for his son, Yoshihisa.
Several years previously, namely, in 1417, there had occurred a feud
between the Yamanouchi and the Ogigayatsu branches of the Uesugi
family in the Kwanto, the former represented by Norimoto, the latter
by Ujinori. The Uesugi stood next to the Ashikaga at Kamakura, the
important office of manager (shitsuji) being invariably held by the
head of the former house. It would have been well-nigh impo