es, which would enable them to live in that feudal comfort to which
they deemed their exertions had entitled them.

At this time a feud broke out between Ashikaga Taka-uji and Nitta. The
former had accused Nitta of unfaithfulness to his emperor and Nitta was
able to disprove the charge. He received the imperial commission to punish
Ashikaga and marched with his army upon him in the province of Totomi. In
the battles (A.D. 1336) which ensued, the forces of Ashikaga were
completely victorious. The emperor and his court were obliged to flee from
Kyoto and took up their residence in a Buddhist temple at Yoshino in the
mountainous district south of Kyoto. This was the same monastery where
Yoshitsune and Benkei had taken refuge previous to their escape into
Mutsu. Almost every tree and every rock in the picturesque grounds of this
romantic spot(130) bear some evidence of the one or other of these
memorable refugees. The southern dynasty lasted in all fifty-seven years,
down to A.D. 1374, and although it was compelled to starve out a miserable
existence in exile from the capital, it is yet looked upon by historians
as the legitimate branch; while the northern dynasty, which enjoyed the
luxury of a palace and of the capital, is condemned as illegitimate.

This period of exile witnessed many notable events in the bloody history
of the country. Ashikaga Taka-uji was of course the ruling spirit while he
lived. He proclaimed that Go-Daigo had forfeited the throne and put Komyo
Tenno, a brother of Kogen Tenno upon it in his stead. The insignia of the
imperial power were in the possession of Go-Daigo, but Komyo, being
supported by the battalions of Ashikaga, cared little for these empty
baubles. The bloody sequence of affairs brought with it the death of the
heroic Kusunoki Masashige. He with Nitta and other patriots had undertaken
to support Go-Daigo. It is said that contrary to his military judgment he
attacked the forces of Ashikaga, which were vastly superior in number. The
battle took place A.D. 1336, on the Minato-gawa, near the present site of
Hyogo. The Ashikaga forces had cut off Kusunoki with a small band of
devoted followers from the main army. Seeing that his situation was
hopeless and that his brave troops must be destroyed, with one hundred and
fifty men--all that were left of his little army--he retired to a farmer's
house near by and there they all committed _hara-kiri_.(131) Kusunoki
Masashige, when about to commit su