winds that blew the invading armada off the Japanese coast have taken
much of the credit Japanese warriors deserve. Though Japanese warriors
did not use any technological innovations in their defense of the landing
site, consolidated war efforts contributed to their success. Nevertheless, de-
spite the bakufu’s military success, economic difficulties and social insta-
bility that followed the Mongol invasions contributed to the weakening of
the Kamakura bakufu and its eventual downfall in 1333.
During the late Kamakura period, the court established a system of al-
ternate imperial succession between two imperial lineages. In 1318 Go-
daigo became an emperor, but he later refused to relinquish the title to the
successor from the main imperial line and as punishment was sent into ex-
ile. In 1333 Godaigo escaped from exile and returned to Kyoto to claim his
right to the title of emperor. Two major warrior families became involved
in this imperial dispute, Ashikaga and Nitta. Ashikaga Takauji was sent by
the bakufu to counter Godaigo, who was supported by Nitta Yoshisada.
Godaigo also recruited the renegade warrior Kusonoki Masashige and his
band of warriors. During three years of confrontations between Godaigo
and Ashikaga forces, the nature of warfare began to change. Kusonoki
Masashige introduced unconventional warfare in defending or penetrating
fortifications, while Ashikaga Takauji made an impressive tactical move
when he combined land and sea forces to trap and destroy the Kusonoki
forces. Eventually, in 1336, Godaigo was set in a newly established South-
ern Court, while the main imperial line was kept in what became the
Northern Court. Similarly, Ashikaga Takauji used the Godaigo affair to
topple the Kamakura bakufu and establish the Ashikaga shogunate.
The establishment of the Ashikaga shogunate in 1336 was the begin-
ning of a new form of warrior rule, in which the lord-vassal/lord-vassal ver-
tical structure replaced the direct rule of the Kamakura bakufu. The Ashi-
kaga bakufu exercised direct control over its vassals, but did not control its
vassals’ retainers, thus relying on effective pyramidal distribution of au-
thority from top to bottom. After the first three Ashikaga shôguns, the sys-
tem eventually led to fragmentation of the warrior society and frequent dis-
putes. After the death of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in 1408, local conflicts
erupted countrywide. The shôgunal deputy office was established and was
filled alternately by three powerful families, Hatakeyama, Hosokawa, and
Shiba, who were collateral vassals of the Ashikaga. By 1460, Ashikaga
Yoshimasa, not having a successor, chose to name his brother, a priest, as
his successor. The brother agreed, but then Yoshimasa’s wife gave birth to
a son. This led to a succession dispute between Yoshimasa’s brother,
backed by the Hosokawa, and Yoshimasa’s son who was supported by the
Yamana. Soon, Hatakeyama and Shiba took sides and joined the dispute.
The dispute erupted in 1467 in an intense war in Kyoto commonly known
Japan 187