Go-Daigo (1288-1339)

Emperor of Japan and leader of the abortive Kemmu Restoration (1333-1336) against rule by shoguns. Go-Daigo was born into the junior of the two imperial lines, the Jimyoin (senior) and Dakakuji (junior) lines, which then occupied the throne alternately. He became emperor in 1318 and began plotting against the Hojo clan's shogunal government. First betrayed in 1324, he fled from the capital Kyoto in 1331 after a second failed plot. Captured, he was deposed and exiled to the Oki Islands. Kusunoki Masahige and other partisans kept his cause alive, and in 1333 he escaped and returned to the mainland. While loyalists and the turncoat general Ashikaga Takauji defeated the Hojo forces, Go-Daigo "restored" the half-mythical direct rule of Emperor Daigo (reigned 897-930). His reactionary regime alienated his supporters, especially Takauji, who by 1335 was in open revolt. Masahige and other loyal forces were crushed at Minatogawa in July 1336, because Go-Daigo refused to quit Kyoto. Forced to abdicate in favour of an emperor from the senior line, Go-Daigo fled to Yoshino and in 1337 established a rival "southern" court which endured until 1392. He died soon after Takauji's installation as shogun.