Prince Kaneyoshi (懐良親王, ''Kaneyoshi shinnō'' or ''Kanenaga shinnō''; born c. 1329 – 30 April 1383) was a nobleman of the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

and the early

Nanboku-chō period The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, ''Nanboku-chō jidai'', "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Mur ...

where power in Japan was split between two rival factions. He was the son of

Emperor Go-Daigo Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 ''Go-Daigo-tennō'') (26 November 1288 – 19 September 1339) was the 96th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')後醍醐天皇 (96) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional order ...

who was head of one of the factions (the

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors (Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitively ...

), the other being the

Ashikaga shogunate The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669. The Ashikaga shogunate was establ ...

. During his childhood, he saw the shogunate establishing its rule over the

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

. Later in the 1350s, a civil war occurred between the founder of the shogunate,

Ashikaga Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromac ...

and his son, Tadafuyu. When it ended, Kaneyoshi became an effective force of the Southern Court in opposition to the Ashikaga ''

bakufu , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

''. In 1336, Go-Daigo sent the prince, at seven years of age, to

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

as ''Chinzei Shogun'' (Commander-in-Chief of the Western Defense Area). However, unfortunately for the Southern Court and Kaneyoshi, by 1358 the current shogun Yoshiakira faced no immediate threat from the Southern Court's loyalist as the latter only managed to hold on to a few areas such as Shinano and Kyiishu where Kaneyoshi had previously gained some ground. By 1365, Kaneyoshi gained control of the entire island of Kyushu, at this point he was so confident that he believed he could even march an army to

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, capital of the bakufu. When Yoshiakira died, loyalist resistance weakened, and control was fully consolidated under the Ashikaga.

Hosokawa Yoriyuki was a samurai of the Hosokawa clan, and prominent government minister under the Ashikaga shogunate, serving as Kyoto Kanrei (Shōgun's Deputy in Kyoto) from 1367 to 1379. The first to hold this post, he solidified the power of the shogunate, as ...

took Kanenaga's planned attempt to attack Kyoto seriously; the recently strengthened Ashikaga had Yoshinari land on Ōita and occupy Takasaki stronghold in 1371 but was later attacked by an ally of Kaneyoshi. Ultimately however, Kaneyoshi's base of northern Kyushu was subdued (which Kaneyoshi had struggled to build up since 1361). He then left to a plain nearby the

Chikugo River The flows through Kumamoto, Ōita, Fukuoka and Saga prefectures in Japan. With a total length of , it is the longest river on Kyūshū. It flows from Mount Aso and empties into the Ariake Sea. It is also nicknamed "Chikushijirō". The up ...

. He is enshrined at the Yatsushiro-gū, a

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

shrine located in

Yatsushiro is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. Geography Located at the geographic center of Kyushu, Yatsushiro City is situated on the aptly named Yatsushiro Sea in between Kumamoto and Ashikita City. Climate Yatsushiro has a humid subtro ...

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...

References

*Amino Yoshihiko and Alan Christy (trans.), ''Rethinking Japanese History'', Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan (2012), pp. 269–270.

External links

Samurai Archives
entry {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaneyoshi, Prince 1383 deaths People of Kamakura-period Japan Year of birth uncertain Deified Japanese people 1329 births Sons of emperors