The Kōzuke–Musashi campaign was a rapid and direct assault during the Japanese

Genkō War The , also known as the , was a civil war fought in Japan between the Emperor Go-Daigo and the Kamakura Shogunate from 1331 to 1333. The Genkō War was named after Genkō, the Japanese era corresponding to the period of 1331 to 1334 when the wa ...

Nitta Yoshisada also known as Minamoto no Yoshisada was a samurai lord of the Nanboku-chō period Japan. He was the head of the Nitta clan in the early fourteenth century, and supported the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in the Nanboku-chō period. He famo ...

that led up to the Siege of Kamakura in 1333. It consisted of a number of battles over a brief period. The ultimate result was the ending of the

Kamakura Shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yori ...

Background

By the first part of the 14th century, the

, which had never fully recovered from successfully fending off the

Mongol Invasions The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

, was already engaging a resurgent imperial house under

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 o ...

during the

's son

Prince Morinaga (1308 – August 12, 1335) was a Japanese prince and monk. He was the son of Emperor Go-Daigo and his consort Minamoto no Chikako. Moriyoshi was named by his father as the head abbot of the Enryaku-ji temple on Mount Hiei. Go-Daigo attemp ...

energetically organized an uprising against the Hōjō recruiting a number of the key martial leaders that supported the Emperor including

Kusunoki Masashige , or , was a Japanese military commander and samurai of the Kamakura period remembered as the ideal loyal samurai. Kusunoki fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in the Genkō War to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate and restore power in Japan to the ...

. Early in 1333 Morinaga and Kusunoki, the latter being entrenched at Chihaya, were the targets of a large army sent from

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

to destroy the uprising. This left Kamakura relatively undefended.

, who was originally supporting the Hojo Regents of Kamakura, was convinced to support the imperial cause. From his home base in

Kōzuke Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Gunma Prefecture. Kōzuke bordered Echigo Province, Echigo, Shinano Province, Shinano, Musashi Province, Musashi and Shimotsuke Province, Shimotsuke Provinces. Its abb ...

, Nitta and a group of other nobles including his brother Yoshisuke took advantage of the lightly defended Kamakura and entered

Musashi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Kawasaki and Yokohama. ...

in force. Following the important

Kamakura Kaidō is the generic name of a great number of roads built during the Kamakura period which, from all directions, converged on the military capital of Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.Nihon Rekishi Chimei Taikei The term itself ho ...

highway, Nitta's army received fresh recruits along the way from local powerful clans and repeatedly engaged the Hojo forces until reaching the outskirts of Kamakura, thus beginning the Siege of Kamakura.McCullough, Helen Craig (1959): pp. 274-285.

The campaign

Nitta's forces entered Musashi from Kōzuke and joined the

at Sugaya. The principle battles were: * Battle of Kotesashi (May 11, 1333) *

Battle of Kumegawa The was part of the decisive Kōzuke-Musashi Campaign during the Genkō War in Japan that ultimately ended the Kamakura Shogunate. Fought in present-day Higashimurayama, Tokyo at the foot of the Hachikokuyama ridge on May 12, 1333, it pitte ...

(May 12, 1333) *

Battle of Bubaigawara The was part of the decisive Kōzuke-Musashi Campaign during the Genkō War in Japan that ultimately ended the Kamakura Shogunate. It was fought on the banks of the Tama River in central Musashi province in what is now part of the city of Fuc ...

(and Sekido) (May 15–16, 1333)

Notes

References

* Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

. . * Sansom, George (1963). "A history of Japan 1334-1615." Eight Printing (1993). Charles E. Tuttle Company, Tokyo, * Papinot, E. (1910). "Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan." 1972 Printing. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Tokyo, . * McCullough, Helen Craig (1959). "The

Taiheiki The (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a medieval Japanese historical epic (see '' gunki monogatari'') written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. It deals primarily with the Nanboku-chō, the period of war between the ...

. A Chronicle of Medieval Japan." 1959. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Tokyo, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozuke-Musashi Campaign Conflicts in 1333 Genkō War Military campaigns involving Japan 1330s in Japan 1333 in Asia