Prince Moriyoshi

Prince Moriyoshi (1308–1335), also called Morinaga, was a son of Emperor Go-Daigo. As the monk Son’un, he became abbot of Enryaku-ji, the Tendai Buddhist monastery on Mount Hiei, in 1327. Temples supplied contacts, followers and refuge. After his father’s defeat and exile, Moriyoshi returned to secular life in 1332 and issued orders calling temples and warriors into resistance against Kamakura. [S01]

His organizing helped sustain the movement that overthrew Kamakura in 1333. He used the title shogun before his formal court appointment that year. The new government contained several competing centers of military authority, including Ashikaga Takauji and Moriyoshi himself. Go-Daigo removed the prince from office. Moriyoshi’s armed following and orders presented problems for his father’s claim to direct rule as well as for Takauji’s position. [S01]

In 1334 imperial agents arrested Moriyoshi, who was sent to Kamakura under Ashikaga Tadayoshi’s custody. He was killed there during the Ashikaga retreat as Hōjō Tokiyuki’s rebellion overran Kamakura in 1335. The Taiheiki framed his fall through intrigue and betrayal; its detailed accusations cannot establish each participant’s private intentions. His loss reveals a difficulty within the coalition: a prince who could independently recruit fighters had become an obstacle to consolidating the government they had helped create. [S01]