Genkō War

The Genkō War (元弘の乱, Genkō no Ran), also known as the Genkō Incident (元弘の變, Genkō no Hen), 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 war occurred.

Background

Go-Daigo became Emperor of Japan in 1318 and sought to remove the Kamakura Shogunate, which had ruled Japan as a de facto military government from the city of Kamakura since the Genpei War in 1185, and restore power to civilian government under the Imperial House in Kyoto. The Kamakura Shogunate was indirectly ruled by the Hōjō clan as shikken – the regents of the Shōgun – and actively blocked the Emperor's manoeuvres to restore Imperial rule.

Conflict

First uprising

In 1331, Go-Daigo plotted to seize power through force and overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate by encouraging his vassals and other anti-Hōjō samurai to rebel. However, Go-Daigo was betrayed when his trusted adviser Fujiwara Sadafusa alerted the shogunate, who dispatched troops to Kyoto to suppress the uprising. Go-Daigo fled Kyoto with the Sacred Treasures and sought refuge in Kasagi, a secluded monastery overlooking the . Go-Daigo managed to escape Kasagi when it was attacked by Kamakura troops in the , but was soon apprehended. Go-Daigo was subsequently to the and the Kamakura then enthroned , the first Emperor of the "", setting the stage for the upcoming . Go-Daigo's son continued to fight against the Kamakura, leading his father's supporters alongside .