ABSTRACT
The fourteenth century is notable for another broad phenomenon, one that also marks a significant turning point. During this period, Japan transitioned from a society governed by the force of authority to one governed by the authority of force. By 1324 Go-Daigo had concluded that the Kamakura Shogunate was the only real impediment to a reassertion of unitary imperial rule, and that it could be eliminated only through military force. In 1333 Ashikaga Takauji was twenty-eight years old and had been head of his house since the death of his father in late 1331. The Ashikaga were already a prominent eastern family when Minamoto Yoritomo founded the Kamakura Shogunate in the 1180s. The Kenmu regime, established by Go-Daigo in mid-1333, has challenged historians for the past seven hundred years or so. The Muromachi Shogunate made its headquarters the imperial capital of Kyoto. Politically, the Muromachi Shogunate was a complex hierarchy of stakeholders.
