Prince Morinaga

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Prince Morinaga

(1308 – August 12, 1335) was a son of Emperor Go-Daigo and Minamoto no Chikako

Minamoto no Chikako

Minamoto no Chikako was the daughter of Kitabatake Morochika, and Imperial consort to Emperor Go-Daigo. She had earlier been Imperial consort to Go-Daigo's father, Emperor Go-Uda....
executed by Ashikaga Tadayoshi

Ashikaga Tadayoshi

was a general of the Nanboku-cho period of Japanese history and associate of his elder brother Ashikaga Takauji, the first Muromachi shogunate shogun....
in 1335.

When Morinaga was 18, Go-Daigo had him named the head abbot of the Enryakuji temple on Mount Hiei

Mount Hiei

is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto city, lying on the border between the Kyoto Prefecture and Shiga prefectures, Japan.The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first Japanese outpost of Tendai sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by Saicho in 788....
.

When Go-Daigo's attempt to seize power in 1331 failed (the Genko War

Genko War

The Genko War was a civil war in Japan which marked the fall of the Kamakura shogunate and end of the power of the Hojo clan . The war thus preceded the Nanboku-cho and the rise of the Ashikaga shogunate ....
), Morinaga fled Enryakuji to the province of Kii

Kii

Kii can refer to:*Kii Province*Kii Peninsula*Ki'i, a Hawaiian deity.*Kii class battleship, a Japanese battleship class during World War II....
, meeting up with Kusunoki Masashige

Kusunoki Masashige

Kusunoki Masashige was a 14th century samurai who fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in his attempt to wrest rulership of Japan away from the Kamakura shogunate and is remembered as the ideal of samurai loyalty....
. They tenaciously defended the small fortress of Akasaka

Siege of Akasaka

The 1331 siege of Akasaka was a battle of the Genko War, taking place during the final years of Japan's Kamakura period, at Shimo Akasaka-jo near modern-day Osaka....
before finally being forced to withdraw.

He then moved to Mount Yoshino.

Masashige's heroics defending Chihaya

Siege of Chihaya

The 1333 siege of Chihaya took place during the final year of Japan's Kamakura period. It was one of several battles of the Genko War, in which Emperor Go-Daigo sought to eliminate the power of the Hojo clan regents....
, together with Morinaga's efforts to rally troops, brought a large number of warriors to the loyalist cause.

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(1308 – August 12, 1335) was a son of Emperor Go-Daigo and Minamoto no Chikako

Minamoto no Chikako

Ashikaga Tadayoshi

Mount Hiei

Genko War

Kii

Kii can refer to:*Kii Province*Kii Peninsula*Ki'i, a Hawaiian deity.*Kii class battleship, a Japanese battleship class during World War II....
, meeting up with Kusunoki Masashige

Kusunoki Masashige

Siege of Akasaka

Siege of Chihaya

Ashikaga Takauji

was the founder and 1st shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromachi period of Japan, and ended with his death in 1358....
and Nitta Yoshisada

Nitta Yoshisada

was the head of the Nitta family in the early fourteenth century, and supported the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in the Nanboku-cho period, capturing Kamakura, Kanagawa from the Hojo clan in 1333....
had joined the cause. The Hojo

Hojo

Hojo may refer to:*Hojo clan, a family of regents of the Kamakura Shogunate*Late Hojo clan, daimyo in the Sengoku Period*Hojo, Ehime, a city in Japan...
shogunate was soon destroyed.

Restored to the throne, Go-Daigo started the Kemmu Restoration

Kemmu restoration

The is the short period of Japanese history between the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period. It represents the effort made by Emperor Go-Daigo to bring the Imperial House and the nobility it represented back into power, thus restoring a civilian government after almost a century and a half of military rule....
. After refusing to appoint Ashikaga Takauji to the post of seii taishogun
Shogun

is a military rank and historical title for Hereditary Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces of Japan. The Japanese word for "general", it is made up of two kanji characters: sho, meaning "commander", "general", or "admiral", and gun meaning military troops or warriors....
, he made the double mistake of giving the title to his sons Prince Morinaga and Norinaga, two civilians, thus alienating Takauji and the warrior class, who felt he, as a military man and a descendant of the Minamoto, should have been shogun instead.

Takauji made false charges that Morinaga was planning to overthrow his father, and forced Go-Daigo to hand him over. Morinaga was then sent to Takauji's brother Tadayoshi in Kamakura, and was imprisoned in a cave near Kamakura for eight months.

A rebellion by the remnants of the Hojo forced Tadayoshi to retreat from Kamakura. Being unable to take Morinaga with him, Tadayoshi had him beheaded on July 23 1335.

The shrine Kamakura-gu

Kamakura-gu

is a Jinja in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It was erected by Emperor Meiji in 1869 to worship the spirit of Prince Morinaga, who was imprisoned and later executed where the shrine now stands in 1335....
, built around the cave where Prince Morinaga was imprisoned, was dedicated to him by Emperor Meiji

Emperor Meiji

The or Meiji the Great was the 122nd Emperor of Japan of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death....
in 1869.