The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, Nanboku-chō jidai , "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period ), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate of Japanese history .
110-753: During the early period, there existed a Northern Imperial Court , established by Ashikaga Takauji in Kyoto , and a Southern Imperial Court , established by Emperor Go-Daigo in Yoshino . Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 years, with the South giving up to the North in 1392. However, in reality the Northern court was under the power of the Ashikaga shogunate and had little real independence. The destruction of
220-435: A GDP equivalent to that of Iran, the 26th largest country in the world, it is the fourth largest economic zone after the three major metropolitan areas of Tokyo , Osaka , and Nagoya . Kyūshū's economy has a well-balanced industrial structure, ranging from primary industries such as agriculture, to secondary industries such as manufacturing, and tertiary industries such as retail, services, and tourism. Agricultural output in
330-595: A coalition against the Hōjō emerged in 1331, it took only two years to topple the regime. Since wealth in pre-industrial, agrarian societies is tied to land, land became the main reason for much discontent among the warrior class. Since the Kamakura period, victory in battle would be rewarded by land grants. Due to the nature of a foreign invasion, the victory against the Mongol invasions meant that there were no lands to hand out to
440-512: A disunited administration. Takauji was the leader of the house vassals, and thus controlled the Board of Retainers where disciplinary actions towards house vassals: brigandage and other crimes were prosecuted. He also led the Office of Rewards which heard claims of and to enfeoff deserving vassals. It was used to enroll new warriors who were potential adversaries of the regime. Tadayoshi meanwhile led
550-580: A hereditary group of three shugo families related to Takauji within four generations (Papinot 1972:27): the Hosokawa, the Hatakeyama and the Shiba . The three families took turns in filling the post. They were the highest ranking shugo families in the regime. In the beginning, the council was composed of the heads of these three shugo families along with four other heads of powerful shugo families:
660-717: A plan in which future emperors from the two fraternal lines would ascend the throne in alternating succession. This plan proved to be unworkable, resulting in rival factions and rival claimants to the throne. In 1333, when the Southern Emperor Go-Daigo staged the Kenmu Restoration and revolted against the Hōjō Kamakura shogunate , the newly minted shōgun Ashikaga Takauji (ironically, by Emperor Go-Daigo himself) responded by declaring Emperor Kōgon , Go-Daigo's second cousin once removed and
770-588: A warrior regime, and in the process tied together the interests of both. The direct rule of the Muromachi regime that emerged in the 1360s was limited geographically to the western and central provinces, unlike how the previous Kamakura regime was based in the Kantō region. Outside shugo lords ( tozama ) unrelated to the Ashikaga like the Takeda , Chiba , Yuki , Satake , Oyama, Utsunomiya, Shoni , Otomo , Aso, and
880-638: Is descended from the Northern Court emperors. The Northern dynasty is also referred to as the "senior line" or the Jimyōin line ( 持明院統 , Jimyōin-tō ) ; Jimyō-in was a temple and retirement residence of this line's emperors Go-Fukakusa and Fushimi . The origins of the Northern Court go back to Emperor Go-Saga , who reigned from 1242 through 1246. Go-Saga was succeeded in turn by two of his sons, Emperor Go-Fukakusa and Emperor Kameyama . On his death bed in 1272, Go-Saga insisted that his sons adopt
990-609: Is described as a stronghold of the Liberal Democratic Party . Per Japanese census data, the Kyūshū region's population with Ryukyu Islands ( Okinawa and Kagoshima Prefectures) has experienced a large population decline since around 2000. However, the population decline in total is mild because of the relatively high birth rate of Ryukyuans both within the Ryukyuan lands ( Okinawa and Kagoshima ) and throughout
1100-641: Is in operation since September 2022. Kyūshū is also known for its scenic train services, such as the Limited Express Yufuin no Mori and Limited Express Kawasemi Yamasemi. The Kanmon Bridge and Kanmon Roadway Tunnel also connect the island with Honshu, allowing for vehicular transport between the two. The Kyūshū Expressway spans the length of the island, linking the Higashikyushu Expressway and Ibusuki Skyline, connecting major cities such as Fukuoka and Kumamoto along
1210-565: Is separated from Honshu by the Kanmon Straits . Being the nearest island to the Asian continent , historically it is the gateway to Japan. The total area is 36,782.37 km (14,201.75 sq mi) which makes it the 37th largest island in the world. It's slightly larger than Taiwan island 35,808 km (13,826 sq mi). The highest elevation is 1791 meters (5876 feet) on Mount Kujū . The name Kyūshū comes from
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#17327660222061320-650: Is widely produced. Besides the volcanic area of the south, there are significant mud hot springs in the northern part of the island, around Beppu . The springs are the site of occurrence of certain extremophile microorganisms , which are capable of surviving in extremely hot environments. There are two World Natural Heritage sites in Kyushu: Yakushima (registered in 1993) and Amami-Ōshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, northern part of Okinawa Island, and Iriomote Island (registered in 2021). Kyūshū's economy accounts for about 10% of Japan's total, and with
1430-523: The Hokuchō or Northern Court emperors: These are the Nanchō or Southern Court emperors: Ky%C5%ABsh%C5%AB Kyūshū ( 九州 , Kyūshū , pronounced [kʲɯꜜːɕɯː] , lit. 'Nine Provinces ') is the third-largest island of Japan 's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu ( Nansei ) Islands ). In
1540-459: The Isshiki families. While some warriors were appointed to shugo posts. Successful generals, who were at the same time branch family heads who had cast in their lot with Takauji's rebellion, were the ones often rewarded with the post. The cost of not tying them to the regime was to lose their support, and to encourage their independence from the regime. The shugo acted as governors, and served
1650-464: The Kamakura shogunate of 1333 and the failure of the Kenmu Restoration in 1336 opened up a legitimacy crisis for the new shogunate. Institutional changes in the estate system ( shōen ) that formed the bedrock of the income of nobles and warriors altered the status of the various social groups. The establishment of the Ashikaga shogunate broadened the economic base of the warriors, while undercutting
1760-565: The Kannō Incident was caused due to the separation and clash between the military vassal institutions controlled by Takauji and the bureaucratic-judicial institutions controlled by Tadayoshi. With the emergence of the kanrei council system, the shugo lords who represented the military were tied firmly to the bureaucracy. The job of the kanrei was to act as a spokesman between the Senior Vassal Council ( jushin kaigi ) and
1870-450: The Mori , and shugo lords continued to act in a dangerously independent manner until the latter half of the 14th century. In the central and western provinces roughly half were new appointees. During the Kannō Incident , Ashikaga headship ( soryo ) ties to the new appointees did not prevent these shugo from outright rebellion towards the regime at all. In fact, the coercive institutions of
1980-490: The Shimazu families, all of whom were concentrated in or near the Kantō and Kyūshū regions, did not participate in the kanrei council system, and were semi-independent of the regime. They were tacitly recognized and given shugo titles by the Ashikaga, because of their predominant positions in areas that were not easily controlled from Kyoto. After the Kyūshū campaign that began in 1370, the Kyūshū deputy ( tandai ) became
2090-760: The Yamana , the Isshiki , the Akamatsu and the Kyōgoku . The latter two families were unrelated to the Ashikaga family. This trend of including unrelated shugo families into the council continued with the recruitment of the Ouchi, the Sasaki and the Toki families in the next few decades. This trend indicates that powerful shugo families, irrespective of kinship, were tied to the regime. Conflicts of interests between shugo lords and
2200-497: The kanrei Hosokawa Yoriyuki became active in trying to legitimize the regime from the point of view of the nobles. He did this through a series of extremely conservative measures, gaining prestige among the nobles in Kyoto. He used an ancient court ranking system by having the young shōgun participate in it. He also associated the regime with the court much more closely than had any other previous warrior leader. By doing this, he tied
2310-456: The kanrei office and the senior vassal council ( jushin kaigi ) over which the kanrei presided. The system involved the most powerful shugo families as participants in directly governing central and western Japan. Along with the shōgun, the kanrei council emerged to form the heart of the Muromachi regime to such an extent that historians have come to characterize this regime as the bakufu - shugo system. The very conflict that emerged with
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#17327660222062420-402: The shugo lord and kokujin was called a shugo-uke ( shugo contracts) . This was where a noble proprietor would give the responsibility of managing his estate to the shugo in exchange for a guaranteed year end ( nengu ) income delivered to the proprietor residing in the capital. The shugo lord then enfeoffed vassal samurai ( hikan ) on those estates as managers. The shugo contracts tied
2530-546: The shugo lords and samurai. In the late 14th century, the Kantō region was dominated by powerful warrior families. Of these, the Uesugi were the most powerful. They were able to take advantage of the fighting that erupted between families in the region to advance their own interests. In 1368, the Utsunomiya family revolted against the Kamakura headquarters of the Muromachi regime, because they had lost their shugo posts to
2640-414: The shugo the right to judge cases of crop stealing on the estates, and to make temporary assignments of land to deserving vassals taken from the imperialist forces. This was significant, insofar as traditional areas of Kamakura jurisdiction were "given up" by the Muromachi regime. Previously, all cases of crop stealing or land assignments were strictly under Kamakura administration. Also, about this time,
2750-468: The 19th century did this occur again. In the spring of 1333, the Emperor Go-Daigo and his supporters planned to restore the glory of the imperial court. Emperor Daigo (AD 901–923), who lived at a time when the court had no strong rivals and effective rule was exercised directly from the throne, became Go-Daigo's adopted name and model. The Kenmu Restoration was a conscious movement to restore
2860-668: The 19th century, the Emperors of the Southern Imperial Court have been considered the legitimate Emperors of Japan. Moreover, the Southern Court controlled the Japanese imperial regalia. The Northern Court members are not considered legitimate Japanese emperors. They are called "Northern Court Emperors" now. One Southern Court descendant, Kumazawa Hiromichi , declared himself to be Japan's rightful emperor in
2970-486: The 8th-century Taihō Code reforms, Dazaifu was established as a special administrative term for the region. The island is mountainous, and Japan's most active volcano, Mount Aso at 1,591 metres (5,220 ft), is on Kyūshū. There are many other signs of tectonic activity, including numerous areas of hot springs . The most famous of these are in Beppu , on the east shore, and around Mt. Aso in central Kyūshū. The island
3080-452: The Ashikaga regime on condition that the shōgun would not interfere with the internal affairs of their respective provinces (Grossberg 1981:25). Subsequently, the Yamana, who were related to the Ashikaga, and the Ouchi, who were not, began to play an increasingly important role in government affairs. However, within a few decades, both shugo houses became powerful enough to incur the wrath of
3190-415: The Ashikaga to withdraw from the capital, but like many previous attempts, the imperialists had to eventually retreat in the face of a large counterattack without having accomplished anything. The exuberance that existed during the 1350s among the imperialist armies had faded. Resistance after this date became sporadic and completely defensive. Finally, in 1369, a year after the death of Emperor Go-Murakami ,
3300-483: The Ashikaga. However, these kinship ties did little in the way of mediating between the semi-independent shugo lords and the regime. It was rather the effective participation of the shugo lords in governing through the kanrei council system which bound their interests more firmly than before to the regime. In 1362, the two most powerful shugo houses in the country, the Ouchi and the Yamana , submitted themselves to
3410-404: The Board of Inquiry which had control over the judicial functions of the regime. The major judicial organ, the Board of Coadjutors, decided on all land dispute cases and quarrels involving inheritance. Bureaucrats ( bugyōnin ) for the new regime were recruited from the ranks of those who served the Hōjō regime before its fall. They were valuable because they knew how to read and write, a task beyond
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3520-631: The Heian period, public lands by no means disappeared: in details, the public lands differed very little from private estates. Both were owned by absentee proprietors. They differed only in terms of administration: private estates were directly managed by noble officials, whereas, public lands were managed by the civil governors (kokuga or kokushi) on behalf of the former. By the Kamakura period, public lands were owned by different landowners as private holdings ( chigyo ). These landowners included noble houses, religious establishments and warriors. Whole areas of
3630-462: The Isshiki. Shugo participation in the Senior Vassal Council and in the Board of Retainers were important because it was through the use of these intermediary instruments whereby the Ashikaga shōguns were able to centralize the state under their direction. Kinship in the form of headship ties ( soryo ), looms large as a recruiting mechanism, here too, the shugo lords were mostly branch families of
3740-505: The Kamakura period, emerged to usurp the civil governor's functions. This did not happen immediately in every province, but occurred without interruption until the shugo lords had become true governors over public lands. As they took over the oversight of private holdings within public lands, they established ties to many kinds of landowners: nobles, samurai of various kinds (kokujin, jizamurai), and to religious establishments. They enfeoffed their own followers on these lands, and reconfirmed
3850-411: The Kantō and the northeast were held by warriors not in the capacity as estate managers, but as private holdings. Kantō provinces were granted to the Kamakura regime as private lands ( chigyokoku ). The Ashikaga regime inherited these lands, and decided, fatefully, to place shugo lords over them. One of the main functions of the civil governor's office (kokushi) was the oversight of criminal justice in
3960-458: The Kyūshū deputy, while disputes between alliance members and the deputy himself would be taken to the Muromachi regime in Kyoto (Harrington 1985:87). The deputy united both the interests of the regime and of the local area. It was a precarious position because of the temptation to independence it presented. However, the Muromachi regime did not extend their direct control over the entirety of their domain, and so came to rely on appointees to influence
4070-453: The Kyūshū region. In addition, the other prefectures in Kyūshū also have exceptionally high TFRs compared to the rest of Japan. The Ryukyuans are an indigenous minority group in Japan. Parts of Kyūshū have a subtropical climate , particularly Miyazaki Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture . Major agricultural products are rice , tea , tobacco , sweet potatoes , and soy ; also, silk
4180-434: The Muromachi period, and the role of the shugo lords in their encroachment on them. Public lands (kokugaryo) during the Heian period were distinguished from private lands of the estates ( shōen ), because the latter were immune from state taxation. Before the rise of private estates, the only kind of lands were public lands maintained under the old civil administration. With the rise of private estates called shōen , during
4290-502: The Muromachi regime and put a temporary hold on integration. On the surface the incident appeared as a personal struggle between Tadayoshi against the Kō brothers, backed by Takauji. However, differences in opinion regarding the estate system and the separation of bureaucracies controlled by Takauji and Tadayoshi played a larger part in the conflict. Since the bureaucracy were under separate jurisdictions between Takauji and Tadayoshi, this created
4400-407: The Muromachi regime that consistently upheld the estate system in the face of warrior incursions. As described earlier, Ashikaga Takauji tried to make sure that the limits set on the warriors by the half-tax measure was not exceeded, but he failed to circumvent arrangements like the shugo contract that really denuded the noble of his estate and its income. The half-tax measure itself did not protect
4510-557: The Northern Court because its seat was in a location north of its rival. Cloistered Emperor Go-Daigo failed to control succession to the Imperial throne, whereby the Ashikaga shōguns were able to wrestle any remaining power away from position of Emperor. Shōguns ruled Japan until 1867. The Imperial Court supported by the Ashikaga shoguns was rivaled by the Southern Court of Go-Daigo and his descendants. This came to be called
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4620-473: The Southern Court because its seat was in a location south of its rival. Although the precise location of the emperors' seat did change, it was often identified as simply Yoshino . In 1392, Emperor Go-Kameyama of the Southern Court was defeated and abdicated in favor of Kōgon's great-grandson, Emperor Go-Komatsu , thus ending the divide. The Northern Court was under the power of the Ashikaga shoguns and had little real independence. Partly because of this, since
4730-612: The Uesugi. The Uesugi was able to extend their influence by amassing shugo posts and by enfeoffing vassals at the expense of other families. Northern Court The Northern Court ( 北朝 , hokuchō ) , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders , were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. The present Imperial House of Japan
4840-524: The Yamana, Sasaki, Yoshimi and the Toki shugo lords to attack the Shiba in the province of Echizen . The Shiba were defeated, and their territory in Echizen was redistributed. In 1367, following the ouster of the Shiba family, Hosokawa Yoriyuki was named as the successor to the post of kanrei : after the shōgun Yoshiakira's death, Yoriyuki managed during the minority of the young shōgun Yoshimitsu to place
4950-521: The absentee nobles and religious establishments ( jisha honjo ) in Kyoto and in Yamashiro province. His oversight did not include the private holdings of warriors, most usually concentrated in the Kantō and further north. With the outbreak of the Nanboku-chō War, the civil administration ( ritsuryo ) began to break down rapidly, and shugo lords, who had a minor role in provincial governance during
5060-675: The days after the end of the Pacific War. He claimed that Emperor Hirohito was a fraud, arguing that Hirohito's entire line is descended from the Northern Court. Despite this, he was not arrested for lèse majesté , even when donning the Imperial Crest. He could and did produce a koseki detailing his bloodline back to Emperor Go-Daigo in Yoshino, but his claims and rhetoric failed to inspire anything other than sympathy. Go-Kameyama reached an agreement with Go-Komatsu to return to
5170-457: The defeat of the Kikuchi clan in 1381; and with the death of Shimazu Ujihisa in 1385, the last Kyūshū provincial domain declared its allegiance to the regime. With the fall of Kyūshū the whole of western Japan came under the rule of the Ashikaga regime. However, campaigns alone were inadequate to legitimize Ashikaga rule over the nobles. After 1367, during the minority of the shōgun Yoshimitsu,
5280-422: The entire Kyūshū region through the creation of innovation in industry and the promotion of new entrepreneurship and start-ups. Kyūshū is a region with strong economic ties to Asia. For example, Asia accounted for 420 (77.9%) of the 539 overseas expansion cases of Kyūshū-Yamaguchi companies from 2010 to 2019, and Asia accounted for 61.1% of Kyūshū-Yamaguchi's total exports in 2019, 7.4 percentage points higher than
5390-423: The estate lands during the Nanboku-chō War, and with the samurai residing on public lands ( kokugaryo ). The shugo lords have certain legitimate duties given to them by the Muromachi regime, and feudal lords attempting to enfeoff vassals. During the Nanboku-chō War, samurai stewards frequently took the lands of nobles and converted them into private holdings ( chigyo ) illegally. This led to the total liquidation of
5500-457: The estate system. The shugo lords also participated in this wholesale land grab by accumulating former estates under their control by enfeoffing samurai on them. This encroachment on land caused security problems for all landed interests from petty samurai to the kokujin , and led local samurai to seek intermediary ties to the shugo lords in the form of vassalage as the shugo could provide some form of local security. Vassalage ties between
5610-521: The execution of criminal justice in Kyoto. The office holder automatically became the shugo over Yamashiro province, the wealthiest and most densely populated in Japan, and had the responsibility of protecting the regime headquarters and Kyoto. By the beginning of the 15th century, the head of the Board of Retainers was chosen from among four shugo families: the Yamana, the Akamatsu, the Kyogoku, and
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#17327660222065720-538: The famed Togashi Masachika ), Takeda and the Ogasawara in the central provinces, and the Shimazu , Otomo and Shoni in Kyūshū . Those provincial families who had accumulated power throughout the Kamakura period, like the Ouchi of Nagato and the Shimazu of Satsuma , were lords in their own right and thus less dependent on the regime and on their shugo titles. There was the defection of local samurai families like
5830-407: The fragmentation, it was the intermediary ties of shugo vassalage, and the shugo role as provincial governor, that helped to integrate the disparate forces to some degree. It becomes a wonder how the estate system survived at all given the depredations it suffered at the hands of the warriors. There were two reasons why it survived in the attenuated form described above: one, was the existence of
5940-422: The framework of the estate structure, even though this structure had been totally altered. A case can be made that the estate system, outside of Yamashiro province, had become eroded to such an extent that the nobles had little if any influence left in the provinces. In 1358 after the death of Takauji, the shogunate passed to his son Yoshiakira. Under his leadership, and that of the kanrei Hosokawa Yoriyuki 's,
6050-400: The function of mediating between the regime center and periphery. As lords in their own right, they represented the authority of the regime in the provinces. The shugo of this period had greater power than that of the Kamakura , including sending envoys where land disputes occurred, law enforcement, issuing hanzei (a half-tax), and to levy taxes. They came to hold much greater authority than
6160-414: The half-tax decree of 1368; the court ranking system which tied the shogunate closer to the imperial court; and limitations to Muromachi authority in the Kyūshū and Kantō regions all served to push the consolidation of Muromachi power. To mend relations after the Kannō Incident , Yoshiakira reorganized the regime by establishing the kanrei council system in 1362. This system was made up of two components,
6270-556: The imperial court and proclaimed the beginning of a new shogunate. After his proclamation, he was forced to retreat to Kyūshū after the imperialist forces of Kitabatake Akiie attacked and defeated him near Kyoto. This betrayal of the Kenmu Restoration by Takauji blackened his name in later periods of Japanese history, and officially started the Nanboku-chō War. Earlier historiography taught the Restoration failed due to
6380-408: The imperial power vis-a-vis the warrior class. Two of the movement's greatest spokesmen were Prince Morinaga and Kitabatake Chikafusa . Prince Morinaga was Go-Daigo's son, and archrival to Ashikaga Takauji since he advocated the militarization of the nobles as a necessary step towards effective rule. Morinaga epitomized Chikafusa as the latter was a Kyoto noble who was also military general. During
6490-428: The imperialist forces were suffering their worst defeats, opening up enemy land for confiscation and reassignment. By giving these new jurisdictions to the shugo lords, it further augmented their position as governors over their assigned provinces. In this dual capacity, the shugo lords had to compete with other landed samurai in the provinces for land they administered as governors, but did not personally own. Like
6600-417: The ineffectiveness in rewarding lands to the samurai. However, it is now clear that the Restoration was effective in this respect. Therefore, Takauji's rebellion and desire to create a new warrior regime was a prime determinant in the Restoration's failure. His rebellion encouraged the warrior class who desired to see the creation of another military regime modeled after the Kamakura bakufu. The Nanboku-chō War
6710-414: The interests of the shugo lord, the samurai kokujin and the noble together, but were not based on equality of interests. The contract was most favorable to the shugo lord who used this instrument to expand ties of vassalage with the local samurai ( kokujin ), and expand his land base at the expense of the nobles. Shugo contracts emerged in the 1340s and gradually became widespread. S hugo lords gave
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#17327660222066820-400: The lands around them: as owners they could dispense with the land as they saw fit, getting rid of recalcitrant vassals without much ado. In the fourteenth century, the shugo lords could not claim province wide ownership of territory: first, the concept of personal provincial ownership was as yet undeveloped; second, they never amassed large amounts of personal property, relying rather on using
6930-433: The lands of existing samurai in exchange for military service, and established shugo contracts with the nobles with predictable results. Along with vassalage ties to local samurai (kokujin) on the estates, vassalage ties on public lands became a key resource that augmented the power of the shugo lords. Furthermore, in 1346, ten years after the emergence of the Muromachi regime, the shōgun decentralized authority by giving
7040-473: The last half-tax decree ( hanzei ) in 1368. This decree tied noble interests to the regime: it outlawed the halving of lands owned by the imperial family (lands under the control of major temples) and those that were owned by the imperial regents (the Fujiwara ). Exceptions included noble lands that were given full title by the previous shōgun, and estates managed by the samurai stewards ( jitō ). This decree
7150-466: The leader of the western armies of the Southern Court during the imperialist offensives against Kyoto in 1353 and 1354. The shōgun Ashikaga Takauji appointed branch family members as shugo lords in the different provinces of western and central Japan. Ashikaga branch families appointed to shugo posts included the Hosokawa , Yamana , Imagawa , Hatakeyama , Niki , Kira , Shiba , Ishido , and
7260-674: The long siege in Hitachi (1338–1343), Chikafusa wrote the Jinnō Shōtōki , an influential work on the legitimacy of the Japanese imperial system. This text would later become an ideological base of the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century. However, the Kenmu Restoration failed due to Go-Daigo's desire to restore not only imperial power, but also its culture. He wrote a treatise ( Kenmu Nenchū Gyōji ) to revive court ceremonies that had fallen out of use. In 1336 Takauji rebelled against
7370-416: The management of the estate to samurai in exchange for military service, but the noble was stripped of all powers on the estate, and was reduced to waiting for his portion of the year end ( nengu ) income. The noble hired tax overseers ( nengu daikan ) at an exorbitant amount to guarantee his own portion of the income. Noble income (already reduced by the kokujin and the shugo lord) was further reduced once
7480-408: The nation as a whole. As the logistics node between Japan and Asia, the ports of Hakata and Kitakyushu handle a large number of international containers. In addition, the number of cruise ship calls in 2019 was 772, with Kyūshū accounting for 26.9% of the nation's total. Kyūshū is noted for various types of porcelain , including Arita, Imari, Satsuma, and Karatsu. Heavy industry is concentrated in
7590-547: The newer Shin-Kanmon Tunnel carrying the San'yō Shinkansen . Railways on the island are operated by the Kyūshū Railway Company and West Japan Railway Company , as well as a variety of smaller companies such as Amagi Railway and Nishitetsu Railway . Kyūshū Shinkansen trains operate between major cities on the island, such as Fukuoka and Kagoshima , with an additional route between Takeo-Onsen and Nagasaki which
7700-413: The nine ancient provinces of Saikaidō situated on the island: Chikuzen , Chikugo , Hizen , Higo , Buzen , Bungo , Hyūga , Osumi , and Satsuma . Today's Kyūshū Region ( 九州地方 , Kyūshū-chihō ) is a politically defined region that consists of the seven prefectures on the island of Kyūshū (which also includes the former Tsushima and Iki as part of Nagasaki), plus Okinawa Prefecture to
7810-414: The noble from the outright takeover of the estate at the hands of the samurai, even if the latter were required to hand over a portion to fulfill the half-tax law. In the end, it was the Muromachi administration that made sure that the samurai paid their portion of income to the nobles. The other reason behind the survival of the estate system was connected to the legitimacy of the noble class. The rise of
7920-462: The noble proprietors, a single shugo lord owned lands in widely dispersed areas in several provinces. His power was not built upon personal ownership of land like the territorial lords (daimyō) of the sixteenth century, but upon the loyalties of the local samurai through ties of vassalage. There was much greater coercive potential exercised by the territorial lords of the sixteenth century, because their ties of vassalage were based on their ownership of
8030-497: The noble proprietors. However, this trend had started already with the Kamakura bakufu . The main conflicts that contributed to the outbreak of the civil war between the courts were the growing conflict between the Hōjō clan and other warrior groups in the wake of the Mongol invasions of Japan of 1274 and 1281 and the failure of the Kenmu Restoration, which triggered the struggle between
8140-642: The north around Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, Nagasaki, and Oita and includes chemicals, automobiles, semiconductors, metal processing, shipbuilding, etc. The island of Tanegashima hosts the Tanegashima Space Center , which is the largest rocket-launch complex in Japan. Kyūshū is linked to the larger island of Honshu by the Kanmon Railway Tunnel , which carries the non- Shinkansen trains of the Kyūshū Railway Company , and
8250-552: The old alternations on a ten-year plan. However, Go-Komatsu broke this promise, not only ruling for 20 years, but being succeeded by his own son, rather than by one from the former Southern Court. During the Meiji period , an Imperial decree dated March 3, 1911, established that the legitimate reigning monarchs of this period were the direct descendants of Emperor Go-Daigo through Emperor Go-Murakami , whose Southern Court had been established in exile in Yoshino , near Nara. These are
8360-498: The past, it has been known as Kyūkoku ( 九国 , "Nine Countries") , Chinzei ( 鎮西 , "West of the Pacified Area") and Tsukushi-no-shima ( 筑紫島 , "Island of Tsukushi") . The historical regional name Saikaidō ( 西海道 , lit. West Sea Circuit ) referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands. Kyushu has a land area of 36,782 square kilometres (14,202 sq mi) and a population of 14,311,224 in 2018. In
8470-406: The primacy of the imperial line over everyone, including the warriors, who had to receive titles from the emperor. By participating in this court ranking ritual, the Ashikaga regime was sending a strong message to the entire society: that the legitimacy conferred by the court was still valid and still important. This participation bridged the tensions between the warrior regime and the court, and had
8580-455: The provinces, and the maintenance of the private holdings within the public lands (kokugaryo), but his function began to change with the advent of the Kamakura regime. With the appointment of shugo constables by Kamakura, all criminal jurisdiction within the provinces passed into his hands. But the civil governor ( kokushi ) remained as the key officer in the civil administration ( ritsuryo ), who made sure that rent from private holdings reached
8690-490: The reach of most warriors. Takauji encouraged innovation, while Tadayoshi was a conservative who wanted to preserve the policies of the past. As a military leader, Takauji appointed vassals to shugo posts as a reward for battlefield heroics, and he divided the shōen estates giving half of it to his vassals in fief or as stewardships, both of which was contested by Tadayoshi. He also opposed any sort of outright division of estate lands. All this led to conflict and resulted in
8800-415: The regency of Hōjō Tokimune (1268–1284). During the crisis, three things occurred: Hōjō family appointments to the council of state increased; the Hōjō private family council became the most important decision making body; and direct vassals of the Hōjō were increasingly promoted to the shugo (governor) posts. This reduced the base of support to encompass Hōjō family members and their direct vassals. When
8910-466: The regime closer to the imperial court, thereby erasing the stigma of the ideology that fueled the Nanboku-chō conflict: Ashikaga Takauji was seen as a traitor fighting against the restoration of imperial power. The court society survived such a long time because of its popularity among the different classes in Japanese society. On the estate level, farmers felt much closer to the nobles than towards
9020-418: The regime losing its support. Deep divisions between members of the Ashikaga family strengthened the opposition. Both Tadayoshi and Takauji enacted token submissions to the Southern Court to push their own agendas: Tadayoshi desired to destroy the Kō brothers, and Takauji wanted to defeat Tadayoshi. The incident led reinvigorations on the war effort of the Southern Court. To a large extent this renewed offensive
9130-434: The regime on a firmer foundation. The use of shugo lords to attack one of their own colleagues in the 1366 points to the growing authority of the shōgun, compared to the shugo lords. Up until then, there was no true punitive mechanisms that the shōgun could use against his shugo lords. Pitting one shugo lord against another strengthened the shōgun's hand. In 1362, the last Southern Court offensive against Kyoto forced
9240-409: The regime succeeded in integrating the shugo lords in the 1360s and 1370s. Shugo branch families of the Ashikaga were now employed within the government bureaucracy. This happened due to the emergence of the kanrei council system which tied shugo lords firmly to the regime. Shogunal hegemony was now also stronger and this allowed them to discipline errant shugo lords. Furthermore, the effects of
9350-420: The regime were woefully lacking in this time period vis-a-vis the shugo lords. However, some weaker shugo lords who had not yet built up their power in the provinces had a vested interest in maintaining their links to the regime. The office of civil governor was gradually usurped by the shugo, he was able to make his provincial power effective through the ties of vassalage with the samurai who had taken over
9460-576: The region amounts to 1.8 trillion yen (20% share of the national total), and the region is a major domestic production center for the automobile and semiconductor industries. Kyūshū also has a thriving healthcare industry, including medical and nursing care, and numerous research and manufacturing facilities in the fields of hydrogen , solar power , and other renewable energies. Furthermore, Fukuoka City , Kitakyushu City and Okinawa Prefecture have been designated as National Strategic Special Zones , which are expected to have an economic ripple effect on
9570-517: The representative of the Muromachi regime on that island. Imagawa Sadayo (Ryoshun) effectively prosecuted the campaign against the Southern Court forces and on Shimazu Ujihisa. Deputies like Sadayo were Muromachi representatives, even when they arrogated the full powers of vassalage to local samurai. For example, in 1377, a contract was signed between Sadayo and a samurai alliance (ikki) consisting of sixty-one local samurai. The contract stipulated that all disputes between alliance members would be taken to
9680-422: The samurai houseman by virtue of having a province-wide appointment. After 1372, shugo lords were given the responsibility to collect taxes ( tansen ) on landowners, nobles and samurai. As middlemen, the shugo profited by inflating the taxes. On the 1370s onwards the shugo were given the added responsibility of overseeing a new regime centered tax. Warrior families since the Kamakura period were characterized by
9790-549: The shōgun was institutionalized by letting the shugo lords voice their opinions in discussions within the council. The Board of Retainers ( samuraidokoro ) was also headed by a Senior Vassal Council member selected in the 14th century from among the Imagawa (who became a council member a little later), the Hosokawa, the Hatakeyama, the Shiba, and the Toki. The Board of Retainers had the responsibility over police functions and
9900-455: The shōgun. In 1366, the first kanrei office holder's father, Shiba Takatsune who held real power over his thirteen-year-old son, and who engineered the placement of Shiba family members in key government offices was declared a traitor, because of his growing power and arrogance (he felt demeaned by accepting the kanrei post, so he had his son appointed instead). In the first show of force against an important shugo family, Yoshiakira ordered
10010-401: The shōgun. The kanrei also had the responsibility of looking over the bureaucratic elements of the regime on a daily basis, consulting and transmitting shogunal orders to the council and to the bureaucracy. In this system, regime policy was formulated in consultations between the council and the shōgun, though final decisions were made by the latter. The kanrei was consistently selected from
10120-452: The son of an earlier emperor, Emperor Go-Fushimi of the Jimyōin-tō, as the new emperor. After the destruction of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333, Kōgon lost his claim, but his brother, Emperor Kōmyō , and two of his sons were supported by the new Ashikaga shōguns as the rightful claimants to the throne. Kōgon's family thus formed an alternate Imperial Court in Kyoto, which came to be called
10230-419: The south: Kyūshū has 10.3 percent of the population of Japan. Most of Kyūshū's population is concentrated along the northwest, in the cities of Fukuoka and Kitakyushu , with population corridors stretching southwest into Sasebo and Nagasaki and south into Kumamoto and Kagoshima . Except for Oita and Miyazaki , the eastern seaboard shows a general decline in population . Politically, Kyūshū
10340-402: The stalwart imperialist general Kusunoki Masanori submitted to the regime. His capitulation ended the imperialist threat to the central provinces. In 1370, Imagawa Sadayo (Ryoshun) was appointed by the kanrei Yoriyuki and the Senior Vassal Council to bring down the last bastion of Southern Court resistance in Kyūshū. After a grueling twelve-year campaign, imperialist resistance collapsed with
10450-465: The supporters of the imperial loyalists and supporters of the Ashikaga clan. Disaffection towards the Hōjō-led Kamakura regime appeared among the warriors towards the end of the 13th century. This resentment was caused by the growing influence of the Hōjō over other warrior families within the regime. The Mongol invasions were the main cause behind this centralization of power that took place during
10560-428: The tax overseer took his half. This reduction in noble income was the result of gradual non-payment by the shugo and samurai. Therefore, the nobles hired moneylenders ( doso ) and bureaucrats ( bugyōnin ) as a way to put pressure on the warriors. But even this was ineffective as the hired hands had to negotiate with the warriors. A largely missing picture until recently, was the fate of public lands ( kokugaryo ) during
10670-444: The traditional framework of estate lands and public lands to enfeoff their vassals. This is the central enigma of the fourteenth century: the fragmentation and dissolution of the estate system, and the disappearance of the civil administration coincided with the proliferation of private lands, but the external framework of the estate system ( shōen ) and the public lands system (kokugaryo), though devoid of content, still remained. Given
10780-437: The unintended effect of disseminating court culture among the warrior class. The warriors themselves were attracted to the culture of the nobles, and emulated the latter's tastes such as being involved with constructing Zen rock gardens. The connection effected between the shōgun and the imperial court during the late 14th century, had the effect of broadening the legitimacy of the shōgun's power. The kanrei Yoriyuki promulgated
10890-462: The use of headship rights ( soryo ) where leadership over branch families was accorded to the leader of the main family. However, headship rights were extremely unstable as branch families often asserted their own independence, particularly as new generations emerged to dilute the ties of kinship. In some provinces, the Ashikaga failed to displace the original shugo families: the Sasaki , Togashi (of
11000-518: The victors. When the Kamakura bakufu was destroyed in 1333, the Kyoto court society emerged to confront the warrior class. In the transition from the Heian to the Kamakura period , the warriors were free from the domination of court patrimonialism. With the demise of the Kamakura, the imperial court attempted to restore its power in the Kenmu Restoration. Not until the Meiji Restoration of
11110-417: The warriors was not popular among the farmers living on the estates. The more gentle hand of the nobles was also the hand the people came to respect. To prevent outright disobedience and rebellion among the populace was one reason why both shugo lords and kokujin came to respect the outward form of the estate structure. To make their rulership legitimate in the eyes of the farmers, the warriors worked within
11220-441: The warriors. The waning power of the nobles notwithstanding, their influence went far beyond their actual power, because they possessed a legitimacy of tradition and the charisma of culture that the warriors did not possess. This was why Yoriyuki had the young shōgun participate in court ceremonies: the participation involved the highest military leader in a court ranking system that dated back several centuries, and had as its premise
11330-921: The way. There are also many quiet country roads, including popular tourist routes such as the Nichinan coast road and the Aso Panorama Line in Kumamoto Prefecture . Bus services are available and cover 2,400 routes within Kyūshū's cities, connecting many other destinations. Several passenger and car ferry services connect both northern and southern Kyūshū with main port cities on the main island of Honshu (Kobe, Osaka, Tokyo) and Shikoku . Major universities and colleges in Kyūshū: World Heritage Sites in Kyūshū Historically some Kyushu-based sports team has competed in
11440-485: Was an ideological struggle between loyalists who wanted the Emperor back in power, and those who believed in creating another military regime modeled after Kamakura. Chikafusa was pragmatic on the need for warriors to participate in the Restoration but a severe divergence between Chikafusa and Takauji polarized the leaders for many years. The failure of the Restoration led to the emergence of the Ashikaga shogunate. Takauji
11550-419: Was applicable to all estates nationwide, and led to deter further samurai incursions onto the estates, and to defend the interests of the nobles in the face of samurai incursions. Unlike the earlier half-tax decrees, this one was conservative, and its aim was to protect noble lands from division rather than to justify it. The realities of samurai incursions that had already taken place could not be reversed. What
11660-529: Was defeated by Takauji at Sattayama. A reconciliation between the brothers proved to be brief. Tadayoshi fled to Kamakura, but Takauji pursued him there with an army. In March 1352, shortly after an ostensible second reconciliation, Tadayoshi died suddenly, according to the Taiheiki by poisoning. In the 1350s, the Kannō disturbance and its aftermath divided and nearly destroyed the early regime. This event divided
11770-486: Was forced by Moronao to leave the government, shave his head and become a Buddhist monk under the name Keishin. In 1350 he rebelled and joined his brother's enemies, the supporters of the Southern Court , whose Emperor Go-Murakami appointed him general of his entire army. In 1351 he defeated Takauji, occupied Kyoto , and entered Kamakura . During the same year he captured and executed the Kō brothers at Mikage ( Settsu Province ). The following year his fortunes turned and he
11880-455: Was ideologically stated openly departed from what was actually taking place in the provinces. The incursions of the samurai and the shugo lords on the estates were severe despite the 1368 decree. And with the 15th century, this trend of land-grabbing became ever more pronounced. The Ashikaga shōguns were not able to stop the incursions on the estates. However ineffective, the 1368 decree recognized noble interests and were defended ideologically by
11990-441: Was made possible by turncoats from the Muromachi regime. The imperialist offensive of 1352 directed against Takauji in Kamakura was made possible by the vast numbers of former adherents of Tadayoshi who became supporters of the imperialist leader Nitta Yoshimune . The imperialist offensive against Kyoto in 1353 was made possible through the defection of the shugo lord Yamana Tokiuji; Tadayoshi's adopted son, Ashikaga Tadafuyu, became
12100-457: Was nominally shōgun but, having proved not to be up to the task of ruling the country, for more than ten years Ashikaga Tadayoshi governed in his stead. Relations soured between the brothers during the Kannō disturbance . This started when Takauji made Kō no Moronao his shitsuji (deputy), which led Tadayoshi to unsuccessfully have him assassinated. His plot was discovered, so Tadayoshi in 1349
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