Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/39

 heroes of Japanese history, marched an army against Kamakura. The last of the Hōjō Vice-gerents committed suicide with many of his captains: Kamakura fell, and the day of genuine Imperial sway seemed to have at length dawned.

But the Emperor Godaigo, however brave in adversity, was not wise in prosperity. At the very moment of his escape from the control of the Hōjō, he ignored the lessons of history, and laid the foundation of a new usurpation by conferring immense rewards and high office on Ashikaga Takauji. At the same time he estranged the other captains by neglecting their claims. Prince Moriyoshi, whose succession to the Throne had been the proximate cause of all these troubles, constituted himself the representative of the discontented southern soldiers, for he, like them, had hoped to see the administrative power restored to the sovereign, not handed over to the Ashikaga. The Court nobles, on the other hand, imagining that the hour had come to shake off military supremacy, treated the soldier class with contempt and supported the Emperor's resolve not to reward them. Godaigo removed the military men from the provincial posts; replaced them by representatives of the Kyōtō aristocracy; bestowed estates on a multitude of courtiers, from princes to actors and dancing-girls; levied a tax of five per cent on the property of the provincial officials, and began to issue paper