Page:The Awakening of Japan, by Okakura Kakuzō; 1905.djvu/108

 memories traveled back to the days when the imperial sanctity was forgotten and the chrysanthemum cowered before the cruel blast of Ashikaga arrogance, while even the palace itself, with none so loyal as to undertake its repair, was sinking in ruin within sight of the Golden Pavilion of the shoguns. Sadly they read the poems of some lonely loyalist who, like a solitary cuckoo, poured his sad song into the moonless night.

They dwelt with mingled pride and sorrow on the story of the Emperor Godaigo, who broke the power of the Kamakura shogunate and for a time reëstablished legitimate rule. They thought of his undaunted courage in raising the country against the usurpers, of his exile to the distant island of Sado, of his miraculous escape in a