Noriharu committed suicide to add weight to a protest against such an
essay. Japanese annals contain many records of lives thus sacrificed
on the altar of devotion and loyalty. From the outset the Uesugi
family were the pillars of the Ashikaga kwanryo in Kamakura. Uesugi
Noriaki served as shitsuji in the time of the first kwanryo, and the
same service was rendered by Noriaki's son, Yoshinori, and by the
latter's nephew, Tomomune, in the time of the second kwanryo,
Ujimitsu. Confusing as are the multitude of names that confront the
foreign student of Japanese history, it is necessary to note that
from the time of their appointment as shitsuji at Kamakura, Yoshinori
took the family name of Yamanouchi, and Tomomune that of Ogigayatsu.
Balked in his design against Kyoto, Ujimitsu turned his hand against
the Nitta, old enemies of his family, and crushing them, placed the
Ashikaga power on a very firm basis in the Kwanto. His son,
Mitsukane, had the gift of handling troops with great skill, and in
his time the prestige of the Kamakura kwanryo reached its highest
point.

In the eyes of the military men of the eastern provinces, the
shogun in distant Kyoto counted for little compared with the
governor-general in adjacent Kamakura. The latter's mansion was
called gosho (palace); its occupant was termed kubo, an epithet
hitherto applied to the shogun only, and the elder and younger
branches of the Uesugi family, in which the office of kwanryo of
Muromachi was hereditary, were designated Ryo Uesugi (the Two
Uesugi). Mitsukane, when he abetted the Ouchi's attempt to overthrow
the Kyoto shogun, persuaded himself that he was only carrying out his
father's unachieved purpose, and the shogun, Yoshimitsu, took no step
to punish him, preferring to accept his overtures--made through
Uesugi Tomomune.

THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF YOSHIMITSU

There is little question that whatever applause history can extend to
the administration of the third Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimitsu, was won
for him by his profoundly sagacious guardian and chief minister,
Hosokawa Yoriyuki. After the latter's death, in 1392, many abuses and
few meritorious acts appear in the shogun's record. Alike, the wise
self-effacement and the admirable frugality which distinguished the
Hojo rule were wholly foreign to the mood of Yoshimitsu. He insisted
on being raised to the post of chancellor of the empire, and he
openly spoke of himself as "king," designating as Go-sekke (Five
Regen