The , also called Kannō no juran, was a civil war which developed from antagonisms between shōgun Ashikaga Takauji and his brother, Ashikaga Tadayoshi, thus dividing and weakening the early Ashikaga shogunate. These events are labeled Kannō after the Japanese era or nengō which was proclaimed by the Northern Court during the years 1350 through 1351 in the Nanboku-chō period of Japanese history. One of the main effects of the Disturbance was the re-invigoration of the Southern Court's war effort due to the flow of renegades from Kyoto who followed Tadayoshi to the Southern capital of Yoshino, near Nara.
Resurgence of the Southern Court
The events
Takauji was nominally shōgun but, having proved not to be up to the task of ruling the country, for more than ten years Tadayoshi governed in his stead. The relationship between the two brothers was however destined to be destroyed by an extremely serious episode called the Kannō Incident, an event which takes its name from the Kannō era (1350–1351) during which it took place and which had grave consequences for the entire country. Trouble between the two started when Takauji made Kō no Moronao his shitsuji, or deputy. Tadayoshi did not like Moronao and his policies so (at least according to the Taiheiki), after every effort to get rid of him failed, he tried to have him assassinated. Tadayoshi in 1349 was forced by Moronao to leave the government, shave his head and become a Buddhist monk with the name Keishin under the guidance of Zen master, poet, and old associate Musō Soseki. In 1350 he rebelled and joined his brother's enemies, the supporters of the Southern court, whose Emperor Go-Murakami appointed him general of all his troops. In 1351 he defeated Takauji, occupied Kyoto, and entered Kamakura. During the same year he captured and executed the Kō brothers, Moronao and Moroyasu, at Mikage (Settsu province). The following year his fortunes turned and he 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.
Their background
The extremely divisive Kannō Incident that divided the Muromachi regime put a temporary hold on the new shogunate's integration. Before the incident, the bureaucratic organs of the early regime were under the separate jurisdiction of the Ashikaga brothers Takauji and Tadayoshi, creating a bifurcated administration. Takauji was the leader of the house vassals, and thus controlled the Board of Retainers (the Samurai-dokoro) and the Office of Rewards (the Onshō-kata), while Tadayoshi was the bureaucratic leader controlling the Board of Inquiry's administration of the regime's judicial functions.
The Board of Retainers was used as a disciplinary organ towards house vassals; brigandage and other crimes were prosecuted. The Office of Rewards was used to hear the claims of and to give fiefs to deserving vassals. The Office of Rewards was used to enroll new warriors who were potential adversaries of the regime. The major judicial organ, the Board of Coadjutors, decided on all land dispute cases and quarrels involving inheritance. All judicial functions are par excellence used to resolve conflicts and disputes legally, within an institutional framework. 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 the reach of most warriors.