The Northern and Southern Courts Civil War

Japanese: 南北朝内乱 - なんぼくちょうないらん

A nationwide civil war that lasted for over 50 years from the middle to the end of the 14th century. The outbreak of this civil war led to the separation of the Northern Court, supported by Ashikaga Takauji, from the Southern Court, which began with Emperor Godaigo, who fled to Yoshino. Many powerful families, temples and shrines, and samurai split into the two factions, fighting each other in the north and south, and so it is called the Northern and Southern Courts Civil War. This civil war brought about important changes in political structures, social conditions, and cultural phenomena, but these changes will be discussed in the section on the Northern and Southern Courts period, and the following article will focus mainly on the course of the war. The course of the war can be roughly divided into three periods, according to the rise and fall of the power of the two factions.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

14世紀の半ばから末にかけて50余年間続いた全国的な内乱。この内乱の勃発は，足利尊氏の擁立した北朝と吉野にのがれた後醍醐天皇に始まる南朝との分立をもたらし，権門，寺社，武士などの多くは南北両党に分かれて抗争したので南北朝内乱という。この内乱は政治機構，社会状態，文化事象などに重要な変化を及ぼしたが，それらの変化は〈南北朝時代〉の項にゆずり，以下主として戦乱の経過に限って述べる。　その経過は，両党の勢力の浮沈に則して，ほぼ次の3期に分けられる。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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