Emperor Go-Daigo

Emperor Go-Daigo (1288–1339) was the 96th emperor of Japan and the last emperor to hold real power until 1868. Made crown prince in 1308 under the Kamakura shogunate, he took the throne in 1318. He idealized Engi-era direct rule and chose his posthumous name to match.

In 1331 his plot was betrayed; he carried the Sacred Treasures to Mount Kasagi and was exiled to the Oki Islands. He escaped in 1333 and raised an army; Ashikaga Takauji, sent against him, changed sides and took Rokuhara, while Nitta Yoshisada destroyed the Hōjō at Kamakura. Back in Kyoto he began the Kenmu Restoration.

Disputes over rewards and the samurai's exclusion from politics wore it down. After Takauji won at Minatogawa in 1336, Go-Daigo surrendered the regalia, fled in 1337, called them counterfeit and founded the Southern Court at Yoshino. In 1339 he abdicated to Prince Noriyoshi and died the next day.