Nakasendai Rebellion

In the summer of 1335—the second year of the Kenmu era—a transformation point in Japanese history unfolded in the mountains of Shinano Province when a rebellion broke out. Following the fall of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333, Hōjō Takatoki, the ruling lord of the Hōjō clan, took his own life, and the Kamakura shogunate closed its doors after 150 years of history. Yet his young son, Hōjō Tokiyuki—a boy still in his early teens—survived, hidden away in the mountains of Suwa. This boy was the protagonist of the "Nakasendai Rebellion."

The Kenmu Restoration and Warrior Discontent

In 1333, Emperor Go-Daigo, with the aid of Ashikaga Takauji and Nitta Yoshisada, overthrew the Kamakura shogunate and established the "Kenmu Restoration." Yet this new regime pursued policies that favored court nobles over warriors, generating friction within warrior society. Unfair distribution of rewards, interference with the jitō land steward system, and administration that gave priority to court nobles—the grievances of the warriors had already reached a breaking point by 1335.

This discontent within warrior society was also reflected in blade culture. The Kenmu period was an era when warriors demanded political participation through their "right to bear swords." The sword was a warrior's proof of status, and bearing one was linked to political authority. Emperor Go-Daigo's court-centered government was perceived as disregarding the martial authority symbolized by the warrior's blade.

Hōjō Tokiyuki's Uprising and Lightning-Fast Advance

In the seventh month of 1335, Hōjō Tokiyuki, with the support of Suwa Yorishige, raised his banner in Shinano Province. Tokiyuki's forces, proclaiming the "revival of the former Hōjō," rallied segments of eastern warriors who harbored nostalgia for Kamakura shogunal rule and advanced rapidly southward.

The forces of Ashikaga Tadayoshi—the Kenmu regime's shogunal deputy dispatched to Kamakura and Takauji's brother—suffered defeats at every location, and Tokiyuki's army advanced at astonishing speed into Musashi Province. By late July, Tokiyuki's forces successfully occupied Kamakura. Barely two years after the Hōjō clan's destruction, Kamakura was once again placed beneath the Hōjō banner—though brief, this event delivered a profound shock to warrior society in the eastern provinces.

Ashikaga Tadayoshi fled Kamakura and, killing Crown Prince Moriyoshi (the son of Emperor Go-Daigo and imprisoned for his discontent with the Kenmu regime), retreated. The blade of Crown Prince Moriyoshi was regarded as symbolic of "imperial authority," yet amid the chaos of this rebellion, it scattered and was lost.

Blades and Warriors—The Arms of the Nakasendai Rebellion

Shinano and Musashi provinces, where the Nakasendai Rebellion unfolded, had been centers of blade culture throughout the Kamakura period. In particular, the Suwa region of Shinano was an iron-producing area, and master smiths with ties to the Suwa Grand Shrine had long been active there. Many of the swords borne by Hōjō Tokiyuki's soldiers were likely forged by craftsmen from this region.

The blades of the Kenmu period represented a time when the vigorous style of the Nanbokuchō era was beginning to emerge within the old blade tradition. As the Nanbokuchō turbulence approached, sword smiths began shifting toward mass production, and durability in actual combat came to be valued over decorative refinement. The "Nanbokuchō style"—with its large, bold and vigorous appearance—reflected both the robust spirit of the warriors of that age and the ferocity of battlefield warfare.

Ashikaga Takauji's Unilateral Mobilization and the Dawn of the Nanbokuchō Division

Upon receiving news of Kamakura's fall, Ashikaga Takauji mobilized eastward without waiting for the Emperor's permission. Though Takauji sought an appointment as Shogun from the Emperor, he moved his forces despite lacking approval.

The Takauji forces moved swiftly southward, and in the eighth month of 1335, they defeated Tokiyuki's army and reclaimed Kamakura. Hōjō Tokiyuki fled (continuing resistance in various locations thereafter), and the Nakasendai Rebellion was suppressed within roughly twenty days.

Yet the true crisis lay ahead. Takauji ignored Emperor Go-Daigo's order to return to the capital, remained in Kamakura, and began conducting independent rule. This became the trigger for a break with the Kenmu regime, and the following year, when Emperor Go-Daigo fled to Yoshino to establish the Southern Court, it escalated into the tumultuous Nanbokuchō Wars.

What the Nakasendai Rebellion Left to Blade History

The Nakasendai Rebellion was a "watershed" in Japan's medieval history. At this juncture, Japan entered the Nanbokuchō turbulent period, and an era of armed conflict lasting roughly sixty years ensued.

This period of turbulence marked a critical turning point in the history of the Japanese blade. The fierce internal warfare of the Nanbokuchō forced sword smiths into large-scale production, and demand for the sword as a weapon surged dramatically. It was in this era that larger weapons—the long blade, the oversized sword, the naginata—developed to meet the needs of massed warfare on the battlefield, and blade forms diversified to match the shifting styles of combat.

The Nakasendai Rebellion, sparked by the uprising of the young warrior Hōjō Tokiyuki, thrust Ashikaga Takauji—the reformer of an age—into the foreground of history. In the history of Japanese blades, it is remembered as an event that accelerated the transition to "blades of the turbulent age," and thus stands recorded in the annals of blade culture.