The Story of the Japanese People 01234 [The Very End of the Northern and Southern Courts Period] Go-Komatsu Becomes the 100th Emperor
From a modern perspective, this is a milestone as the "100th Emperor," but since the way of counting was slightly different at the time, it is unclear how Emperor Go-Komatsu himself perceived his own succession number. At the time, Empress Jingu was likely counted, while Emperor Kobun and Emperor Chukyo were likely excluded, and it is also unclear how it was considered natural to count the Northern and Southern Courts.
On October 25, Genchu 9 / Meitoku 3 (1392), the Northern Court sent Ouchi Yoshihiro and 45 palanquin bearers to Yoshino to welcome Emperor Go-Kameyama.
On October 28, Emperor Go-Kameyama departed Yoshino carrying the Three Sacred Treasures. Since there is no evidence that his older brother, the Retired Emperor Chokei, accompanied him to the capital, it is likely that the Retired Emperor did not agree to the unification and fled somewhere else.
On the 2nd day of the intercalary 10th month, Emperor Go-Kameyama entered Daikaku-ji Temple in Saga. It is said that the procession was a lonely one, consisting of fewer than 60 people. The Southern Court must have been financially bankrupt and unable to secure enough people to organize a proper procession.
On the 5th day of the intercalary 10th month, Northern Court nobles such as Hino Sukenori went to Daikaku-ji, received the Three Sacred Treasures, and transported them to the Northern Court's imperial palace at Tsuchimikado Higashinotoin. Originally, the peace conditions stipulated that the treasures would be handed over after performing the "ceremony of ceding the country," but no such ceremony was specifically held.
Currently, the Southern Court is considered legitimate, and the Northern Court emperors are not included in the list of successive emperors. Emperor Chokei, the 3rd of the Southern Court, is the 98th, and Emperor Go-Kameyama, the 4th of the Southern Court, is the 99th. The Northern Court emperors from the 1st, Emperor Kogon, to the 5th, Emperor Go-Enyu, are not counted, and it is considered that the 6th Northern Court Emperor, Go-Komatsu, received the abdication from Go-Kameyama and ascended the throne as the 100th Emperor. Emperor Go-Komatsu ascended the throne as the 6th Northern Court Emperor in Eitoku 2 (1382), but that was treated as invalid, and he ascended the throne again in Meitoku 3 (1392) as the 100th Emperor.
After abdicating, Emperor Go-Kameyama became a monk and lived at Daikaku-ji, where he was called "Daikaku-ji-dono" rather than "Daikaku-in." In other words, he did not receive the status of a retired emperor.
Of the three conditions for unification, the first, the ceremony of ceding the country, was not performed, and the second, "from now on, the two lineages will ascend the throne alternately," was also not fulfilled. As will be detailed later, the Jimyoin-to lineage continued to ascend the throne long after Emperor Go-Komatsu. However, there are traces of Yoshimitsu frequently visiting Go-Kameyama out of consideration, and since the second condition was broken after Yoshimitsu's death, Yoshimitsu himself may have intended to fulfill the promise.
Regarding the third condition, the division of manors, it was partially fulfilled, but the Southern Court's share was unfairly small.
Emperor Go-Kameyama was, so to speak, deceived into handing over the Three Sacred Treasures to the Northern Court, but in March of Oei 9 (1402), ten years later, he told Yoshida Kaneatsu:
"The reason I decided to unify was to end the long-standing conflict and remove the worries of the people."
He may have thought that if it would end the turmoil, it was acceptable to be deceived.
After Yoshimitsu's death, Go-Kameyama returned to Yoshino due to dissatisfaction with the shogunate. He must have had no place in the shogunate after Yoshimitsu was gone.