Editing Kamakura (section)

===Muromachi and Edo periods===
[[File:Kamakura-fu.png|The Kamakura-fu at the time of its maximum expansion|left|thumb]]
The fall of Kamakura marks the beginning of an era in Japanese history characterized by chaos and violence called the [[Muromachi period]]. Kamakura's decline was slow, and in fact the next phase of its history, in which, as the capital of the [[Kantō region]], it dominated the east of the country, lasted almost as long as the shogunate had.<ref name="matsuov" /> Kamakura would come out of it almost completely destroyed.<ref name="papinot">Papinot (1906:247–248)</ref>

The situation in Kantō after 1333 continued to be tense, with Hōjō supporters staging sporadic revolts here and there.<ref name="sansom22" /> In 1335, [[Hōjō Tokiyuki]], son of last [[shikken|regent]] [[Hōjō Takatoki|Takatoki]], tried to re-establish the shogunate by force and defeated Kamakura's ''de facto'' ruler [[Ashikaga Tadayoshi]] in Musashi, in today's [[Kanagawa Prefecture]].<ref name="ksk24">Kamakura Shōkō Kaigijo (2008:24–25)</ref> He was in his turn defeated in [[Koshigoe]] by [[Ashikaga Takauji]], who had come in force from Kyoto to help his brother.<ref name="papinot" /><ref name="ksk24" />

Takauji, founder of the [[Ashikaga shogunate]] which, at least nominally, ruled Japan during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, at first established his residence at the same site in Kamakura where Yoritomo's {{transliteration|ja|[[Ōkura Bakufu]]}} had been, but in 1336 he left Kamakura in charge of his son [[Ashikaga Yoshiakira|Yoshiakira]] and went west in pursuit of Nitta Yoshisada.<ref name="sansom22">Sansom (1977:22)</ref> The Ashikaga then decided to permanently stay in Kyoto, making Kamakura instead the capital of the {{Nihongo||鎌倉府|[[Kamakura-fu]]}} (or {{Nihongo||関東府|Kantō-fu}}), a region including the provinces of [[Sagami Province|Sagami]], [[Musashi Province|Musashi]], [[Awa Province (Chiba)|Awa]], [[Kazusa Province|Kazusa]], [[Shimōsa Province|Shimōsa]], [[Hitachi Province|Hitachi]], [[Kōzuke Province|Kozuke]], [[Shimotsuke Province|Shimotsuke]], [[Kai Province|Kai]], and [[Izu Province|Izu]], to which were later added [[Mutsu Province|Mutsu]] and [[Dewa province|Dewa]], making it the equivalent to today's Kanto, plus the [[Shizuoka Prefecture|Shizuoka]] and [[Yamanashi Prefecture]]s.<ref name="matsuov">Matsuo (1997:V-VI)</ref>

[[File:Kanto Kubos-Mansion-in-Kamakura.jpg|thumb|A 1685 illustration from the [[Shinpen Kamakurashi]] of the lot where the {{transliteration|ja|[[kantō kubō]]}}'s mansion once stood. It was left empty in the hope that he may one day return.]]

Kamakura's ruler was called {{transliteration|ja|[[kantō kubō]]}}, a title equivalent to {{transliteration|ja|[[shōgun]]}} assumed by Ashikaga Takauji's son [[Ashikaga Motouji|Motouji]] after his nomination to {{transliteration|ja|Kantō [[kanrei]]}}, or deputy {{transliteration|ja|shōgun}}, in 1349.<ref name="kd">[[Kokushi Daijiten]] (1983:542)</ref> Motouji transferred his original title to the [[Uesugi clan|Uesugi family]], which had previously held the hereditary title of {{Nihongo||執事|[[shitsuji]]}}, and would thereafter provide the {{transliteration|ja|Kantō kanrei}}.<ref name="kd" /> Motouji had been sent by his father because this last understood the importance of controlling the Kantō region and wanted to have an Ashikaga in power there, but the administration in Kamakura was from the beginning characterized by its rebelliousness, so the {{transliteration|ja|shōgun}}'s idea never really worked and actually backfired.<ref name="jansen">Jansen (1995:119–120)</ref> The {{transliteration|ja|kantō kubō}} era is essentially a struggle for the shogunate between the Kamakura and the Kyoto branches of the Ashikaga clan, because both believed they had a valid claim to power.<ref>Matsuo (1997:119–120)</ref> In the end, Kamakura had to be retaken by force in 1454.<ref name="kd" /> The five {{transliteration|ja|kubō}} recorded by history, all of Motouji's bloodline, were in order Motouji himself, [[Ashikaga Ujimitsu|Ujimitsu]], [[Ashikaga Mitsukane|Mitsukane]], [[Ashikaga Mochiuji|Mochiuji]] and [[Ashikaga Shigeuji|Shigeuji]].<ref name="kd" /> The last {{transliteration|ja|kubō}} had to escape to [[Koga, Ibaraki|Koga]], in today's Ibaraki prefecture, and he and his descendants thereafter became known as the {{transliteration|ja|koga kubō}}. According to the [[Shinpen Kamakurashi]], a guide book published in 1685, more than two centuries later the spot where the {{transliteration|ja|kubō}}'s mansion had been was still left empty by local peasants in the hope he may one day return.

A long period of chaos and war followed the departure of the last {{transliteration|ja|kantō kubō}} (the [[Sengoku period]]). Kamakura was heavily damaged in 1454 and almost completely burned during the [[Siege of Kamakura (1526)]].<ref name="papinot" /> Many of its citizens moved to Odawara when it came to prominence as the home town of the [[Later Hōjō clan]].<ref name="Iso" /> The final blow to the city was the decision taken in 1603 by the [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa]] {{transliteration|ja|shōgun}} to move the capital to nearby [[Edo (Tokyo)|Edo]], the place now called Tokyo.<ref name="Iso" /> The city never recovered and gradually returned to be the small fishing village it had been before Yoritomo's arrival.<ref name="Iso" /> Edmond Papinot's ''Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan'', published in 1910 during the late Meiji period, describes it as follows:

{{blockquote|{{strong|Kamakura}}. A small town (7250 inh.) in [[Sagami Province|Sagami]] which for several centuries was the second capital of Japan.{{nbsp}}[...] At present there remain of the splendor of the past only the famous Daibutsu and the Tsurugaoka Hachiman temple.<ref>Papinot (1972:247)</ref>}}