Taiheiki

The Taiheiki (太平記) (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a Japanese historical epic (see gunki monogatari) written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. It deals primarily with the Nanboku-chō, the period of war between the Northern Court of Ashikaga Takauji in Kyoto, and the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in Yoshino.

Original work

The latest English translation consists of 12 chapters of the 40-chapter epic, and spans the period from Go-Daigo's accession in 1318 (when Takauji was still a minor vassal of the Kamakura shogunate's Hōjō clan), through Takauji's betrayal of the Hōjō, and Go-Daigo's fall and expulsion by Takauji in 1333, to his return to Kyoto in 1338. Go-Daigo, unlike many of the emperors before him, sought to supersede the power of the shoguns, and to actually rule in addition to reigning in name. Thus began a series of battles, both military and political, as the Fujiwara family, who dominated the Imperial regency following the fall of the Hōjō, sought to retain influence. These battles, political maneuvers, and other developments of the time are related in the Taiheiki.