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I have just published a book that is very different from my usual purely military volumes!
For six decades during the fourteenth century Japan was contested by two rival imperial dynasties, whose supporters fought each other in the Nanbokuchō War, the “War Between the Northern and Southern Courts”. A peace settlement was achieved in 1392, but for almost a century after that a handful of determined followers of the defeated line maintained their leaders’ legitimacy as the rightful emperors.
There were notionally four successive members of the Later Southern Court, as this short-lived alternative lineage became known to history. The first was dragged from his temple in the middle of the night to be proclaimed the true emperor. The second was murdered. The third may not even have existed, and the fourth briefly became the tool of unrelated warring factions, only to be cruelly discarded by his sponsors. He then disappeared from history, taking both his name and the concept of the Later Southern Court with him.
Blending history, travel and folklore, this original and innovative work tells the full story of the tragic history of the Later Southern Court for the first time in any book published outside Japan. It combines the author’s accounts of many years of travel in the remote mountains of Yoshino, from where these alternative emperors ruled, with meticulous historical research into the conflicts their supporters fought on their behalf. Legends, local traditions and acts of commemoration that are still performed to this day are combined with more sober chronicles to paint a picture of a unique and romantic period in Japanese history that is richly illustrated with full colour photographs.
The reader will encounter the story of the severed head that was revealed when blood seeped up through the snow, and of the secret palace site that still lies hidden within one of Japan’s last virgin forests. Also revealed is the strong religious and economic backing that helped sustain their efforts for decades, because the territory contained some of Japan’s holiest places in the sacred mountains of Yoshino and Kumano where pilgrims flocked to important Buddhist temples. The Later Southern Court’s wealth was also helped by their control of mining areas for gold, silver and mercury from which rivers led to the open seas where trade flourished and pirates roamed.
The historical narrative finishes with the remarkable incident in 1945 when Japan’s surrender was questioned by a man who turned up out of nowhere and claimed to be the rightful emperor by virtue of his descent from these same ancient imperial fugitives of the Later Southern Court. The book itself concludes with the author’s final visit to the Yoshino area, where unexpected discoveries leave certain questions tantalisingly unanswered and a few mysteries still intact.
A unique combination of meticulous historical research and absorbing travel writing will ensure that In Search of Japan’s Lost Emperors will be read with pleasure by anyone interested in how Japan’s romantic past can live on in the folk memories and traditions of the present day.
