Cloistered Emperor
In 1333, when the Southern Emperor Go-Daigo staged the Kenmu Restoration and revolted against the Hōjō Kamakura shogunate, the newly minted "shōgun" Ashikaga Takauji (ironically, by Emperor Go-Daigo himself) responded by declaring Emperor Kōgon, Go-Daigo's second cousin once removed and the son of an earlier emperor, Emperor Go-Fushimi of the Jimyōin-tō, as the new emperor. After the destruction of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333, Kōgon lost his claim, but his brother, Emperor Kōmyō, and two of his sons were supported by the new Ashikaga "shōguns" as the rightful claimants to the throne. Kōgon's family thus formed an alternate Imperial Court in Kyoto, which came to be called the Northern Court because its seat was in a location north of its rival. Cloistered Emperor Go-Daigo failed to control succession to the Imperial throne, whereby the Ashikaga "shōguns" were able to wrestle any remaining power away from position of Emperor. "Shōguns" ruled Japan until 1867.