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SCENES AT A HERO'S SHRINE. 161
public honors given to Nitta's tomb. Let us see what
these were and why the name of this particular character
in history should rise to a new glory and this
tomb enjoy perpetual decoration day.
The successors of Yoritomo, the Hojo rulers who
ruled at Kamakura from A.D. 1219 to 1333, were not
content with division of the government, nor with
excess of rapacity, cruelty, or corruption. They
went so far as to fight against the Mikado and to send
him into exile. Then the white banner was raised,
and brave leaders, Ashikaga, Kojima, Kusunoki, and
others, at the head of thousands of enthusiastic volunteers,
marched to destroy the usurpers and to
place once more the emperor on his rightful throne.
The most prominent of these captains who loved the
white banner in revolt against the Hojo were Ashikaga
Takauji and Nitta Yoshisada, whose common
ancestor was Yoshi-iy^, the Minamoto chieftain.
Nitta took and burned Kamakura in 1333 A.D., and
when civil war broke out adhered unflinchingly to
the Mikado's cause, and not only at Hiogo but in
Echizen fought bravely against mighty odds until
his death in an ambuscade near Fukui in 1338.
But thirty-eight years old, he was the mirror of
chivalry and loyalty. His fidelity to the emperor,
amid all threats, bribes, and defeat, made him a
bright star in that galaxy of typical loyal men
whom the samurai almost worshiped as models. A
remarkable historical fact kept in mind by Nitta's
admirers was that for a few years, between A.D. 1333
and 1336, and chiefly through Nitta's victory, there