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Northern Court (Japan)The Northern Court, also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of 6 claimants to the throne of Japan, today considered not legitimate Emperors. The origins of the Northern Court go back to Emperor Go-Saga, the 88th Emperor, reigning from 1242 to 1246. Go-Saga was succeeded in turn by two of his sons, Go-Fukakusa and Kameyama. The descendants of these two competed with each other for the throne. Go-Fukakusa's descendants were referred to as the Jimyōin-tō while Kameyama's descendants were known as the Daikakuji-tō. In 1331, when Emperor Go-Daigo (from the Daikakuji-tō) staged the Kemmu Restoration and revolted against the Kamakura shogunate, the Shōgun responded by declaring Kōgon, Go-Daigo's second cousin once removed and the son of an earlier 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, Kōmyō, and two of his sons were supported by the new Ashikaga shoguns as the rightful claimants to the throne. Kōgon's family thus formed a northern court which was rivalled by the southern court of Go-Daigo and his descendents. In 1392, the Southern Court Emperor Go-Kameyama was defeated and abdicated in favor of Kōgon's great-grandson, Go-Komatsu, thus ending the divide. Go-Kameyama signed an agreement with Go-Komatsu to return to the old alternations on a ten-year plan. However, Go-Kameyama broke this promise, not only ruling for 20 years, but being succeeded by his own son, rather than by one from the former Southern Court. Because they were the ancestors of all the subsequent emperors, the Northern Court was for centuries afterward officially described as the true Imperial Family. However, since 1911, the Japanese government has declared the southern claimants were actually the rightful emperors, making these six officially pretenders. The Northern Pretenders were: The Southern Court Emperors were: * Go-Kameyama 1383-1392
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