The imprisoned Emperor Go-Daigo escapes from the capital in 1337, the Sacred Treasures that he had handed over to the Ashikaga being counterfeit, and sets up the Southern Court among the mountains of Yoshino, beginning the Period of Northern and Southern Courts in which the Northern Dynasty in Kyōto and the Southern Dynasty in Yoshino face off against each other.

Go-Daigo orders Imperial Prince Kaneyoshi to Kyūshū and Nitta Yoshisada and Imperial Prince Tsuneyoshi to Hokuriku, and so forth, dispatching his sons all over, so that they can oppose the Northern Court.