蒙古侵入과 朝幕關係의 전개

Mongol invasion and relationship between the court and the bakufu

The relationship between the Court and the Bakufu before the Mongol invasion invasion was cooperative and interdependent under the Bakufu’s initiative. The Court, while keeping close ties with the Bakufu, had maintained its own power basis and made efforts to enhance its political position. However, that relationship began to change after the invasion as the Bakufu tried to interfere with the Court and strengthen its control over the Court’s authority on the excuse of national defense. Faced with inernal and external threats to its authority, the Court adopted the policy to ‘tokusei’(德政). ‘Tokusei’ was, on the one hand, a policy which aimed at political reform by strengthening the emperor’s power and, on the other hand, an ideology which called for a return to imperial rule. This development resulted from the fact that the aristocracy began to show a growing consciousness about rulership in the face of the external threats and a strong sense of resistance against the military class. However, little change was possible as far as the ideological acceptance of the existing Court-Bakufu relationship remained. In reality, the Court showed both defiant and dependent attitudes toward the Bakufu during the Mongol invasion. Therefore, ‘tobaku’(討幕) was almost impossible under the circumstances. It was Emperor Godaigo who aimed at ‘tobaku’ in spite of such barriers. His political inclination had its root in the ‘tokusei’ of the Court. Not only that, he adopted and used the distinction between the ruler and the courtier in Neo-Confucianism as political ideology. In other words, Emperor Godaigo tried to derive an ideological weapon of absolute imperial authority from that distinction and to overcome the ideological barrier in overthrowing the Bakufu. Thus, it is possible to trace a form of ideological radicalism in his thought, which in the end served as the source of his activism for overthrowing the establishment.