Kō no Morofuyu

Kō no Morofuyu (高師冬; died 13 February 1351) was a Japanese samurai lord who, together with his cousins Moronao and Moroyasu, was one of shogun Ashikaga Takauji's most important generals during the Nanboku-chō period. The next year he was made Kantō shitsuji, counsellor to Ashikaga Yoshiakira, holding the post until 1344. He proved successful in this role against both the pro-Ashikaga Tadayoshi Uesugi clan and against Hitachi Province's Kitabatake Chikafusa, who was the main military force behind the Southern court. Since Motouji was then just a child, real power was in the hands of the two shitsuji Uesugi Noriaki and Morofuyu himself, men who were politically enemies. In 1350, during the so-called Kannō disturbance, a civil war that saw the two Ashikaga brothers fight each other, the differences between the two deepened past the breaking point. He remained with Takauji, while Noriaki defected and went with Tadayoshi. In 1351 he left Motouji in Kamakura to attack Noriaki. Defeated and pursued by his forces, he committed seppuku at in Kai Province.