Commerce in the Kamakura and Ashikaga/Muromachi Shogunates

Abstract

The Kamakura and Ashikaga periods from 1185 to nearly 1600 instituted some 500 years of shogun dominance in the Japanese empire. In the early years of the era, weak Japanese emperors continued to hold court at Kyoto on the western side of Honshu. During the first half of this era, from 1185 to 1333, a duplicate military de facto government under the shoguns operated from the seacoast village of Kamakura on the eastern side of Honshu; shogun-led forces fought several successful but costly battles against Mongol invaders, the last of which instilled a belief in divine protection in Japan.