Background
It is not certain whether he was born in 1301 or 1302. The Nitta, a warrior family descended from the Genji (Minamoto), had their base at the district of Nitta in the province of Kozuke.
新田 義貞
It is not certain whether he was born in 1301 or 1302. The Nitta, a warrior family descended from the Genji (Minamoto), had their base at the district of Nitta in the province of Kozuke.
In 1331, when Emperor Godaigo attempted to sieze power from the Kamakura shogunate, Yoshisada was one of a group of military leaders who were dispatched by the shogunate to restore control, but midway in the mission he returned to his home in Kozuke, raised a force of men, and joined Ashikaga Yoshiaki in attacking Kamakura instead, bringing about the overthrow of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333. In the sixth month of the same year, he joined the group centering about Emperor Godaigo in carrying out the so-called Kemmu Restoration, whereby the emperor was once more made the actual ruler of the country.
In 1335, when Ashikaga Takauji began a revolt at Kamakura, Yoshisada engaged him in battle at Take-no-shita in Hakone but was defeated. He continued the struggle against Ashikaga Takauji’s forces, encountering them in battle at various locations, but in 1338 he was defeated by the Ashikaga ally Shiba Takatsune in an engagement in Echizen and died in the combat.
