Kusunoki Masanori

　

Kusunoki Masanori (楠木 正儀^?, died 1390) was a samurai who fought for the Southern Court in Japan's Nanboku-chō Wars, and is famed for his skills as a leader and military strategist, though he later sought a diplomatic solution and was regarded a traitor by many of his comrades. He was the brother of Kusunoki Masatsura and son of Kusunoki Masashige.

Alongside his brother Masatsura, Nitta Yoshisada and a number of other great generals, he battled the Ashikaga forces in Kamakura, and a number of other occasions, including the defense of Kyoto; he also headed for a time the loyalist base at Tōjō in Kawachi province.

Following the death of his brother at the 1348 battle of Shijōnawate, Masanori continued to oppose the armies of the Northern Court, Ashikaga clan pretenders to the throne. In 1352, he helped lead Loyalist forces in the capture of Kyoto.

In 1353, as Yamana Tokiuji, a recent convert to the loyalist cause, approached the capital, Masanori led a force to seize certain neighboring areas such as Tennōji and Yahata, while other forces mobilized in other directions. In July of that year, he pressed north from Yahata, towards Kyoto, burning towns as he went, while Yamana approached from Nishiyama to the west of the city. Though they managed to seize the capital, Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiakira escaped, and the loyalists were driven from the city the following month. Regrouping and continuing the war, Masanori fought Yoshiakira again two years later, at Kaminami, just west of Yamazaki, where both sides suffered heavy losses, and Masanori and Yamana were eventually forced to retreat.

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