In 1331, Go-Daigo plotted to seize power through force and overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate by encouraging his vassals and other anti-Hōjō samurai to rebel.

[1] Go-Daigo's son Prince Morinaga continued to fight against the Kamakura, leading his father's supporters alongside Kusunoki Masashige.

[1] In 1333, Go-Daigo escaped Oki two years after his exile with the help of Nawa Nagatoshi (名和長年), raising a new Imperial army at Mount Senjō in Hōki Province, in the modern town of Kotoura, Tottori Prefecture.

He defeated the forces of Sasaki Kiyotaka at the Battle of Mount Senjōsan and gained the support of many warlords in western Japan against the Hōjō.

Many samurai who had fought for Go-Daigo were dissatisfied with their rewards, and his pursuit of consolidating Imperial power led to their subsequent exclusion from political affairs, whereas they had held significant influence under the shogunate.