Since the late Kamakura period, old-established ruling powers including celebrated samurai families and court nobles suffered gradual deprivation of their vested interest by kokujin, merchants, and farmers, who had been gaining power along with the enhancement of productivity, and were in a consistent process of downfall.
鎌倉時代後期から、名門武家・公家を始めとする旧来の支配勢力は、生産力向上に伴い力をつけてきた国人・商人・農民などによって、その既得権益を侵食され没落の一途をたどっていた。