When his father, Takauji, went to the capital as a general commander of the Kamakura Shogunate's army to suppress the force that Emperor Godaigo was raising on Mt. Senjo in Houki Province, he and his mother, Touko, were held in Kamakura as hostages of the Hojo clan.
伯耆国船上山にて挙兵した後醍醐天皇討伐のために父・尊氏が鎌倉幕府軍の総大将として上洛した際、母・登子とともに北条氏の人質として鎌倉へ留め置かれる。