However, in 1268, after Tokiyori died, a sovereign letter from the Mongolian Emperor ordering submission to the Mongolian Empire was delivered to Japan, which led to the attack by the Mongolian army in 1274, following which the regent Tokimune HOJO, who was Tokiyori's son, murdered his older paternal half-brother, Tokisuke HOJO, while there were also signs of conflict between the Retired Emperor Gofukakusa and Emperor Kameyama in the imperial court, and all these events suggested signs of a civil war.
ところが時頼没後の文永5年（1268年）にはモンゴル帝国から臣従を要求する国書が届けられて元寇の到来に至り、続いて国内では時頼の遺児である執権北条時宗が異母兄北条時輔を殺害し、朝廷では後深草上皇と亀山天皇の対立の様相を見せ始めるなど、内乱の兆しを思わせる事件が発生した。