The Ashikaga shogunate was split into two competing factions, one led by the Shogun Takauji and his steward Moronao KO, and the other by Takauji's brother Tadayoshi; the relationship between the two factions gradually worsened, eventually escalating into an internal feud known as the Kano Incident in the Kano period, in 1350.
足利幕府の政務は将軍尊氏と足利家執事の高師直、将軍弟の直義の二頭体制で行われていたが、両者の関係の悪化により1350年からの観応年間には観応の擾乱と呼ばれる内部抗争に発展する。