Kasuga Akikuni

Sakon'e no chūjō · Jijū

Kasuga Akikuni (春日顕国, died 1344) was a warrior nobleman of the Kasuga branch of the Murakami-Genji, one of the principal military leaders of the Southern Court in the Kantō at the beginning of the Nanboku-chō period. Serving first Kitabatake Akiie and then Kitabatake Chikafusa, he conducted numerous attacks between 1335 and 1341 against strongholds held by Ashikaga supporters in the provinces of Hitachi and Shimotsuke. In 1341 he established himself at Daihō Castle, the base of the Shimotsuma clan, which, together with Seki Castle, where Chikafusa resided, formed the Southern Court's headquarters in the Kantō. After the fall of both castles in 1343, he remained in the region to try to raise new troops, but was captured together with several members of his family and executed in 1344.