During the Meiji period, an imperial decree dated March 3, 1911, established that the legitimate reigning monarchs of this period were the direct descendants of Emperor Go-Daigo through Emperor Go-Murakami, whose Southern Court (南朝, nanchō) had been established in exile in Yoshino, near Nara.[2]
Until the end of the Edo period, the militarily superior pretender-emperors supported by the Ashikaga shogunate had been mistakenly incorporated in imperial chronologies despite the undisputed fact that the Imperial Regalia were not in their possession.[2]