The reason that the Ashikaga shōguns established themselves at Muromachi in Kyōto, the civil capital, was that the seat of the Southern dynasty being near and the tide of battle sweeping again and again as far as Kyōto, the exigencies of the struggle made it necessary that the imperial city should also be the headquarters of the feudal government. Takauji had to intrust the administration of the eastern provinces to his son Motouji, as the regent (_kwanryō_) at Kamakura, and also to another general the control of the southern island of Kiushū. At first the supporters of the Southern sovereign kept busy the regent of Kamakura and the warden of Kiushū, who remained loyal to the Muromachi shōgun so long as this trouble lasted. It might have been foreseen, however, that in time of peace the vantage ground occupied by these magnates would be turned against the interests of the overlord. Nor did the central government at Muromachi promise a greater security to the will of the Ashikaga, for its functions were performed by men who, unlike several of Yoritomo's counselors, were at the same time the greatest landlords of the country. They might readily defy an effete shōgun and lapse into a bitter quarrel among themselves. Special circumstances were not wanting to hasten the coming of the logical consequences of the careless organization of the Ashikaga feudalism. It so happened that the third shōgun, Yoshimitsu, under whom the rule of the Ashikaga seemed to have risen to its height, was also arbitrary and vainglorious. He ceded the shōgunate, in 1393, to his son Yoshimochi, and received for himself the appointment of chief minister of state (_daijō daijin_), an unprecedented procedure for a feudal overlord since Yoritomo. After a brief interval, however, he resigned that post also, and having adopted the tonsure, nominally retired from official life. Always prone to luxury, he now more freely than ever gave the reins to his fancy for pomp and splendor. Whenever he moved abroad, he was accompanied by an escort large enough for an ex-emperor, and such was the magnificence of his mansion at Muromachi and so great the profusion of blossoming trees among which it stood, that men gave to it the name of the Palace of Flowers. After his retirement from official life he established his residence at Kitayama, where he erected a three-storied house with timbers and stones of the finest quality, contributed by the territorial magnates of the land. Its columns, doors, alcoves, ceilings, and floors were decorated with gold dust. Nothing could exceed the elegance and splendor of this edifice. The people called it "Kinkaku-ji," or the golden temple, and it stands to this day one of the most interesting relics of ancient Kyōto. On the completion of this gorgeous mansion, Yoshimitsu--or Tenzan Dogi as he was then called--took up his residence there, and thither all the magnates of state had to repair in order to obtain his sanction for administrative measures.