Born a son of Kitabatake Moroshige, a court noble descended from Emperor Murakami. The family was known for learning, and Chikafusa rose to high rank young.
Deeply trusted by Emperor Go-Daigo, he was entrusted with raising Prince Yoshinaga.
When Prince Yoshinaga, whom he had raised with devotion, died young, he took vows at 37 in his grief—yet he never left politics.
When the Kenmu Restoration began, his eldest son Akiie became governor of Mutsu and escorted the young Prince Noriyoshi to the northeast. Chikafusa went too, helping organize the northern warriors.
When Go-Daigo moved to Yoshino, Chikafusa became a mainstay of the Southern Court.
His eldest son Akiie fell at the Battle of Ishizu in Izumi, at 20. Chikafusa sailed east to rally allies, but a storm scattered the fleet and he came ashore in Hitachi (Ibaraki).
At Oda castle in Hitachi he wrote the Jinnō Shōtōki, a history arguing that the Southern Court was the legitimate imperial line. Opening with "Great Japan is the land of the gods," it profoundly influenced later ages. That year Go-Daigo died.
After some five years of fighting in the Kantō, his strongholds fell one after another and he returned to Yoshino, becoming the center of Southern Court government.
Kō no Moronao of the Ashikaga burned Yoshino, and the Southern Court moved deeper into the mountains, to Anō (Nara).
During the Kannō Disturbance Takauji submitted to the Southern Court, briefly uniting the realm under its emperor (Shōhei unification). The next year Southern forces entered Kyoto but were soon driven out.
He died at Anō at 61, having devoted his life to sustaining the Southern Court.
Musō SosekiAkamatsu Enshin (Norimura)Emperor Go-DaigoKusunoki MasashigeSasaki DōyoKō no MoronaoNitta YoshisadaAshikaga Takauji
People of the Muromachi period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.