Discuss the reasons for the declining power of the emperor during the period between 1180 and 1333.

Candidates will offer a considered and balanced review of the reasons for the declining power of the Emperor in Japan. Candidates may address a range of reasons for this shift in power including political, economic, cultural and geographic factors. Political reasons may include a discussion of the growing power of the samurai, the outcome of the Gempei War, the fact that military power lay almost exclusively in the hands of the military clans outside the capital of Kyoto and the succession crises in court. Economic reasons may include the growing economic strength of the clan leaders in the countryside while the court was experiencing a decline in income. There was also a shift in cultural focus as the gentlemen of the court were no longer held in such high esteem and were replaced in status by the samurai and their codes of honour.