1467 Japan

[Aila Gilb]

Thewar initiated the Sengoku period, "the Warring States period." This period was a long, drawn-out struggle for domination by individual daimyō, resulting in a mass power-struggle between the various houses to dominate the whole of Japan.

Tomiko sought political and military support to rule as regent until the maturity of her son, the future shogun Ashikaga Yoshihisa. She secured the support of Yamana Sōzen and other leaders of powerful samurai clans. In contrast to Tomiko and Yamana, Yoshimi had the support of the Hosokawa clan, a powerful clan that had a great influence on the shogunate court.

The cause of the war is often attributed to the struggle to succeed the 8th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, but in fact there were multiple causes. The real power of the Ashikaga shogunate was vested in a council of powerful daimyo, but the deaths of a number of influential daimyo and the intervention in politics of women close to the shogun's entourage led to chaos in the shogunate, and from 1441 on, the masses demanded a virtue decree every few years and destroyed the sake stores and warehouses that were the source of the shogunate's funding. Under these circumstances, in addition to the conflicts over the succession of the shogun, conflicts over the succession of the Hatakeyama clan and conflicts over the succession of the Shiba clan occurred simultaneously, all of which contributed to the war. According to the most popular theory, the main cause of the war was the struggle for succession between Hatakeyama Yoshinari and Hatakeyama Masanaga within the Hatakeyama clan, with the participation of Hosokawa Katsumoto, Yamana Sōzen and other daimyo from various regions.[7][8]

In 1467, these conflicts finally led to the Ōnin War between the Eastern Army, led by Hosokawa Katsumoto and including Hatakeyama Masanaga, Shiba Yoshitoshi, and Ashikaga Yoshimi, and the Western Army, led by Yamana Sōzen and including Hatakeyama Yoshinari, Shiba Yoshikado, and Ashikaga Yoshihisa.[9]

At first, the Eastern Army supported Ashikaga Yoshimi and the Western Army supported Ashikaga Yoshihisa as the next 9th shogun. However, Ashikaga Yoshimi, who disliked war, fled to Ise to seek refuge with the Kitabatake clan, and Ashikaga Yoshimi fell out with Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the 8th shogun. When the Western Army received Ashikaga Yoshimi in 1468, the Eastern Army came to support Ashikaga Yoshihisa. In other words, the successors supported by the Eastern and Western armies reversed within a year.[10]

"Just what, we must often ask, did the contenders want? I don't think they knew. Certainly, they understood the particular enmities and prizes that moved them. Surely, too, they perceived links between their immediate purposes and the deeper strains in every relationship of power and personal attachment. All else remained obscure."

By 1477, ten years after the fighting had begun, Kyoto was nothing more than a place for mobs to loot and move in to take what was left. Neither the Yamana clan nor the Hosokawa clan had achieved its aims, other than to whittle down the numbers of the opposing clan.[citation needed]

During this ordeal, the shōgun was not instrumental in alleviating the situation.[12] While Kyoto was burning, Ashikaga Yoshimasa spent his time in poetry readings and other cultural activities, and in planning Ginkaku-ji, a Silver Pavilion to rival Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion that his grandfather, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, had built.[13]

Other ikki would form and appear throughout other parts of Japan, such as Kaga Province, where a sect of the Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists, the Ikkō, started their own revolt during the Ōnin War after being enlisted by one of Kaga's most prominent warlords, Togashi Masachika. The Ikkō, who had a complex relationship with the Jōdo Shinshō leader Rennyo, appealed to the common peasants in their region, and inevitably formed the Ikkō-ikki. By 1488 the Ikkō-ikki of Kaga Province overthrew Masachika and took control of the province. After this they began building a fortified castle-cathedral along the Yodo River and used it as their headquarters.[citation needed]

After the Ōnin War, the Ashikaga bakufu completely fell apart; for all practical purposes, the Hosokawa family was in charge and the Ashikaga shōguns became their puppets. When Yoshimi's son Yoshitane was made shōgun in 1490, the Hosokawa Kanrei (deputy) soon put him to flight in 1493 and declared another Ashikaga, Yoshizumi, to be shōgun. In 1499, Yoshitane arrived at Yamaguchi, the capital of the Ōuchi, and this powerful family threw its military support behind Yoshitane.[citation needed]

The cost for the individual daimyō was tremendous, and a century of conflict so weakened the bulk of Japanese warlords that the three great figures of Japanese unification, beginning with Oda Nobunaga, found it easier to militarily assert a single, unified military government.

Kyoto was devastated by the war, not really recovering until the mid-16th century. The city has not seen such widespread destruction since, being spared the strategic bombing of Japanese cities during World War II. In Kyoto, "pre-war" refers to the Ōnin War, rather than World War II.[citation needed]

The origins of the Ōnin conflict are manifold. To say that the war began with a quarrel between angry warlords is too simplistic. The initial phase of this decade-long struggle "was only a spark which set fire to a broader conflagration". Without fully anticipating the consequences, the Muromachi government had loosened the restraints of tradition in Japanese society, which meant that "new energies were released, new classes were formed, and new wealth was created". As the shogunate's powerful figures competed for influence in Kyoto, the leading families in the provinces were amassing resources and growing more independent of centralized controls.[5]

Fully illustrated with colour maps and 50 images, this is an accessible introduction to the most violent, turbulent, cruel and exciting chapter in Japanese history.

In 1467 the Onin War ushered in a period of unparalleled conflict and rivalry in Japan that came to be called the Age of Warring States. In this book, Stephen Turnbull offers a masterly exposition of the wars, explaining what led to Japan's disintegration into rival domains after more than a century of relative peace; the years of fighting that followed; and the period of gradual fusion when the daimyo (great names) strove to reunite Japan under a new Shogun. Peace returned to Japan with the end of the Osaka War in 1615. Turnbull draws on his latest research to include new material for this updated edition, covering samurai acting as mercenaries, the expeditions to Korea, Taiwan and Okinawa, and the little-known campaigns against the Ainu of Hokkaido, to present a richer picture of an age when conflicts were spread far more widely than was hitherto realised.

With specially commissioned maps and all-new images throughout, this updated and revised edition provides a concise overview of Japan's turbulent Age of Warring States.

The Samurai began life as retainers to the nobility and over time became known as the main warrior body of Japan. Initially, they were cavalry, armed with hand weapons and missile weapons. Hard hitting and superbly trained they were a professional force...

The Samurai is an almost mythical warrior caste of Japanese history. Their most famous exploits occurred during the Sengoku period between 1467 and 1603. With the Emperor and the Shogun unable to control the many Daimyos, there was near constant fighting...

The biggest change in the Sengoku period (1467-1603) would affect the role of missile troops in battle. At the start of the period, these were all armed with the yumi (bow) and fought in coordinated units to pepper the enemy with their arrows. This bow,...

The Samurai are the almost mythical warrior caste of Japanese history. Their most famous exploits occurred during the Sengoku period between 1467 and 1603. With the Emperor and the Shogun unable to control the many daimyos, there was near constant...

The Sengoku Period (Sengoku Jidai, 1467-1568 CE), also known as the Warring States Period, was a turbulent and violent period of Japanese history when rival warlords or daimyo fought bitterly for control of Japan. The period falls within the Muromachi period (Muromachi Jidai, 1333-1573 CE) of Japanese medieval history when the Ashikaga shogun capital was located in the Muromachi area of Heiankyo (Kyoto). The beginning of the Sengoku period witnessed the Onin War (1467-1477 CE) which destroyed Heiankyo. The fighting that followed over the next century would eventually reduce the warlords to only a few hundred in number as the country was effectively carved up into princedoms. Eventually, one warlord rose above all his rivals: Oda Nobunaga, who set Japan on the road to unification from 1568 CE.

The Ashikaga Shogunate (1338-1573 CE) held control of the central part of Japan, and the bureaucracy at the capital was relatively efficient, but the outer provinces were left semi-independent as local warlords or daimyo ruled their own lands how they saw fit. Local officials and estate managers such as the jito found it much more difficult to secure the taxes the state was due from landlords who now had no fear of any government reprisals. The daimyo (literally 'Great Names') were feudal lords who commanded personal armies of samurai or anyone else willing to take up arms and defend their lord's estates and help expand it.

Some daimyo were aristocrats with a long heritage of land ownership, others were military governors (shugo) who went independent from the weakened shogunate, and there were also new lords who were the sons of tradesmen who had gathered together a small army to simply take by force the land of others. The phenomenon of new rulers overthrowing the established order and of branch families taking the estates of the traditional major clans became known as gekokujo or 'those below overthrowing those above.' The consequence of all the upheaval was that Japan became a patchwork of feudal estates centred around their individual castles and fortified mansions.

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