Marker at location of outbreak of Onin War

The Onin War (応仁の乱 Ōnin no Ran) was a civil war from 1467 to 1477 during the Muromachi period in Japan. A dispute between Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Souzen escalated into a nationwide war involving the Ashikaga shogunate and various daimyo. Onin War Muromachi period History of Japan Kyoto 1467 I took this photograph and contribute it to the public domain. ... Onin War Muromachi period History of Japan Kyoto 1467 I took this photograph and contribute it to the public domain. ... Events October 29 - Battle of Brusthem: Charles the Bold defeats Liege Beginning of the Sengoku Period in Japan. ... Events January 5 - Battle of Nancy - Charles the Bold of Burgundy is again defeated, and this time is killed. ... The Muromachi period (Japanese: 室町時代, Muromachi-jidai, also known as the Muromachi era, the Muromachi bakufu, the Ashikaga era, the Ashikaga period, or the Ashikaga bakufu) is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. ... Hosokawa Katsumoto ) (1430-1473) was one of the Kanrei, the Deputies to the Shogun, during Japans Muromachi Period. ... Yamana Souzen (山名宗全 1404-1473), originally Yamana Mochitoyo (山名持豊) before becoming a monk. ... The Ashikaga shogunate (Jp. ... Daimyo Matsudaira Katamori visits the residence of a retainer. ...

The war initiated the Sengoku jidai, "the Warring States period". This period was a long, drawn-out struggle for domination by individual daimyo, resulting in a mass power-struggle between the various houses to dominate the whole of Japan. It was during this time though, that there would emerge three individuals who would later be considered the three great daimyo of the Sengoku Period, and who would eventually unite Japan under one clan; they were Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Sengoku period (Japanese: 戦国時代, Sengoku-jidai) or Warring States period, was a period of civil war in the history of Japan that spans from the middle 15th to the early 17th centuries. ... Oda Nobunaga Oda Nobunaga (織田 信長 , June 23, 1534 - June 21, 1582) was a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. ... Hideyoshi in old age. ... Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (previously spelled Iyeyasu); 徳川 家康 (January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. ...

Outbreak

The Onin War began when Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa proclaimed his brother, Yoshimi, heir to the shogunate. Yoshimasa even dragged his brother out of a monastery to fulfill his proclamation. A year later, upon the birth of his son Yoshihisa, Yoshimasa changed his mind and decided his son was a better candidate. At the same time though, the Yamana and Hosokawa clans had spent years as rivals, interfering in the affairs of other families and clans with varying degrees of success. With two potential candidates to be the next shogun, it was a given that each family would choose either Yoshihisa or Yoshimi as who should be the next shogun. Yamana Souzen, referred to as the "Red Monk" for his horrendous temper and his membership of the priesthood, decided to support the infant heir, Yoshihisa. Hosokawa Katsumoto on the other hand, threw his clan behind Yoshimi, the current shogun’s brother. To make things worse, Yamana Souzen and Hosokawa Katsumoto were related - Souzen was Katsumoto's father-in-law. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The Hosokawa clan is one of strong Shugo Daimyo. ...

After mustering their armies, Yamana - with 80,000 samurai and mercenaries, and Hosokawa - with 85,000 men, met in Kyoto. At this time in history, these numbers were unbelievable, seeing how most European forces numbered only in the low tens of thousands. Neither side though, would risk starting the battle, for fear they would be considered a rebel in the eyes of the Shogun, thus inevitably losing support for them throughout Japan. The war did start though, after Yamana pulled in another 20,000 men, and when 'mysteriously', the Hosokawa mansion burnt to the ground. This act placed the unwanted title of "rebel" upon the Yamana Clan. Japanese samurai in armour, 1860s. ... A mercenary is a soldier who fights, or engages in warfare primarily for private gain, usually with little regard for ideological, national or political considerations. ... Kyoto Hall Mayor Yorikane Masumoto Address 〒604-8571 Kyoto-shi, Nakagyo-ku, Teramachi-Oike, 488 Phone number 075-222-3111 Official website: Kyoto City This page is about the city Kyoto. ... Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ...

Battles

By July 1467 the fighting had become serious, and this was when the Onin War officially started. By September, Kyoto's northern parts were in ruin, and everyone who could flee from Kyoto did. Events October 29 - Battle of Brusthem: Charles the Bold defeats Liege Beginning of the Sengoku Period in Japan. ...

Both Yamana Souzen and Hosokawa Katsumoto died in 1473, and even then, the war continued on, neither side figuring out how to end the war. However, eventually the Yamana clan lost heart as the label of "rebel" was at last having some effect. Ouchi Masahiro, one of the Yamana generals, eventually burnt down his section of Kyoto and left the area. It was by 1477, some ten years after the fighting had begun, that Kyoto was now 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 kill some of the other clan. Events Ottoman sultan Mehmed II defeats the White Sheep Turkmens lead by Uzun Hasan at Otlukbeli Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan invades the territory of neighboring Aztec city of Tlatelolco. ... ÅŒuchi Masahiro ) was a general in the ÅŒnin War, serving Yamana Souzen. ... Events January 5 - Battle of Nancy - Charles the Bold of Burgundy is again defeated, and this time is killed. ...

During this whole ordeal, the shogun did absolutely nothing. Ashikaga Yoshimasa was only slightly in-tune with reality; and he obviously didn't have a care what was going on in his country. While Kyoto was burning, he spent his time on poetry readings and other cultural activities and in planning the Ginkaku-ji, a Silver Pavilion to rival the Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, that his grandfather, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, had built. Ginkakuji Ginkakuji with stone garden Ginkaku-ji ), the Temple of the Silver Pavilion, is a Buddhist temple in the Higashiyama District of Kyoto, Japan. ... Kinkaku-ji from across the water Kinkakuji (Jp. ... Kinkaku, the Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji, originated as the villa of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. ...

The violence in Kyoto between Yamana and Hosokawa left a bad taste in the mouths of everyone in Japan. The Onin War, and the shogun’s complacent attitude torwards the war, "sanctioned" private wars and skirmishes between the other daimyo. It got to a point where no part of Japan was untouched by violence. The best way to settle any dispute, during this time, appeared to be by the sword. Although the battles in Kyoto had been abandoned, the war had spread over to the rest of Japan. In Yamashiro Province, the Hatakeyama clan had split into two parts that fought each other to a standstill. This stalemate, as well, was to have serious consequences. In 1485, the peasantry and ji-samurai (lesser samurai) just had enough and revolted. Setting up their own army (the 'ikki'), they forced the clan armies to leave the province. The ikki were becoming a powerful force, and not just armed mobs. By 1486 they had even set up a provisional government for Yamashiro province. Categories: Japan geography stubs | Old provinces of Japan ... The Hatakeyama (畠山) clan was a branch family descended from the Taira. ... // Events August 5-7 - First outbreak of sweating sickness in England begins August 22 - Battle of Bosworth Field is fought between the armies of King Richard III of England and rival claimant to the throne of England Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. ... The ji-samurai ), also known as kokujin ), were lords of smaller rural domains in feudal Japan. ... // Events Tízoc, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan dies of poisoning. ...

The ikki would form and appear throughout the other parts of Japan, such as Kaga Province, where a sect of the Amida Buddhists, the Ikko, started their own revolt during the Onin War after being enlisted by one of Kaga's most prominent warlords, Togashi Masachika. The Ikko were a sect who tried their hardest to appeal to the common peasants in their region, and it was only inevitable that they would form a sort of Ikko-ikki. By 1488 the Ikko-ikki of Kaga Province expelled Masachika and the other warlords, 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. The Ikko-ikki and the Yamashiro-ikki were revolutionary, in a process called Gekokujo ("the low oppress the high"). The article incorporates text from OpenHistory. ... The Big Buddha or Daibatsu in Kamakura, an image of Amitabha Amitābha is a celestial Buddha described in the scriptures of Mahāyāna Buddhism. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... The Ikko-shu (一向宗, ikkoushuu) is often mistakenly viewed as a small, militant, offshoot from Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. ... The Ikko-ikki (一向一揆), literally single-minded leagues, were mobs of Japanese warrior monks and farmers, who rose up against samurai rule in the 15th and 16th centuries. ... // Events February 3 - Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, at the tip of Africa becoming the first known European to travel this far south. ... The Seta River (also redundantly Setagawa River Japanese: 瀬田川 Seta-gawa) is the principal river in the Osaka Prefecture of Honshu island, Japan. ...

Aftermath

After the Onin War, the Ashikaga bakufu completely fell apart; for all practical purposes, the Hosokawa family was in charge and the Ashikaga shoguns became their puppets. When Yoshimi's son Yoshitane was made shogun in 1490, the Hosokawa Kanrei soon put him to flight in 1493 and declared another Ashikaga, Yoshizumi, to be shogun. In 1499, Yoshitane arrived at Yamaguchi, the capital of the Ouchi, and this powerful family threw its military support behind Yoshitane. In 1507, the Kanrei Hosokawa Matsumoto was assassinated and in 1508, Yoshizumi left Kyoto and the Ouchi restored the shogunate to Yoshitane. Thence began a series of strange conflicts over control of the puppet government of the shogunate. After the death of Hosokawa Matsumoto, his adopted sons Takakuni and Sumimoto began to fight over the succession to the Kanrei, but Sumimoto himself was a puppet of one of his vassals. This would characterize the wars following the Onin War; these wars were more about control over puppet governments than they were about high ideals or simply greed for territory. The Hosokawa family would control the shogunate until 1558 when they were betrayed by a vassal family. The powerful Ouchi were also destroyed by a vassal in 1551; by the end of the Warring States period only a dozen or so warlord families still remained standing. But the most important development to come out of the Onin War was the ceaseless civil war that ignited outside the capital city. Hosokawa tried to foment civil strife in the Ouchi domains, for instance, and this civil strife would eventually force Ouchi to submit and leave. From the close of the Onin War, this type of civil strife, either vassals striving to conquer their daimyo or succession disputes drawing in outside daimyo , was endemic all throughout Japan. So the Warring States period (which is the Chinese term borrowed by the Japanese in calling this period "sengoku jidai"), really wasn't a "warring states" period at all, but a "warring warlords" period. The cost for the individual daimyo was tremendous, and a century of conflict would so weaken the bulk of Japanese warlords, that the three great figures of Japanese unification, beginning with Oda Nobunaga, would find it easier to militarily assert a single, unified military government. The Ashikaga shogunate (Jp. ... The Hosokawa clan is one of strong Shugo Daimyo. ... Ashikaga Yoshitane (Jp. ... Events Tirant Lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell, Martí Joan De Galba is published. ... 1493 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... In Japanese history, a shogun (将軍 shōgun) was the practical ruler of Japan for most of the time from 1192 to the Meiji Era beginning in 1868. ... 1499 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1507 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1508 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Ōuchi family ) was one of the most powerful and important families during the reign of the Ashikaga shogunate in the 12th to 14th centuries. ... The Hosokawa clan is one of strong Shugo Daimyo. ... Events January 7 - French troops led by Francis, Duke of Guise take Calais, the last continental possession of England July 13 - Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines. ... Events Russia, Reforming Synod of the metropolite Macaire, Orthodoxy: introduction of a calendar of the saints and an ecclesiastical law code ( Stoglav ) Major outbreak of the sweating sickness in England. ... The Sengoku period (Japanese: 戦国時代, Sengoku-jidai) or Warring States period, was a period of civil war in the history of Japan that spans from the middle 15th to the early 17th centuries. ... Oda Nobunaga Oda Nobunaga (織田 信長 , June 23, 1534 - June 21, 1582) was a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. ...

See also

• List of wars
• Military history of Japan