This week, we do a deep dive on the life of Ashikaga Yoshimasa and the lead up to the Onin War, the conflict that traditionally marks the end of Ashikaga rule over Japan. But how fair is it to point to Onin as a break with the past?
Sources
Berry, Mary Elizabeth. The Culture of Civil War in Kyoto.
Keene, Donald. Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavillion: The Creation of the Soul of Japan.
Sansom, George B. A History of Japan, 1334-1615.
Grossberg, Kenneth A. Japan’s Renaissance: The Politics of the Muromachi Bakufu.
Images
Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the shogun who presided over the Onin conflict.For long after the Onin War, the power politics surrounding it were a popular subject. Here, a kabuki play dramatizes the political cunning of Hosokawa Katsumoto, as he has a rival killed.Hatakeyama Masanaga; his succession dispute with his adoptive brother will help spark the Onin War.A marker showing the site of the first conflict between the two Hatakeyama brothers, which sparked the Onin war.A rough breakdown of the sides of the Onin conflict as of 1467. Blue represents the Yamana-allied families, Yellow Hosokawa-allied ones, and Green families that switched sides. You can see that while not all of Japan got involved, the central third of the country was embroiled int he conflict.One scene from the Onin War.Another Onin War scene; note the foot soldiers (ashigaru), who were blamed for much of the destructive looting by kuge chroniclers.
