This week’s footnote is a continuation of last week’s discussion of the gozan, or five mountain system for the ranking of…
This week: the Muromachi bakufu comes crashing down, thanks to a combination of structural weaknesses and a shogun who is…
This week: Go-Daigo’s regime collapses, and a second samurai government, the Muromachi bakufu, emerges. How did Ashikaga Takauji successfully establish…
This week: the dramatic career of Emperor Go-Daigo, who brought down the Kamakura shogunate and ended Hojo rule in Japan.…
How can a man who was terrible as a ruler also be one of the most important tastemakers in Japanese…
This week, we trace the evolution of Noh theater over the course of the careers of its famous founders: the…
This week, we arrive at the end of the Ashikaga. What were the final 100 years of Ashikaga “rule” like,…
This week, we do a deep dive on the life of Ashikaga Yoshimasa and the lead up to the Onin…
This week we turn away from politics to discuss religion, art, and the economy during the age of the Ashikaga.…
This week: war in the Ashikaga age. Plus; the reign of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is generally considered the zenith of Ashikaga…