15th-century civil war in Japan
The
?nin War
(
?仁の?
,
?nin no Ran
)
, also known as the
Upheaval of ?nin
and
?nin-Bunmei war
,
was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the
Muromachi period
in Japan.
?nin
refers to the
Japanese era
during which the war started; the war ended during the
Bunmei
era. A dispute between a high official,
Hosokawa Katsumoto
, and a regional lord,
Yamana S?zen
, escalated into a nationwide civil war involving the
Ashikaga shogunate
and a number of
daimy?
(
大名
, feudal lords)
in many regions of Japan.
The war initiated the
Sengoku period
, "the Warring States period." This period was a long, drawn-out struggle for domination by individual
daimy?
, resulting in a mass power-struggle between the various houses to dominate the whole of Japan.
Origin
[
edit
]
The
?nin
conflict began as a controversy over who would succeed
sh?gun
Ashikaga Yoshimasa
. In 1464, Yoshimasa had no heir. He persuaded his younger brother,
Ashikaga Yoshimi
, to abandon the life of a monk, and named him heir. In 1465, the unanticipated birth of a son to Yoshimasa put these plans in question. The infant,
Yoshihisa
, led to a succession crisis with two competing factions. On one side was the
sh?gun
and his brother, together with the
sh?gun's
deputy, Hosokawa. On the other side was Yoshihisa's mother,
Hino Tomiko
, and her ally Yamana, who was the governor of several provinces.
[5]
: 220
[6]
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 S?zen
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 S?zen
and other daimyo from various regions.
[7]
[8]
In 1467, these conflicts finally led to the ?nin 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 S?zen 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]
Battles
[
edit
]
"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."
Mary Elizabeth Berry's reflection on the ?nin War's chaotic nature
Hosokawa's Eastern Army of about 85,000 and Yamana's Western Army of about 80,000 were almost evenly matched when mobilized near Kyoto. The fighting started in March when a Hosokawa mansion was burned. Then in May 1467, a Yamana mansion was attacked. In July, according to Sansom, Yoshimasa appointed Hosokawa commanding general in an attempt to "chastise the rebel" Yamana. Sansom states "heavy fighting continued throughout July" and "several hundred large buildings were destroyed, and destruction continued day after day". Hosokawa was soon cornered in the northeast portion of Kyoto around his mansion, while Yamana controlled the south and west. Yamana received 20,000 reinforcements under
?uchi Masahiro
in September. However, Sansom states Hosokawa was able to bring the "sovereign and the abdicated Emperor" to the Bakufu from the Emperor's Palace, before it was seized by Yamana with 50,000 men. Hosokawa then received Akamatsu troops as reinforcements. On 1 November, Yamana was able to capture the
Sh?koku-ji
after bribing a monk. Sansom states "The chronicles of the time paint a dreadful picture of the carnage", and "the two adversaries faced one another without action for the rest of the year".
[5]
: 220?225
Hosokawa attempted an attack on New Years Day, and then again in April, but for the most part "the two armies now remained glaring at one another month after month". A central trench ten feet deep and twenty feet wide separated the two armies. Several monasteries were burned, including the
Tenry?-ji
. Finally, Yoshimi went to the side of Yamana, forcing the
sh?gun
to name his son Yoshihisa as his heir in 1469. In a strange switch of allegiances, the war became one of brother against brother. The
Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado
stripped "Yoshimi of his court ranks" and declared him a rebel.
[5]
: 226?227
Both Yamana S?zen and Hosokawa Katsumoto died in 1473, and even then the war continued on, with neither side able to figure out how to end it. However, eventually the Yamana clan lost heart as the label of "rebel" was at last having some effect.
?uchi Masahiro
, one of the Yamana generals, eventually burnt down his section of Kyoto and left the area on 17 December 1477.
[5]
: 227?228
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
sh?gun
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]
The ?nin War, and the
sh?gun
'
s complacent attitude towards it, "sanctioned" private wars and skirmishes between the other
daimy?
. No part of Japan escaped the violence. Although the battles in Kyoto had been abandoned, the war had spread 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 was to have serious consequences. In 1485, the peasantry and
jizamurai
(lesser samurai ? mostly armed peasants) had had enough, and revolted. They organized the
Yamashiro ikki
and forced the clan armies to leave the province. The ikki became a powerful force, much more than simply an armed mob. By 1486 they had even set up a provisional government for Yamashiro province.
[5]
: 236?237
Other ikki would form and appear throughout other parts of Japan, such as
Kaga Province
, where a sect of the
J?do Shinsh?
Buddhists, the
Ikk?
, started their own revolt during the ?nin War after being enlisted by one of Kaga's most prominent warlords,
Togashi Masachika
. The Ikk?, who had a complex relationship with the
J?do Shinsh?
leader
Rennyo
, appealed to the common peasants in their region, and inevitably formed the
Ikk?-ikki
. By 1488 the Ikk?-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
]
The uprising of the Ikk?-ikki and the Yamashiro-ikki formed part of the general outbreak of civil war. Sansom states some refer to this as
gekokuj?
(roughly "the low oppress the high"), or a "disturbed social order". Sansom further states, "The frequent risings of the fifteenth century were expressions of popular discontent in which peasants took part".
[5]
: 235
Aftermath
[
edit
]
After the ?nin War, the Ashikaga
bakufu
completely fell apart; for all practical purposes, the
Hosokawa
family was in charge and the Ashikaga
sh?guns
became their puppets. When Yoshimi's son
Yoshitane
was made
sh?gun
in 1490, the Hosokawa
Kanrei
(deputy) soon put him to flight in 1493 and declared another Ashikaga, Yoshizumi, to be
sh?gun
. In 1499, Yoshitane arrived at Yamaguchi, the capital of the ?uchi, and this powerful family threw its military support behind Yoshitane.
[
citation needed
]
In 1507, the Kanrei
Hosokawa Masamoto
was assassinated and in 1508, Yoshizumi left Kyoto and the
?uchi
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 Masamoto, 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 ?nin War; these wars were more about control over puppet governments than they were about high ideals or simply greed for territory.
[5]
: 233
The
Hosokawa
family controlled the shogunate until 1558 when they were betrayed by a vassal family, the
Miyoshi
. The powerful ?uchi were also destroyed by a vassal,
M?ri Motonari
, in 1551.
[5]
: 234
By the end of the Warring States period only a dozen or so warlord families remained. The most important development to come out of the ?nin War was the ceaseless civil war that ignited outside the capital city.
[5]
: 235
Hosokawa tried to foment civil strife in the ?uchi domains, for instance, and this civil strife would eventually force ?uchi to submit and leave. From the close of the ?nin War, this type of civil strife, either vassals striving to conquer their
daimy?
or succession disputes drawing in outside
daimy?
, was endemic all throughout Japan.
Scholars disagree on the appropriateness of the term "
Warring States period
" (which is the Chinese term borrowed by the Japanese in calling this period
sengoku jidai
). Many argue that since Japan was essentially intact, the Emperor and shogunate remaining at least nominally in command of the whole country, and that it really wasn't a "warring states" period at all, but a "warring warlords" period.
[5]
: 234
Others such as Mark Ravina,
[14]
Mary Elizabeth Berry, and Conrad Totman argue that the
kuni
(provinces) were not unlike quasi-independent states, and that the term is thus more or less appropriate.
The cost for the individual
daimy?
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
[
edit
]
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 ?nin War, rather than World War II.
[
citation needed
]
?nin Ki
[
edit
]
The
?nin Ki
[5]
: 220
(?仁記) is a document written sometime from the end of the 15th century to the middle of the 16th century (i.e. some 20 to 80 years after the conflict), which describes the causes and effects of the
?nin
War. It illustrates in detail the strategies involved in the fighting, and its chief instigators,
Yamana S?zen
and
Hosokawa Katsumoto
, along with accounts of how the Onin War affected the city and its citizens:
"The flowery capitol which we thought would last forever to our surprise is to become a lair of wolves and foxes.
[5]
: 225?226
Even the North Field of Toji has fallen to ash ... Lamenting the plight of the many fallen acolytes, Ii-o Hikorokusaemon-No-Jou read a passage:
Nare ya shiru
Miyako wa nobe no
Y?-hibari
Agaru wo mite mo
Ochiru na-mida wa
Now the city that you knew
Has become an empty moor,
From which the evening skylark rises
While your tears fall.
[5]
: 226
"
[15]
Chronology
[
edit
]
The origins of the
?nin
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]
Precursors
[5]
: 218
Warfare begins
[5]
: 218
- 1467 Outbreak of the
?nin
War. Yamana is declared a rebel. In November, the
Sh?koku-ji
(
相?寺
[
ja
]
) is destroyed.
- 1468 Yoshimi goes over to
Yamana
's side.
- 1469 Yoshimasa names Yoshihisa his heir.
- 1471
Ikk?-ikki
Buddhist sect gains strength in the North.
Asakura Toshikage
becomes Constable (
shugo
) of
Echizen
.
[5]
: 247?250
- 1473 Yamana and Hosokawa die. Yoshimasa retires.
- 1477
?uchi clan
leaves Kyoto. End of the
?nin
War.
Sequel
[5]
: 218
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
Sansom, George (1961).
A History of Japan, 1334?1615
. Stanford University Press. p.
217
.
ISBN
0804705259
.
- ^
Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982)
Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron
, p. 331.
- ^
?仁の?
(in Japanese). Japan knowledge. Archived from
the original
on 29 September 2023
. Retrieved
14 March
2024
.
- ^
?仁の?
(in Japanese). Kotobank. Archived from
the original
on 25 December 2023
. Retrieved
14 March
2024
.
- ^
?仁の?
(in Japanese). The Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum Nagoya Touken World. Archived from
the original
on 14 March 2024
. Retrieved
14 March
2024
.
- ^
足利義視
(in Japanese). Kotobank. Archived from
the original
on 14 March 2024
. Retrieved
14 March
2024
.
- ^
Turnbull, Stephen. (1996).
The Samurai: A Military History
, p. 109.
- ^
Turnbull, p. 114.
- ^
Ravina, Mark (1995). "State Building and Political Economy in Early Modern Japan".
Journal of Asian Studies
, 54:4, 999?1022.
- ^
"
?仁記47 - 洛中大?けの事、その2
". Retrieved July 8, 2007. ? A complete version of Chapter 47 of the ?nin Ki in Japanese.
Archived
September 29, 2011, at the
Wayback Machine
Works cited
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
- Media related to
?nin War
at Wikimedia Commons