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Indecision That Burned Kyoto to the Ground — Yoshimasa and the Onin War

Yoshimasa's indecision over his successor triggered the Onin War (1467-1477), which burned Kyoto for 11 years and ushered in the Warring States period. Even as the capital burned, Yoshimasa immersed himself in the arts.

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Yoshimasa’s indecision over his successor — first naming his brother, then having a son with his wife Hino Tomiko — split the great daimyo into two camps under Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sozen. The resulting Onin War (1467-1477) burned Kyoto for 11 years, collapsed shogunal authority, and ushered in the century-long Warring States period. Even as the capital burned, Yoshimasa pursued the arts.

Ginkakuji — the aesthetic ideal Yoshimasa built at Higashiyama to escape the flames of the Onin War

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Hell scroll (reference) — evoking the devastation as most of Kyoto burned in the Onin War, the thousand-year capital laid waste

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Dry garden at Ginkakuji — though Yoshimasa brought on the chaos of the Warring States, his aesthetics laid the foundation of Japanese culture

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

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Key Figures

Ashikaga Yoshimasa