Editing Sengoku period (section)

== Beginning of the Sengoku period ==
{{Further|Kyōtoku incident|Ōnin War}}
[[File:Shinnyodō engi, vol.3 (part).jpg|thumb|Painting depicting a battle during the [[Ōnin War]]]]
[[File:Onin-War-1467-1477-The-Battle-of-Onin-by-Utagawa-Yoshitora.png|thumb|19th century [[ukiyo-e]] by [[Utagawa Yoshitora]], depicting a battle of the war]]
The beginning of the Sengoku Period is considered to be the [[Kyōtoku incident]], [[Ōnin War]], or [[:ja:明応の政変|Meiō incident]].<ref name="jk061222"/><ref name="kotomei"/> 

The Kyōtoku Incident was a major war in the [[Kanto region]] that lasted from 1454 to 1482. The war began when [[Ashikaga Shigeuji]] of {{nihongo3||関東公方|[[Kantō kubō]]}}, the office of the Ashikaga shogunate in charge of the Kanto region, killed Uesugi Noritada of {{nihongo3||関東管領|[[:ja:Kantō Kanrei|Kantō kanrei]]}}, Kantō kubō's assistant. The various forces in the Kanto region divided and fought between the ''Kubō'' and ''Kanrei'' sides, with the Ashikaga shogunate supporting the ''Kanrei'' side.<ref name="jk061222"/>

[[Ashikaga Yoshimasa]], the 8th shogun, tried to strengthen the power of the shogun, but his close associates did not follow his instructions, leading to political chaos and increasing social unrest. Since he had no sons, he tried to install his younger brother [[Ashikaga Yoshimi]] as the ninth shogun, but when his wife [[Hino Tomiko]] gave birth to [[Ashikaga Yoshihisa]], a conflict arose among the ''shugo daimyo'' as to whether Yoshimi or Yoshihisa would be the next shogun. The [[Hatakeyama clan|Hatakeyama]] and [[Shiba clan|Shiba]] clans were also divided into two opposing factions over succession within their own clans, and [[Hosokawa Katsumoto]] and [[Yamana Sōzen]], who were father-in-law and son-in-law, were politically at odds with each other.<ref name="kyoto260523"/><ref name="nagoyao">{{cite web|url=https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/7077/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314154132/https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/7077/|script-title=ja:応仁の乱|language=ja|publisher=The Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum Nagoya Touken World|date=|archive-date=14 March 2024|access-date=14 March 2024}}</ref>

In 1467, these conflicts finally led to the [[Ōnin War]] (1467–1477) between the Eastern Army, led by Hosokawa Katsumoto and including [[Hatakeyama Masanaga]], Shiba Yoshitoshi, and Ashikaga Yoshimi, and the Western Army, led by Yamana Sōzen and including Hatakeyama Yoshinari, Shiba Yoshikado, and Ashikaga Yoshihisa. In 1469, the war spread to the provinces, but in 1473, Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen, the leaders of both armies, died. In 1477, the war ended when the western lords, including Hatakeyama Yoshinari and [[Ōuchi Masahiro]], withdrew their armies from Kyoto.<ref name="kyoto260523"/><ref name="nagoyao"/> 

The war devastated two-thirds of Kyoto, destroying many aristocratic and samurai residences, [[Shinto shrine]]s, and Buddhist temples, and undermining the authority of the Ashikaga shoguns, greatly reducing their control over the various regions. The war caused disarray which rippled across Japan.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to the military confrontations between separate states, there was also domestic fallout. In contempt of the shogunate, the daimyo who were subjected to remain in Kyoto instead returned to their [[Provinces of Japan|provinces]]. Consequentially, some of these daimyo found that their designated retainers or ''[[shugodai]]'', representatives of their states appointed in a daimyo's absence, rose in power either to seize control of the domain or proclaim independence as a separate domain.<ref name=":1" />

Thus began the Sengoku period, a period of civil war in which the ''daimyo'' of various regions fought to expand their own power.<ref name="kyoto260523"/><ref name="nagoyao"/> ''Daimyo'' who became more powerful as the shogunate's control weakened were called {{nihongo3||戦国大名|sengoku daimyo}}, and they often came from ''shugo daimyo'', ''Shugodai'', and {{nihongo3|local masters|国人|kokujin or kunibito}}. In other words, ''sengoku daimyo'' differed from ''shugo daimyo'' in that ''sengoku daimyo'' was able to rule the region on his own, without being appointed by the shogun.<ref name="shugosen"/>

Historians often consider the Ōnin War, a ten-year conflict wrought by political turmoil, to be the trigger for what would come to be known as the Sengoku period. This [[civil war]] would clearly reveal the Ashikaga shogunate's reduced authority over its shogunal administration, the provincial ''daimyo'' and Japan as a whole; thereby a wave of unbridled conflict would spread across Japan and consume the states in an age of war. Furthermore, weariness of war, socioeconomic unrest and poor treatment by aristocrats provoked the wrath of the peasant class. Farmers, craftsmen, merchants and even villages would organize uprisings (known as ''"ikki")'' against the ruling class. An extraordinary example is the [[Kaga Rebellion]], in which the local ''ikki'' had staged a large-scale revolt with the support of the [[True Pure Land Sect|True Pure Land sect]] (thereby establishing the term ''[[Ikkō-ikki|ikkō ikki]])'' and assumed control of the entire province of [[Kaga ikki|Kaga]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>Thornton, Sybil. "Ikkō Ikki." ''Japan at War'': ''An Encyclopedia'', edited by Louis G. Perez, ABC-CLIO, 2013, pp. 138–140. ''Gale eBooks'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2789100096/GVRL?u=psucic&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=b19f37eb. Accessed 21 Mar. 2023.</ref> It is suggested by both scholars and authors that "''these succession disputes still might not have led to war were it not for the shōgun's lack of leadership''."<ref name=":0">Streich, Philip. "Ōnin War (1467–1477)." ''Japan at War'': ''An Encyclopedia'', edited by Louis G. Perez, ABC-CLIO, 2013, pp. 296–297. ''Gale eBooks'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2789100191/GVRL?u=psucic&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=56a79408. Accessed 21 Mar. 2023.</ref><ref name=":1">Streich, Philip. "Civil Wars, Sengoku Era (1467–1570)." ''Japan at War'': ''An Encyclopedia'', edited by Louis G. Perez, ABC-CLIO, 2013, pp. 53–55. ''Gale eBooks'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2789100045/GVRL?u=psucic&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=3f87bd69. Accessed 21 Mar. 2023.</ref>