Of possible interest for wargaming.
"The Onin War was the catalyst that sparked the century long period of Japanese history known as the Sengoku Jidai, the "Age of the Country at War". What was originally a dispute between a father and his son-in-law became an eleven year war that trashed the once great city of Kyoto and sparked an era of bloodshed that is famous to this day.
The Onin War began because of the weakness of a Shogun. In 1464 Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the 8th member of the Ashikaga clan to hold the title Seii-Taishogun, a man renowned for his focus on tea party and poetry wanted to retire, but had no son. He decided to instead make his younger brother, Yoshimi, his heir. However Yoshimi was a Buddhist monk, so the Shogun had to first drag his brother of the monastery to make him his heir. One year later in 1465 the wife of Yoshimasa, Tomiko, bore him a son at last. Overjoyed the Shogun made his infant son, Yoshihisa, his heir instead. This was the leading cause of the war to come. At the time two powerful men in Kyoto, the capital at the time, were in the midst of a feud. On one side there was Yamana Sozen, a Buddhist monk who was famous for turning red when he got angry, which was often (hence his nickname Red Monk). On the other was his son-in-law Hosokawa Katsumoto, one of the Three Butlers of the Ashikaga clan (the other two were the Shiba and Hatakeyama clans). These two men had been engaged in a feud since the 1450s when they had meddled in the succession disputes of the Hatakeyama and Shiba families. Now they had another dispute in which to outmaneuver each other, this time involving the highest office in Japan. Sozen acted first by declaring his backing for the infant Yoshihisa. Katsumoto then threw his backing behind the Shogun's brother Yoshimi. Both men called for support from family relations and vassals, and before long the entire capital district of Yamashiro was nearly clogged with Yamana and Hosokawa supporters. The armies numbered 80,000 and 85,000 respectively, the largest yet seen in Japanese history. Yet both men were also reluctant to dive into a war. In 1467 Yamana Sozen called in the powerful warlord Ouchi Masahiro with another 20,000 troops. Then in February a Hosokawa mansion "mysteriously" went up in flames. The war was on…"
Full history here.
link
Interesting that this had happened at same time of the Burgundian Wars in Europe.
Amicalement
Armand
