The End of the Muromachi Shogunate and Gekokujō

After the Ōnin War, the Muromachi shogunate became merely nominal, and the trend of gekokujō spread throughout Japan. Provincial constables declined, opening the way for the rise of the Warring States daimyos.

Basic Knowledge

After the Ōnin War, shoguns changed rapidly: the ninth shogun, Ashikaga Yoshihisa (Yoshimasa's son, who died of illness while campaigning in Omi), the tenth, Ashikaga Yoshitane (Yoshimi's son), and the eleventh, Ashikaga Yoshizumi. Real power moved downward from kanrei Hosokawa Masamoto, to Hosokawa Takakuni and Harumoto, then to the Hosokawa vassal Miyoshi Nagayoshi, and finally to his vassal Matsunaga Hisahide. This was gekokujō in its clearest form.
In 1493, the Meiō Coup, in which Hosokawa Masamoto expelled tenth shogun Yoshitane, was an important event also called “another Ōnin War.” It completely destroyed the authority of the shogun.
In the provinces, provincial constables declined one after another, and Warring States daimyos rose in their place. Representative examples:
・Kanto: Later Hōjō clan (Hōjō Sōun seized Izu around 1493)
・Kai: Takeda clan (Takeda Shingen)
・Echigo: Nagao clan → Uesugi clan (Uesugi Kenshin)
・Owari: Oda clan (later Oda Nobunaga)
・Chugoku region: Mōri clan (Mōri Motonari defeated the Sue clan)
・Kyushu: Shimazu, Ōtomo, and Ryūzōji clans
In 1543, firearms were introduced to Tanegashima by the Portuguese. In 1549, the missionary Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima and introduced Christianity. These developments radically changed the nature of the Warring States period.
In 1573, Oda Nobunaga expelled the fifteenth shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, from Kyoto, and the Muromachi shogunate effectively came to an end.

Further Study (Background and Influence)

Gekokujō was the trend in which “those below defeated and replaced those above,” and it symbolized the period after the Ōnin War. Examples include:
・Sue Harukata: defeated Ōuchi Yoshitaka in Suō and seized the domain, but was later defeated by Mōri Motonari
・Saitō Dōsan: expelled the Toki clan in Mino (“the Viper of Mino”)
・Hōjō Sōun: founder of the Later Hōjō clan, who rose to power in the Kanto region
・Matsunaga Hisahide: ruled Yamato after rising from a Miyoshi vassal, but was destroyed by Nobunaga
Warring States daimyos ruled their domains by establishing domain laws. Famous examples include Takeda Shingen's Kōshū Hatto no Shidai, the Chōsokabe clan's One Hundred Articles of Chōsokabe Motochika, the Asakura clan's Articles of Asakura Takakage, the Imagawa clan's Imagawa Kana Mokuroku, and the Date clan's Jinkai-shū.
Domain laws included strict regulations such as mutual punishment in a quarrel (punishing both parties when a dispute occurred), suppressing private conflicts among vassals.

Points of Caution (Easily Confused)

① Distinguish provincial constable daimyos (provincial constables of the Muromachi shogunate who strengthened their control of domains) from Warring States daimyos (new forces that seized domains through gekokujō). They were connected, but their characteristics differed.
② Hōjō Sōun (founder of the Later Hōjō clan) and the Hōjō clan of the Kamakura period (regents) belonged to different lineages. Sōun was from the Ise clan.
③ Fifteenth shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki (the last Muromachi shogun) was expelled by Nobunaga, but continued to call himself shogun under the protection of the Mōri clan after Nobunaga's death; formally, he remained shogun until 1588.
④ Be sure of the years and order of the introduction of firearms (1543) and the introduction of Christianity (1549). Mnemonics include “1543, thereafter good luck” and “1549, thereafter well.”

Practice

1. Give the name of the person who effectively ended the Muromachi shogunate and the name of the last shogun.
2. Give the year and place where firearms were introduced.
3. Briefly explain the meaning of the trend called “gekokujō.”