Transition to the Warring States Era (1470s)

Timeline

1. 1471–1477Kinai · KinaiDuring the Ōnin War, shugo daimyo such as the Hosokawa and Yamana slaughtered each other, and the shogunate was powerless to arbitrate. The war proved that the old shugo domain system could no longer maintain order: daimyo were no longer bound by the shogun, and kokujin dared to challenge their lords. After the 1477 truce, though the shugo daimyo retained their titles, their actual control had given way to military strongmen within their domains.
2. 1475–1479Various parts of Japan · JapanIn the mid-to-late 1470s, kokujin groups such as the Rokkawa of Ōmi, the Hatano of Tango, and the Miyoshi of Kawachi successively surpassed or expelled the shugo daimyo and directly held their domains. The assassination of Ōta Dōkan by his lord Uesugi Sadahira in 1479 was also a microcosm of the geokujō trend. The samurai class determined status by military merit and strength, breaking the hereditary order of rank.
3. 1478–1480Japanese archipelago · JapanBy 1480, the Warring States daimyo system—based on domains and supported by retainer bands and castles—had taken shape in many places. Lords directly collected annual revenues and held judicial and military power, no longer through shogunate delegation. The central court and shogunate retained only ceremonial authority. Historians generally regard the Ōnin War and its aftermath as the beginning of the Warring States period, and the 1470s were precisely the concentrated period of this transition.