Turmoil in Muromachi Kyoto (1470s)

Timeline

1. 1471–1473Muromachi Gosho · KyotoEastern and Western armies repeatedly clashed around the Kyoto Imperial Palace, Shōkoku-ji, and the Kujō area, with fires spreading to townhouses and warehouses. In 1473 the shogunal palace burned, and Ashikaga Yoshimasa was forced to relocate to Higashiyama Hanano Gosho. Kyoto merchants lost all their property, and popular armed groups such as tsuchi-ikki also intervened in the fighting; urban social order completely collapsed.
2. 1473–1477Kyoto · KyotoYears of war cut off grain routes, causing severe famine in Kyoto with corpses everywhere. Large numbers of residents fled to Ōmi, Kawachi, Harima, and other places, and the urban population plummeted. Temples became places of relief and refuge but could barely sustain themselves. Yoshimasa continued to plan the construction of Ginkaku-ji at Hanano Gosho, a stark contrast to the misery outside the city, reflecting the shogun's disconnect from reality.
3. 1477–1480Kyoto · KyotoAfter the 1477 truce, Kyoto did not regain peace: bandits and rōnin ran rampant, and Hosokawa-aligned samurai and remnant Western Army forces still clashed from time to time. Court ceremonies were barely maintained amid the ruins, and court nobles' incomes were cut off. Yoshimasa devoted himself to Higashiyama cultural projects; Ginkaku-ji and the Jishō-ji garden, cultural treasures of the late Muromachi period, were nurtured amid the aftermath, but Kyoto's glory as a political center could not be recovered.