family, who
had given shelter to two sons of Mochiuji, objected to bow their
heads to the Uesugi, and persuaded Shigeuji to have Noritada killed.
Therefore, the partisans of the murdered man placed themselves under
the banner of his brother, Fusaaki, and having received a commission
from Muromachi as well as a powerful contingent of troops under
Imagawa Noritada, they marched in great force against Kamakura from
Kotsuke, Kazusa, and Echigo.

Kamakurawas well-nigh reduced to ruins, but Shigeuji retired to the
fortress of Koga in Shimosa, and his cause against the Uesugi was
espoused by the eight families of Chiba, Koyama, Satomi, Satake, Oda,
Yuki, Utsunomiya, and Nasu, thenceforth known as the "eight generals"
of the Kwanto. Against such a league it was difficult to operate
successfully. Masatomo, a younger brother of Yoshimasa, built for
himself a fortress at Horigoe, in Izu, which was thereafter known as
Horigoe Gosho (the Horigoe Palace), Shigeuji in his castle of Koga
being designated Koga Kuba (the Koga shogun). Castle building
acquired from this time greatly increased vogue. Uesugi Mochitomo
fortified Kawagoe in Musashi; Ota Sukenaga (called also Dokan), a
vassal of the Ogigayatsu Uesugi, built at Yedo a fort destined to
have world-wide celebrity, and his father, Sukekiyo, entrenched
Iwatsuki in the same province of Musashi. Thus the Kwanto became the
arena of warring factions.

PREFACE TO THE ONIN WAR

We now arrive at a chapter of Japanese history infinitely perplexing
to the reader. It is generally called the Onin War because the
struggle described commenced in the year-period of that name, but
whereas the Onin period lasted only two years (1467-1469), the Onin
War continued for eleven years and caused shocking destruction of
life and property. When war is spoken of, the mind naturally
conjectures a struggle between two or perhaps three powers for a
cause that is respectable from some points of view. But in the Onin
War a score of combatants were engaged, and the motive was invariably
personal ambition. It has been described above that when the Ashikaga
chief, Takauji, undertook to re-establish the Minamoto Bakufu, he
essayed to overcome opposition by persuasion rather than by force.
Pursuing that policy, he bestowed immense estates upon those that
yielded to him, so that in time there came into existence holders of
lands more extensive than those belonging to the shogun himself.
Thus, while the landed es