med retainers whose services were at all times
available; further, we must remember that the long War of the
Dynasties had educated a wide-spread spirit of fighting, which the
debility of the Ashikaga Bakufu encouraged to action. The Onin
disturbance had its origin in disputes about inheritance. It has been
recorded that the high post of kwanryo (governor-general) in the
Muromachi polity was filled by a member of one of three families, the
Hosokawa, the Hatakeyama, and the Shiba. The Hosokawa were the most
powerful, and had for representative in the middle of the fifteenth
century an administrator, Katsumoto, who to extensive erudition and a
profound knowledge of medicine added very exceptional gifts of
statecraft and organizing ability. The Hatakeyama had for head
Mochikuni, called also Tokuhon, a man of parts; and it happened that
the rival family of Yamana was led by Mochitoyo, or Sozen, who, on
account of his powerful physique, shaved head, and peculiar
complexion, sometimes received the name of the "Red Monk"
(Aka-nyudo).

Tokuhon being without a legitimate son, adopted his nephew, Masanaga,
but subsequently desired to secure the succession to Yoshinari, a son
borne to him by a concubine. This change was not viewed with
equanimity by all the vassals of Tokuhon, and to solve the problem
the latter appealed to the shogun, Yoshimasa, who authorized the
death of Masanaga. Tokuhon, in his capacity of kwanryo, naturally had
much weight with the shogun, but Yoshimasa's conduct on that occasion
must be attributed mainly to a laisser-aller mood which he had then
developed, and which impelled him to follow the example set by the
Imperial Court in earlier times by leaving the military families in
the provinces to fight their own battles. Masanaga sought succour
from Hosokawa Katsumoto, and that magnate, welcoming the opportunity
of avenging an old injury at the hands of the Hatakeyama, laid siege
to the mansion of Tokuhon, who barely escaped with his life, his son,
Yoshinari, fleeing to the fortress of Wakae, in Kawachi, whence he
was presently driven by the forces of Katsumoto and Sozen, then
acting in conjunction but destined afterwards to become bitter
enemies.

The shogun, true to his complacent policy, now recognized Masanaga as
head of the house of Hatakeyama, Tokuhon having just died (1455). But
Yoshinari did not acquiesce. In 1456, he marched with a Kawachi army
against Masanaga, and a deadly struggle was barely pr