---
node: onin_war
type: event
slug: onin_war
title: "Onin War"
lead: "A decade of warfare (1467–1477) fought largely inside Kyoto ended with no winner and the capital largely in ashes — and with it, the collapse of shogunal authority."
published: 2026-07-09
updated: 2026-07-09
image_file: onin_war.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Onin-War-1467-1477-The-Battle-of-Onin-by-Utagawa-Yoshitora.png"
image_author: "Utagawa Yoshitora"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## What happened

For a decade the armies of Hosokawa Katsumoto (the Eastern camp) and Yamana Sozen (the Western camp) fought entrenched inside Kyoto itself. Both commanders died in 1473; the war petered out in 1477 with no winner, leaving Kyoto largely in ashes.

## Background

The war was sparked by succession disputes — in the Ashikaga shogunal house and in the great families.

## Consequences

Shogunal authority collapsed, and provincial lords stopped obeying the center. The following century of daimyo warfare — the Sengoku period — saw upstarts overthrow their superiors (gekokujo). The Onin War is often cited as the true end of central rule in premodern Japan.