y the close of 1466, the two great protagonists, Katsumoto and
Sozen, had quietly collected in Kyoto armies estimated at 160,000 and
110,000 men, respectively. The shogun attempted to limit the area of
disturbance by ordering that the various rival inheritors should be
left to fight their own battles, and by announcing that whoever
struck the first blow in their behalf would be proclaimed a rebel.
Such injunctions were powerless, however, to restrain men like Sozen.
In February, 1467, his followers attacked the former kwanryo,
Hatakeyama Masanaga, and drove him from the capital. Katsumoto made
no move, however; he remained on the watch, confident that thus the
legitimacy of his cause would obtain recognition. In fact, the shogun
was actually under guard of the Hosokawa troops, who, being encamped
on the east and north of Muromachi, received the name of the Eastern
Army; the Yamana forces, which were massed on the west and south,
being distinguished as the Western Army.

It was evident that if either side retreated, the other would
perforce be acknowledged by the Bakufu, and both were reluctant to
put their fortunes to the final test. At length, early in July, 1467,
a petty skirmish precipitated a general engagement. It was
inconclusive, and the attitude of mutual observation was resumed. Two
months later re-enforcements reached the Western Army, and
thereafter, for nearly two years, victory rested with the Yamana. But
Katsumoto clung desperately to his position. Kyoto was reduced almost
completely to ruins, the Imperial palace, Buddhist temples, and other
mansions being laid in ashes, countless rare works of art being
destroyed, and the Court nobles and other civil officials being
compelled to flee to the provinces for shelter. A celebrated poet of
the time said that the evening lark soared over moors where formerly
there had been palaces, and in the Onin Records it is stated that the
metropolis became a den for foxes and wolves, and that Imperial
mandates and religious doctrines were alike unheeded.

At one time things looked as though the ultimate triumph must be with
Sozen. But what Katsumoto lacked in military ability he more than
compensated in statecraft. From the outset he took care to legalize
his cause by inducing the Emperor and the ex-Emperor to remove to
Muromachi, where they were guarded by the Hosokawa troops, and the
defections to which this must ultimately expose Sozen's ranks were
supplemented by fome