fain to sheathe the sword in 1472, but
during the long struggle conditions had developed which rendered
peace difficult. In May, 1473, Sozen died and was followed to the
grave in less than a month by Katsumoto. Still the struggle went on
in a desultory way until December, 1477, when the Yamana forces
burned their cantonments and withdrew, Yoshimi coming to terms with
Muromachi and retiring to Mino. Peace at length dawned for Kyoto. But
not yet for the provinces. There the sword was not immediately
sheathed. In Echizen, Owari, and Totomi the great Shiba family was
subjected to weakening onsets by the Asakura, the Oda, and the
Imagawa. In Kaga, the Togashi house was divided against itself. In
Kyushu there were bitter struggles between the Shimazu and the Ito,
the Sagara and the Nawa, and the Otomo, the Shoni, and the Ouchi.
Finally, Shinano, Suruga, and Mikawa were all more or less convulsed.

YOSHIHISA

In 1474, Yoshimasa retired from office and, at the close of the year,
his nine-year-old son, Yoshihisa, succeeded him as shogun, the
kwanryo being that Hatakeyama Yoshinari whose appearance in the field
practically terminated the Onin War. The shogun Yoshimasa was in his
thirty-ninth year at the time of this abdication, and he survived for
sixteen years, not the least dissipated of his life, in which he
instituted costly art reunions and carried self-indulgence to its
extreme. During these years Tomi and her younger brother, Ise
Sadachika, acquired such influence as to interfere in the
administration, and under the pretext of procuring funds to rebuild
the palace destroyed during the Onin War, they restored the
toll-gates which had previously stood at the seven chief entrances to
Kyoto, appropriating all the proceeds.

The young Yoshihisa could scarcely fail to be tainted by such an
environment. Much to his credit, however, he showed sagacity and
diligence, eschewing his father's luxurious habits, studying
literature and military art, and taking lessons in statecraft from
the ex-regent, Ichijo Kaneyoshi. Very early he became familiar with
scenes of violence, for, goaded to madness by the taxes exacted at
the seven toll-gates, a mob of the metropolitan citizens rose in
arms, beat off the troops sent to quell them and threatened to sack
the city, when, they were appeased by the issue of a tokusei
ordinance, which, as already explained, meant the remission of all
debts and the cancellation of all financial obligations.