. It was
for him to nominate a new shogun in lieu of the fugitive Yoshitane.
He went to the Kwanto for a candidate. In 1461, Masatomo, brother of
Yoshimasa, had been nominated governor-general (kwanryo) of the eight
eastern provinces. His son, Yoshizumi, was chosen by Hosokawa to rule
at Muromachi, and Hosokawa himself became kwanryo. The new shogun
held office in name only; all administrative power was usurped by the
kwanryo and his nominees. Now, as Hosokawa Masamoto practised
asceticism for the better pursuit of necromancy, in which he was a
believer, he had no offspring. Therefore he adopted three sons: the
first, Sumiyuki, being the child of the regent, Fujiwara Masamoto;
the second and third, Sumimoto and Takakuni, being kinsmen of his
own. The first of these three was entrusted to Kasai Motochika; the
last two were placed in the care of Miyoshi Nagateru. These guardians
were Hosokawa's principal vassals in Shikoku, where they presently
became deadly rivals. Motochika, believing that Hosokawa's ultimate
intention was to elevate Sumimoto to the shogunate, in which event
the latter's guardian, Nagateru, would obtain a large access of
power, compassed the murder of Hosokawa, the kwanryo, and proclaimed
Sumiyuki head of the Hosokawa house. Thereupon Miyoshi Nagateru moved
up from Shikoku at the head of a strong army, and, after a fierce
conflict, Motochika and Sumiyuki were killed, and Sumimoto, then in
his eleventh year, became chief of the Hosokawa family, receiving
also the office of kwanryo.

The Motochika faction, however, though defeated, were not destroyed.
They conceived the plan of reinstating the shogun, Yoshitane, then a
fugitive in the province of Suwo, and of securing the office of
kwanryo for Takakuni, third son (by adoption) of the late Hosokawa
Masamoto. The powerful Ouchi sept, which had its manors in Suwo,
espoused the conspiracy, and escorted Yoshitane to Kyoto with a great
army, the result being that the shogun, Yoshizumi, had to flee to
Omi; that Yoshitane took his place, and that Ouchi Yoshioki became
deputy kwanryo.

These things happened in 1508. Thenceforth, the great protagonists in
the Kyoto arena were the two factions of the Hosokawa house, led by
Sumimoto and Takakuni, respectively; the former championing the cause
of the shogun, Yoshizumi, and in alliance with the Miyoshi; the
latter supporting the shogun, Yoshitane, and aided by the Ouchi. One
reverse befell the Yoshitane-Ouchi combin