The Muromachi Period

The Muromachi Period, 1336 to 1573 CE, named for the Kyoto district where the Ashikaga shogunate established its headquarters, began when Ashikaga Takauji seized the shogunate and installed a rival imperial line, briefly splitting Japan between competing Northern and Southern Courts until reunification in 1392. Ashikaga rule fostered a distinctive high culture, including Noh theater, ink-wash painting and the tea ceremony, patronized directly by shoguns such as Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who built the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. Central authority weakened steadily over the period, and the devastating decade-long Onin War (1467-1477), fought largely in and around Kyoto over a shogunal succession dispute, effectively destroyed the shogunate's remaining power and opened the long era of decentralized civil conflict among rival regional warlords known as the Sengoku Period. The Muromachi Period is generally considered to end with the fall of the last Ashikaga shogun in 1573, though its final century overlaps heavily with the Sengoku wars.