Onin war timeline

By Reed AP Julia
  • 1466

    Before the war

    The Ashikaga dynasty of shoguns in Japan had grown so weak that a succession dispute provided the trigger for a civil war
  • 1467

    Start of the Onin war

    The Onin War started in February 1467, when the Yamana family set fire to a Hosokawa mansion.
  • 1467

    Retaliation

    The Hosokawa family retaliated by attacking a Yamana rice shipment. They then burned the mansion of one of the Yamana generals, a month later
  • 1467

    Kyoto was in ruins

    The war had become so devastating that most of Kyoto was in ruins.
  • 1467

    Yamana leading an attack

    Yamana Sozen led an attack on the Hosokawa party inside a Buddhist monastery.
  • 1468

    Calm in Kyoto

    A calm came over Kyoto when both sides stayed on their sides. Howokawa later attacked Yamana territory and he convinced the emperor and the shogun to denounce the Yamana family as rebels.
  • 1473

    Yamana Sozen and Hosokawa Katsumoto both died

    After fighting since 1467 both Yamana Sozen and Hosokawa Katsumoto died.
  • 1477

    End of the war

    After 11 years the war had finished because each side had had the strength to continue.
  • 1480

    After the war

    After the war Japan was devastated by the war. However the power of independent local leaders increased