The Kamakura period saw an explosion in the popularity of a new genre: the "war
tale" (gunki monogatari), whose early representative works include the Hōgen
Monogatari, Heiji Monogatari and Heike Monogatari.[126] The latter work, which
recounted the rise and fall of the Taira clan, has been described as "the
Japanese epic", and the twentieth-century novelist and essayist Kafū Nagai
called it "a unique and immortal Japanese épopée."[127] These works were at
least partly indebted to earlier Heian works such as the Shōmonki (ja:
将門記
) and
Mutsu Waki (ja:
陸奥話記
), bare historical chronicles of battles fought against
Taira no Masakado and the Earlier Nine Years' War, narrated in a non-literary
style of classical Chinese as opposed to the mixed Sino-Japanese vernacular of
the later Kamakura works.[128]
Muromachi period (1333–1568)
Main articles: Muromachi period, Sengoku period, and Higashiyama period
Portrait of Ashikaga Takauji who was the founder and first shōgun of the
Ashikaga shogunate
Takauji and many other samurai soon became dissatisfied with Emperor Go-Daigo's
Kenmu Restoration, an ambitious attempt to monopolize power in the imperial
court. Takauji rebelled after Go-Daigo refused to appoint him shōgun. In 1338,
Takauji captured Kyoto and installed a rival member of the imperial family to
the throne, Emperor Kōmyō, who did appoint him shogun.[129] Go-Daigo responded
by fleeing to the southern city of Yoshino, where he set up a rival government.
This ushered in a prolonged period of conflict between the Northern Court and
the Southern Court.[130]
Takauji set up his shogunate in the Muromachi district of Kyoto. However, the
shogunate was faced with the twin challenges of fighting the Southern Court and
of maintaining its authority over its own subordinate governors.[130] Like the
Kamakura shogunate, the Muromachi shogunate appointed its allies to rule in the
provinces, but these men increasingly styled themselves as feudal lords—called
daimyōs—of their domains and often refused to obey the shogun.[131] The Ashikaga
shogun who was most successful at bringing the country together was Takauji's
grandson Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who came to power in 1368 and remained influential
until his death in 1408. Yoshimitsu expanded the power of the shogunate and in
1392, brokered a deal to bring the Northern and Southern Courts together and end
the civil war. Henceforth, the shogunate kept the Emperor and his court under
tight control.[130]
Kinkaku-ji was built in 1397 AD by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
The Kinkaku-ji or "Temple of the Golden Pavilion" was built by the shōgun
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in 1397 CE. The site was originally a villa called Kitayama-
dai of the powerful statesman Saionji Kintsune. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu purchased it
from the Saionji family and transformed it into Kinkaku-ji.[132] When Yoshimitsu
died the building was converted into a Zen temple by his son, according to his
wishes.[133][134]
Map showing the territories of major daimyō families around 1570 CE
During the final century of the Ashikaga shogunate the country descended into
another, more violent period of civil war. This started in 1467 when the Ōnin
War broke out over who would succeed the ruling shogun. The daimyōs each took
