Muromachi jidai 室町時代

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Art History
General Terms

Also Ashikaga jidai 足利時代. The Muromachi period (1392-1568). The period derives its name from a district in Kyoto which served as the location for the unification of the Southern and Northern Courts in 1392 under the Ashikaga shogunate (see *Nanbokuchō jidai 南北朝時代) until the entrance of Oda Nobunaga 織田信長 (1534-82) into the capital in 1568. Occasionally sources give 1333 as a beginning date, thus including the Nanbokuchō era within the period. The Ashikaga palace at Muromachi was actually completed in 1378, but no sources begin the period with this date. Many scholars put the final year at 1572 (or 1573) when the last shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki 足利義昭 (1537-97) was deposed by Nobunaga. Alternately, some political historians treat the Muromachi period as lasting only until the start of the Ōnin-no-ran 応仁の乱 (Ōnin Wars) in 1467, after which it becomes the *Sengoku jidai 戦国時代 (Warring States period). The period is especially notable for ink painting *suibokuga 水墨画.