(1467–77) Civil war in central Japan that destroyed the remnants of central governmental authority and led to a century of warfare.
The conflict sprang from a succession dispute, with one powerful clan supporting the brother of the Ashikaga shogun (military ruler) and another supporting the shogun's infant son. It ended in stalemate, but clans across Japan became involved in hopes of increasing their territory through victory. The nation was at last reunified in the late 16th and early 17th centuries under Oda Nobunaga , Toyotomi Hideyoshi , and Tokugawa Ieyasu . See also Muromachi period ; Warring States period .