Yoshimi’s Nomination and Yoshihisa’s Birth

In 1464, shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa had no surviving son to succeed him. He recalled his younger brother Yoshimi from religious life and designated him his heir. Hosokawa Katsumoto supported Yoshimi. The arrangement gave leading houses a named successor around whom to organize their expectations and alliances.

In 1465, Yoshimasa’s wife Hino Tomiko gave birth to Yoshihisa. A son now offered a different line of succession within the shogun’s own household. Yoshimi’s designation remained politically important, while supporters of Yoshihisa could argue for direct father-to-son inheritance. Neither candidate’s existence determined how every military governor would align.

Succession disputes within the Hatakeyama and Shiba houses also divided the government. Those conflicts, military deployments and struggles over offices combined with the shogunal question as war developed in 1467. The resulting coalitions changed: Yoshimi subsequently joined the western side, and Yoshihisa eventually inherited the office. The sequence does not support a simple account in which Tomiko’s son was born and two fixed armies automatically formed.