Hello, the episode you're about to listen to is part of a multi-part series introducing an overview

of Japanese history.

This is a repeat of one of the original projects the History of Japan podcast was built on,

and is intended to serve as an update and supplement to these original works.

After 10 years, my hope is to return to this approach and to do it a little bit better,

given the skills that I have improved in the intervening years.

If you haven't been doing so already, you should listen to these episodes sequentially,

starting with episode 501.

Without any further ado, enjoy the episode.

Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 517.

The Center Cannot Hold.

I think it's fair to say that on the whole, the reign of the Ashkaga Shoguns, the Muromachi Bakfu, as it's often called, because the palace of the Ashkaga family, was located along Muromachi Doori in Kyoto, does not have the best reputation.

Indeed, this was so much the case that in later years, if, say, a playwright or a writer wanted to write something topical about the politics or events of the day,

but was worried about drawing the ire of censors,

they would often simply set their story in the Ashkaga years,

because it was not at all unusual to say critical things about those times.

And while I would say this is somewhat unfair, there are ways in which, for example,

the patronage of the Ashkaga, triggered a renaissance in the arts and culture and shaped much

of what we think of as classical Japanese aesthetics, it's also understandable. Because while

the Muromachi Shoguns were eventually able to win their wars against the renegades of the Southern Court,

just 80 years or so down the line their government would implode in spectacular fashion

and plunge the country into all-out civil war as a result.

...