"What! The eighth shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, is gravely ill? Ashikaga Yoshimi has taken Ashikaga Yoshitane up to the capital?!"
"The position of shogun can actually fall back into Ashikaga Yoshimi's line?"
Inside the tearoom, hearing such shocking news, Takeda Nobuhiro and his son, Kakizaki Mitsuhiro, looked at one another, and for a moment neither could speak.
The Onin War had raged for ten years, and the realm had been in chaos for ten years as well. Though Ezo Land had not been affected, they had heard much of those horrifying melees that challenged the shogunate's authority. This war of astonishing destructiveness was, in essence, a three-sided struggle for power between the shogun's house, the Hosokawa family, and the Yamana family, but in the eyes of all under heaven, it was precisely an inheritance civil war waged by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, for the sake of his son Ashikaga Yoshihisa, against his younger brother Ashikaga Yoshimi!
After great difficulty, Ashikaga Yoshimi had been defeated and driven out, Kyoto had regained peace, and the shogunate had passed into Ashikaga Yoshihisa's hands. In these past few years, Ashikaga Yoshihisa had led great armies on campaigns in all directions, and had somewhat restored the shogunate's authority. But then, without warning, the ninth shogun, Ashikaga Yoshihisa, only twenty-five years old, had died suddenly while on campaign. And a mere eight months later, the eighth shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, had again fallen gravely ill and was near death.
"Ashikaga Yoshimi has brought his son Yoshitane up to the capital."
Takeda Nobuhiro's expression shifted and changed as he pondered for a long while. Then, his face grave, he asked, "Morino Kiyoshi, if Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa passes away, who will succeed him?"
"According to warrior-house law, Ashikaga Yoshitane will succeed as shogun, while Ashikaga Yoshimi will be the great retired