Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/48

 belongs the credit of reconciling the two Courts and putting an end to the dual monarchy. This achievement won for him in history a greater name than he deserved, for if he possessed some of the virtues of his class, he was also a slave to the vices of his era.

With the unification of the monarchy (1392) commenced what is called the "Muromachi Epoch," because Yoshimitsu established his headquarters at Muromachi, a district in Kyoto. Similarly, as has been seen, the interval between the eighth century and the close of the fourteenth was divided into the Nara Epoch, the Heian Epoch, and the Kamakura Epoch, each of those places having been, in succession, the seat of administrative power. The Muromachi era commenced not simply with the reconciliation of the two Courts, but also with the establishment of some semblance of order in the affairs of the Ashikaga. A material increase of the power of the provincial nobles renders the era still further remarkable. The Fujiwara, the Taira, the Minamoto, the Hōjō, and the early Ashikaga leaders had all placed before themselves the complete centralisation of authority in their own hands. Yoshimitsu was content with a smaller result. The office of Shogun remained in his possession, but a large measure of local autonomy was granted to certain great military chiefs, on condition of their loyal services in preserving order. Further, an