The Ashikaga (Muromachi) shogunate presided over a flowering of Zen-influenced arts — Noh theater, ink painting, the tea ceremony — while Japan descended into the Sengoku period of perpetual civil war between rival daimyo.
The Ashikaga shogunate effectively ended on 27 August 1573 CE when the warlord Oda Nobunaga expelled the last Ashikaga shogun Yoshiaki from Kyoto, though Yoshiaki was not formally stripped of his title until 1588.
The atlas holds 2 border frames for Ashikaga Shogunate — the shape you scrub through changes in 1336 · 1496.
Varley's study of Japan's war tales covers the military culture that defines the Ashikaga-Muromachi period.
Sansom covers the Muromachi period's paradox of cultural brilliance amid political fragmentation with characteristic clarity.
Waley's classic anthology contains 'Atsumori' and the great Zeami-era Noh plays, and stays in print (Tuttle/Dover).