The enmity between these rival factions gradually deepened, until in the first year of the Onin era, 1467, Sōzen attempted to remove Hatakeyama Masanaga from the office of _kwanryō_, and to replace him by Yoshinari, at the same time expelling the partisans of Kazumoto from the Hatakeyama house. A collision ensued in Kyōto between the parties of Masanaga and Yoshinari, and the shōgun gave orders that they should settle their dispute by a combat, the guards attached to them alone taking part in the duel. Sōzen, however, contrived secretly to render aid to Yoshinari, so that Masanaga suffered defeat. This result caused much chagrin to Hosokawa Kazumoto, who considered that his honor was tarnished by his failure to assist Masanaga. He, therefore, privately assembled all his troops and partisans, to the number of about a hundred thousand, and posting them to the east of Muromachi, guarded the residence of Yoshimasa. Sōzen, on his side, mustered a force of some ninety thousand, and encamped on the west of Muromachi. Then commenced a long series of fights in which victory nearly always rested with Kazumoto's side. Kazumoto had the countenance of the retired shōgun, Yoshimasa, and also procured the recognition of the emperor and ex-emperor, while Sōzen, taking advantage of the strained relations between Yoshimasa and his successor Yoshimi, invited the latter to join him, and also obtained the support of the former partisans of the Southern dynasty by declaring in favor of the grandson of Prince Ogura. Combats occurred almost daily, and were accompanied by numerous conflagrations. The citizens of Kyōto fled from the city, and the streets were left desolate. In 1470 Sōzen and Kazumoto both died, but their parties continued to fight as fiercely as ever. Not until 1477, when Yoshimi had escaped to Mino, did the generals abandon the campaign and retire to their castles. [ILLUSTRATION: SOUTHERN JAPAN]