Additionally, as provincial military governors became daimyo (Japanese territorial lords) in the Sengoku period and the climate of gekokujo (an inverted social order when the lowly reigned over the elite) became widespread among shugodai (deputy military governors) and kokujin (local lords), samurai were desperately trying to survive and Onmyodo, which had been used as accessories for formal functions, were no longer seen as important; meanwhile, with Kyoto, which was home to the patron of the onmyoji, the Imperial Court, left devastated by a series of wars and the tyranny of the Sengoku daimyo, the sight of the shogun fleeing the capital became increasingly common.
さらに守護大名の戦国大名への移行や守護代・国人などによる下克上の風潮が広まると、武家たちは生き残りに必死で、形式補完的に用いていた陰陽道などはことさら重視せず、相次ぐ戦乱や戦国大名らの専横によって陰陽師の庇護者である朝廷のある京も荒れ果て、将軍も逃避することがしばしば見られるようになった。