While the establishment of the Muromachi bakufu in Kyo during the Muromachi period following the decline of the Southern Court led to the revival of Kyoto as a political city, it also achieved economic development and a tradition of self-governance by influential citizens called machishu (merchant class) arose.
南朝が衰微して、室町時代になると京には室町幕府が置かれたために政治都市として復活する一方で経済発展を遂げ、町衆と呼ばれる有力市民による自治の伝統が生まれた。