Information about Ashikaga Shogunate

The Ashikaga shogunate (足利幕府, Ashikaga bakufu, 1336—1573) was a feudal military dictatorship ruled by the shoguns of the Ashikaga family.

This period is also known as the Muromachi period and gets its name from the Muromachi street of Kyoto where the third shogun Yoshimitsu established his residence. This residence is nicknamed "Hana no Gosho" (花の御所) or "Flower Palace" (constructed in 1379) because of its abundance of flower in its landscaping.

Beginning

During the preceding Kamakura period (1185-1333), the Hōjō clan (北条氏) enjoyed absolute power in governance of Japan. This monopoly of power, as well as no reward of land after the defeat of Mongol invasion, lead to long time resentment among Hōjō vassals and the imperial court. Finally in 1333, Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 Go-Daigo Tennō) ordered the initiative to local governing vassals to oppose Hōjō rule to in favor of imperial restoration Kemmu Restoration (建武の新政; Kemmu no Shinsei).

To counter the imperial initiated revolution, Kamakura bakufu ordered Ashikaga Takauji (足利尊氏) to squash the uprising. For unknown reason, possibly Ashikaga being the de facto leader of the ended Minamoto clan (源氏) and Hōjō clan being the head of the exterminated Taira clan (平氏), Ashikaga turned against Kamakura and combated on the behalf of the imperial court.

After the successful overthrow of the Kamakura bakufu in 1336, Ashikaga Takauji set up his own bakufu in Kyoto.

North & South Court

After Ashikaga Takauji established himself as the Seii Taishogun, dispute between him and the Emperor Go-Daigo arose on opinions of how to govern the country. The dispute lead to Takauji to instate Emperor Kōmyō (光明天皇 Kōmyō Tennō). Go-Daigo fled and country was divided into North Court (in favor of Kōmyō/Ashikaga) & South Court (in favor of the Go-Daigo). Thus the period of North & South Court (Nanboku-chō) continued on for 56 years, until 1392 when South Court gave up during Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's reign. Japan was reunited for the first time since the inception of the Ashikaga bakufu.

Government Structure

In part because the founder of the Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga Takauji, did so by siding with the Emperor against the previous Kamakura shogunate, the Ashikagas shared more of the governmental authority with the Imperial government than the Kamakura had. Thus, it was a weaker shogunate compared to the Kamakura shogunate and the Tokugawa shogunate. The centralized master-vassal system used in Kamakura system were replaced with the highly decentralized daimyo (local lord) system. The military power of the shogunate depended largely on their loyalty to the Ashikaga.

Fall of Shogunate

As the daimyo increasingly feuded among themselves in the pursuit of power (Ōnin War 応仁の乱 Ōnin no Ran), that loyalty grew increasingly strained, until it erupted into open warfare in the late Muromachi period, also known as the Sengoku Period.

When the last effective Ashikaga shogun Yoshiteru was assassinated in 1565, an ambitious daimyo, Oda Nobunaga, took the advantage and installed Yoshiteru's brother Ashikaga Yoshiaki to be the 15th Ashikaga shogun. However, Yoshiaki was only a puppet shogun. The Ashikaga shogunate was finally destroyed in 1573 when Nobunaga drove Ashikaga Yoshiaki out of Kyoto. Initially, Yoshiaki fled to Shikoku. Afterwards, Yoshiaki sought and received protection from the Mori clan in western Japan. Later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi requested that Yoshiaki accept him as an adopted son and the 16th Ashikaga Shogun, but Yoshiaki refused. The Ashikaga family survived the 16th century, and a branch of it became the daimyo family of the Kitsuregawa domain.^[1]

List of Ashikaga Shoguns

1. Ashikaga Takauji (1305–1358) (r. 1338–1358)
2. Ashikaga Yoshiakira (1330–1368) (r. 1359–1368)
3. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358–1408) (r. 1368–1394)
4. Ashikaga Yoshimochi (1386–1428) (r. 1395–1423)
5. Ashikaga Yoshikazu (1407–1425) (r. 1423–1425)
6. Ashikaga Yoshinori (1394–1441) (r. 1429–1441)
7. Ashikaga Yoshikatsu (1434–1443) (r. 1442–1443)
8. Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436–1490) (r. 1449–1473)
9. Ashikaga Yoshihisa (1465–1489) (r. 1474–1489)
10. Ashikaga Yoshitane (1466–1523) (r. 1490–1493, 1508–1521)
11. Ashikaga Yoshizumi (1480–1511) (r. 1495–1508)
12. Ashikaga Yoshiharu (1510–1550) (r. 1522–1547)
13. Ashikaga Yoshiteru (1536–1565) (r. 1547–1565)
14. Ashikaga Yoshihide (1540–1568) (r. 1568)
15. Ashikaga Yoshiaki (1537–1597) (r. 1568–1573)

References

• Ashikaga Bakufu from Washington State University website
• Kyoto City Web

See also

• shogun
• History of Japan
• Lists of incumbents
• Kamakura period
• Muromachi period
• Nanboku-chō
• Ashikaga clan
• Ashikaga Takauji
• Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
• Ashikaga Yoshiteru

Notes