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[[Image:Muromachi.jpg|right|thumb|320px|Stele marking the southwestern corner of the former site of the chief governmental offices of the Muromachi ''bakufu'' at Muromachi-Imadegawa.]]
[[Image:Muromachi.jpg|right|thumb|320px|Stele marking the southwestern corner of the former site of the chief governmental offices of the Muromachi ''bakufu'' at Muromachi-Imadegawa.]]
*''Dates: [[1336]]-[[1573]]''
*''Japanese'': 室町幕府 ''(Muromachi bakufu)''
The Ashikaga were descended from [[Minamoto Yoshiie]], whose son [[Minamoto Yoshikuni|Yoshikuni]] settled in the Ashikaga district of Shimotsuke Province. Yoshikuni's first son took the name Nitta while his second took Ashikaga. The Ashikaga became very wealthy under the Hôjô Regents and their defection to the Imperial cause in [[1333]] sealed the Hôjô's fate. [[Ashikaga Takauji]] then turned against [[Emperor Go-Daigo]] and in [[1336]] was named the 1st Ashikaga shôgun. The Ashikaga were seriously weakened after the [[Onin War|Ônin War]] ([[1467]]-[[1477|77]]) and eventually eclipsed by [[Oda Nobunaga]] in [[1573]], who banished the last Ashikaga shôgun, [[Ashikaga Yoshiaki|Yoshiaki]], from [[Kyoto]].
The Muromachi shogunate, ruled by members of the [[Ashikaga clan]], was the second of Japan's three [[shogunate]]s. Based in the Muromachi district of Kyoto, it was stronger than the preceding [[Kamakura shogunate]], wielding more direct power over more of the archipelago, but was still considerably weaker than the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] which would follow.
The Ashikaga were descended from [[Minamoto no Yoshiie]], whose son [[Minamoto no Yoshikuni|Yoshikuni]] settled in the Ashikaga district of [[Shimotsuke province]]. Yoshikuni's first son took the name [[Nitta clan|Nitta]] while his second took Ashikaga. The Ashikaga became very wealthy under the [[Hojo clan (Hojo Regents)|Hôjô Regents]] and their defection to the [[Kemmu Restoration|Imperial cause]] in [[1333]] sealed the Hôjô's fate. [[Ashikaga Takauji]] then turned against [[Emperor Go-Daigo]] and in [[1336]] was named the first Ashikaga shôgun.
The shogunate's bureaucracy was divided into four offices - one more than the Kamakura shogunate. These included an office overseeing police and military matters, one for financial affairs, one for judicial affairs, and one which maintained records, especially records related to land and taxation. The Ashikaga appointed ''[[shugo]]'', or military governors, to govern the provinces. His most trusted vassals were granted positions within the bureaucracy, and simultaneously held ''shugo'' positions in the areas immediately surrounding Kyoto. All the ''shugo'' throughout the archipelago were nominally vassals of the shogun, but enjoyed considerable autonomy, and would eventually (beginning around the time of the Ônin War in 1467-1477) transform into the [[Sengoku period|Sengoku]] [[daimyo]], claiming supreme local authority in their respective territories.
The Ashikaga were seriously weakened after the [[Onin War|Ônin War]] ([[1467]]-[[1477|77]]) and eventually eclipsed by [[Oda Nobunaga]] in [[1573]], who banished the last Ashikaga shôgun, [[Ashikaga Yoshiaki]], from [[Kyoto]].
==List of Ashikaga shoguns==
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<center>
{| border="3" align="center"
|- align="center"
|width="32%"|Preceded by:<br>'''[[Kemmu Restoration]]'''
|width="35%"|'''Kamakura Shogunate'''<br> [[1336]]-[[1573]]
|width="32%"|Succeeded by:<br>'''[[Azuchi-Momoyama Period]]'''
|}
</center>
===Notes===
===Notes===