- Japanese: 足利氏 (Ashikaga-shi)
The Ashikaga clan held the position of Shôgun and Kamakura Kubô (which would later become the position of Koga Kubô).
- See also: Muromachi period.
The Muromachi shogunate, ruled by members of the Ashikaga clan, was the second of Japan's three shogunates. 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 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 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 daimyo, claiming supreme local authority in their respective territories.
Not only the Ashikaga, but their top vassals, and their retainers in turn, maintained homes in Kyoto at this time; it has been estimated that as many as 10,000 mounted warriors lived in the city in the 14th century (plus, some significant number of samurai retainers too low-ranking to own a horse).[1]
The Ashikaga were seriously weakened after the Ônin War (1467-77) and eventually eclipsed by Oda Nobunaga in 1573, who banished the last Ashikaga shôgun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, from Kyoto.
List of Ashikaga shoguns
| Name | Life | Reign | ||||
| 1305-1358 | 1338-1358 | |||||
| 1330-1367 | 1358-1367 | |||||
| 1358-1408 | 1368-1394 | |||||
| 1385-1428 | 1394-1423 | |||||
| 1407-1429 | 1423-1425 | |||||
| 1425-1428 | ||||||
| 1394-1441 | 1429-1441 | |||||
| 1434-1443 | 1441-1443 | |||||
| 1436-1490 | 1443-1474 | |||||
| 1465-1489 | 1474-1489 | |||||
| 1466-1523 | 1490-1493 | |||||
| 1480-1511 | 1493-1508 | |||||
| 1508-1521 | ||||||
| 1511-1550 | 1521-1546 | |||||
| 1536-1565 | 1546-1565 | |||||
| 1564-1568 | 1568 | |||||
| 1537-1597 | 1568-1573 |
Notes & References
- Albert M. Craig, The Heritage of Japanese Civilization, Second Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 41.
- ↑ Eiko Ikegami, Bonds of Civility, Cambridge University Press (2005), 106.
- ↑ Repeat reign
- ↑ Repeat reign
| Preceded by: Kemmu Restoration |
Ashikaga Shogunate 1336-1573 |
Succeeded by: Azuchi-Momoyama Period |
Kamakura and Koga Kubô
The Ashikaga of the Kanto were tasked with maintaining the authority of the Ashikaga shôgun in that region and at first resided at Kamakura. They were known as the Kamakura Kubô and traditionally relied on the support of the Uesugi clan, who were Kanto Kanrei, or Deputy Shôgun for the Kanto. In 1449 Ashikaga Shigeuji (1438?-1531) became Kamakura Kubô and had Uesugi Noritada as his deputy. Shigeuji became concerned by the influence of the Uesugi and at length had Noritada murdered. The two main branches of the Uesugi, the Ogigayatsu and Yamanouchi, the latter supported by the Nagao of Echigo, went to war with Shigeuji and his followers. Although Shigeuji held his own in various battles in Sagami and elsewhere, Kamakura was taken and burned by Imagawa Noritada in 1455 and the Ashikaga Kubô afterwards resided in Shimosa province and became known as the Koga Kubô. When the Hôjô began to make advances into the Kanto in the early 16th Century, the Ashikaga allied with the Uesugi to challenge them. The Kubô position came to an effective end with the defeat and capture of Ashikaga Haruuji in 1554.
Kamakura Kubô
| Ashikaga clan (Kamakura Kubô) | |
Koga Kubô
| Ashikaga clan (Koga Kubô) | |
Other Members of the Ashikaga Clan
References
- Initial text from Sengoku Biographical Dictionary (Samurai-Archives.com) FWSeal & CEWest, 2005
- Koga Kubo From Japanese Wikipedia
- Kamakura Kubo From Japanese Wikipedia
- Jansen, Marius. Warrior Rule in Japan Cambridge University Press, 1995
- Sei-Tai-Shogun From Japanese Wikipedia
See also
- Ashikaga clan (Fujiwara) - an unrelated clan by the same name, descended from the Fujiwara clan