The Ashikaga clan has two branches:
Shôgun
The Ashikaga were descended from Minamoto 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 1st Ashikaga shôgun. 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, Yoshiaki, from Kyoto.
| The Ashikaga Shôgunate | |
Kanto 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 Kanto 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 Kanto 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 Kanto kubô afterwards resided in Shimosa province. 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 Kanto Kubô position came to an effective end with the defeat and capture of Ashikaga Haruuji in 1554.
| Members of the Ashikaga clan (Kanto Kubô branch) | |