Yoshiteru was the eldest son of Ashikaga Yoshiharu and was named the 13th Ashikaga shôgun in 1546. He was initially supervised by the Miyoshi and under their pressure rejected Hosokawa Harumoto. He later resisted the influence of the Miyoshi and Matsunaga Hisahide and as a result was attacked and killed in his Nijô palace in Kyoto by troops sent by those two powers. He was relatively active in relations with the daimyô, awarding a character from his name to such figures as Uesugi Kenshin (Nagao Terutora), Amako Haruhisa, Môri Terumoto, and Date Terumune. He was also convinced to give his backing to a peace treaty between the Ôtomo and Môri in 1563.