Ashikaga Yoshiaki

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Family name hatnote was a Japanese samurai, daimyo and the 15th and final shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate in Japan who reigned from 1568 to 1573 when he staged a revolt and was overthrown. His father, Ashikaga Yoshiharu, was the twelfth shōgun, and his brother, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, was the thirteenth shōgun.

Biography

Ashikaga Yoshiaki was born to Ashikaga Yoshiharu on 5 December 1537. He entered Kofuku-ji temple as a monk, but when his older brother Yoshiteru was killed by the Miyoshi clan, he returned to secular life and took the name "Yoshiaki". At the time, the Ashikaga shogunate had been severely weakened; its authority was largely ignored across Japan. Regardless, various factions still fought to control the central government, as it still held some prestige despite its diminished status. Ashikaga Yoshiteru attempted to overthrow the Miyoshi who effectively controlled him, but his conspiracies led the Miyoshi and Matsunaga Hisahide to organize a coup d'état as well as force Yoshiteru to commit suicide. They then opted to install Ashikaga Yoshihide as the fourteenth shogun in Kyoto, but were unable to control the capital.Template:Sfn

File:Ashikaga Yoshiaki.jpg

Wooden statue of Ashikaga Yoshiaki at Tōji-in.

In November 21 1567 he was transferred to An'yō-ji Temple in Ichijōdani (present-day Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture), the base of the Asakura clan.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In April 15 1568, he came of age and changed his name to Yoshiaki.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

There was no effective central authority in Kyoto until Ashikaga Yoshiaki was able to enlist warlord Oda Nobunaga to support his cause. The Oda armies entered Kyoto in 1568, re-establishing the Muromachi shogunate under Ashikaga Yoshiaki as a puppet shōgun. This marked the beginning of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. Ashikaga Yoshihide, the fourteenth shōgun, was deposed without ever entering the capital.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Before long, Yoshiaki became dissatisfied with Oda Nobunaga's overlordship and tried to regain state power.Template:Sfn In 1569, Yoshiaki's Nijō residence was constructed, becoming a notable symbol of his authority.

Yoshiaki's revolt and escape

In 1573, Ashikaga Yoshiaki requested the aid of another warlord, Takeda Shingen, in overthrowing the Oda clan. Shingen led a force of about 30,000 westward and routed the army of Nobunaga's ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu, at Mikatagahara. Upon receiving this news, Yoshiaki himself raised an army and plunged into battle against Nobunaga, but Shingen's army never reached Kyoto. Shingen had died of illness. Unaware of this, Yoshiaki continued his fight against Nobunaga but eventually surrendered. Nobunaga spared Yoshiaki's life but decided to banish him from Kyoto.Template:Sfn Most historians consider this the Ashikaga shogunate's end. Yoshiaki became a Buddhist monk, shaving his head and taking the name Sho-san, which he later changed to Rei-o In. However, Yoshiaki did not formally relinquish his title as shogun. Accordingly, the empty shell of the Ashikaga shogunate could be said to have continued for several more years. Despite a renewed central authority in Kyoto and Nobunaga's attempt to unify the country, the struggle for power among warring states continued. Yoshiaki acted as a rallying point for anti-Oda forces. He even raised troops himself, and sent them to fight against Nobunaga's army during the Ishiyama Hongan-ji War.Template:Sfn In 1576, he sought the support of the Mōri clan, the largest daimyō in Western Japan, and moved his base to Tomo (present-day Fukuyama City). The approximately ten-year period that followed is sometimes referred to as the "Tomo Shogunate (鞆幕府)". Even after Nobunaga had died in 1582, the former shogun continued his efforts to regain power. According to historian Mary Elizabeth Berry, Yoshiaki still resisted Nobunaga's de facto successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi by 1590.Template:Sfn

He died in 1597.Template:Sfn

Symbols

Ashikaga Yoshiaki's standard was a white Hata-jirushi with golden lettering and a red sun. His banner was white and had "Hachiman Dai Bosatsu" written on it in black.Template:Sfn

Family

• Father: Ashikaga Yoshiharu
• Mother: Keijuin (1514–1565)
• Concubines:
  • Osako no Kata
  • Kosaki no Tsubone
• Children:
  • Ashikaga Yoshihiro (1572–1605)
  • Isshi Yoshitaka
  • Nagayama Yoshiari (1575–1635)
  • Yajima Hideyuki

Eras of Yoshiaki's bakufu

The span of years in which Yoshiaki was shōgun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.

• Eiroku (1558–1570)
• Genki (1570–1573)
• Tenshō (1573–1592)

References

• Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982) Lessons from History: the Tokushi Yoron. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press. Template:ISBN; OCLC 7574544
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 585069