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Ashikaga Yoshinori 足利 義教
Shōgun
In office 1428–1441
Monarch	Go-Hanazono
Preceded by	Ashikaga Yoshikazu
Succeeded by	Ashikaga Yoshikatsu
Head Priest of Enryaku-ji Temple
In office 1419–1428
Preceded by	Shōgon
Succeeded by	Chiben
Personal details
Born	(1394-07-12)July 12, 1394
Died	July 12, 1441(1441-07-12) (aged 47)
Spouse	Hino Muneko
Children	Ashikaga Yoshikatsu Ashikaga Masatomo Ashikaga Yoshimasa Ashikaga Yoshimi
Parents	Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (father) Fujiwara no Yoshiko (mother)
Signature

Ashikaga Yoshinori (足利 義教, July 12, 1394 – July 12, 1441) was the sixth shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1429 to 1441 during the Muromachi period of medieval Japan. Yoshinori was the son of the third shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. His childhood name was Harutora (春寅). In 1433, he initiated the compilation of the last imperial waka anthology, Shinshoku Kokinwakashū, but was not satisfied with its compilation agenda which undermined his authority.

Shogunal succession and reign

After the death of the fifth shōgun Ashikaga Yoshikazu in 1425, the fourth Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimochi resumed his role as head of the shogunate. Yoshimochi had no other sons, nor did he name a successor before he himself died in 1428.

Yoshinori, who had been a Buddhist monk since the age of ten, became Sei-i Taishōgun on the day of Yoshimochi's death. From amongst the handful of possible Ashikaga candidates, his name was selected by the shogunal deputy (Kanrei), Hatakeyama Mitsuie, who drew lots in the sanctuary of Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine in Kyoto; and it was believed that Hachiman's influence had affected this auspicious choice.

Yoshinori was appointed shōgun in 1429, one year before the surrender of the Southern Court. However during his reign, several rebellions erupted, including the Ōtomo rebellion and the uprising of rebel monks on Mount Hiei, both occurring in 1433; and the Eikyō Rebellion occurred under the leadership of Kantō kubō Ashikaga Mochiuji in 1438. Yoshinori strengthened the power of the shogunate by defeating Mochiuji, who committed suicide the following year as dissatisfaction with Yoshinori continued to grow.

During this period, Ming Chinese contacts were increased and Zen Buddhism gained influence, which had broad cultural consequences. For example, the Hon-dō or main hall at Ikkyu-ji is today the oldest standing Tang-style temple in the Yamashiro (southern Kyoto Prefecture) and Yamato (Nara Prefecture) Provinces. It was built in 1434 and was dedicated by Yoshinori.

The Yasaka Pagoda at Hokanji in Kyoto was destroyed by fire in 1436 but was reconstructed four years later by Yoshinori.

Earlier in 1432, the samurai Akamatsu Mitsusuke had fled the region and later murders Yoshinori in the Kakitsu Incident; Akamatsu is in turn killed by Yamana.

Foreign relations

In 1432, trade and diplomatic relations between the shogunate and Ming China were restored. Both had been discontinued by Yoshimochi. The Chinese emperor reached out to Japan by sending a letter to the shogunate via the kingdom of the Ryūkyū Islands; Yoshinori responded favorably. Receiving the Ming-designated title "King of Japan" allowed Yoshinori to monopolize Japan's trade with China, advantaging him over local lords.

According to Mansai Jugo Nikki (満済准后日記), the system of the Tosen-bugyō (唐船奉行) was established in 1434 to mediate overseas trade. The functions of the Tosen-bugyō included: (1) guarding trading ships in Japanese waters, (2) procuring export goods, (3) mediating between the Muromachi shogunate and shipping interests, and (4) managing record-keeping. It is significant that the Muromachi shogunate was the first to appoint the executive officers of the samurai class to high positions in its diplomatic bureaucracy. After Yoshinori's time, the totosen (渡唐船) (the fleet of ships going from Japan to Ming China) consisted of the ships belonging principally to three different kinds of owners: the Muromachi shōgun, shrines and temples, and the shugo daimyō.

In 1441, Yoshinori granted the Shimazu clan suzerainty over the Ryūkyū Islands.

Assassination and succession

Yoshinori was notorious for his oppressive measures and unpredictable dictatorial whims. In 1441, Yoshinori was assassinated by Akamatsu Noriyasu, son of Akamatsu Mitsusuke who invited him to a Noh performance at their residence in Kyoto and assassinated him during the evening play. Yoshinori was 47 at the age of his assassination which was organized by Mitsusuke, who had learned that Yoshinori planned to bestow three provinces belonging to him to his cousin Akamatsu Sadamura, who came to be given an important position by Yoshinori because Sadamura's younger sister became his concubine and gave birth to a son.

Shortly thereafter, it was determined that his 8-year-old son, Yoshikatsu, would become the new shōgun. Akamatsu Mitsusuke had already a problem in 1427 with the fifth Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimochi, who tried to confiscate his territory; Mitsusuke burned down his own residence in Kyoto and went to own Harima province, and gathered his family and retainer to prepare for the battle. This infuriated Yoshimochi, who ordered to search and kill them, but the confusion continued as those who were ordered to subjugate them refused to dispatch troops. Another person who died in the incident was Yamana Hirotaka (Shugo of Iwami province), Kyogoku Takakazu (Shugo of Yamashiro, Izumo, Oki and Hida province), and Ouchi Mochiyo (Shugo of Suo, Nagato, Buzen and Chikuzen province). Mitsusuke confined himself in Yamashiro Castle, and died with 69 members of his family on October 12, after he was attacked by the shogunal army.

Although the Ashikaga line continued through this seventh shogun, the power of the shōguns gradually eroded and the shogunate fell into decline. The mere fact of that assassination and treason had become a reality served to undercut the previous military ethic of loyalty.

Family

• Father: Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
• Mother: Fujiwara no Yoshiko (1358–1399)
• Wives:
  • Hino Muneko (d. 1447)
  • Sanjo Yoshiko, daughter of Sanjo Masaaki
• Concubines:
  • Hino Shigeko (1411–1463)
  • Kozaisho no Tsubone
  • Shoben-dono
  • Otomi no Kata, daughter of Tamagawa no Miya and granddaughter of Emperor Chōkei
• Children:
  • Ashikaga Yoshikatsu by Shigeko
  • Ashikaga Yoshimasa by Shigeko
  • Daijin'in by Shigeko
  • Ashikaga Yoshikano later Shogoin by Shigeko
  • a daughter by Kozaisho
  • Ashikaga Yoshimi by Kozaisho
  • Ashikaga Masatomo (1435–1491) by Shoben
  • Ashikaga Yoshinaga by Shoben
  • Kosho'in
  • Sankyo

Eras of Yoshinori's bakufu

The years in which Yoshinori was shogun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.

• Eikyō (1429–1441)
• Kakitsu (1441–1444)

Notes

1. ^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 331., p. 331, at Google Books
2. Citko-Duplantis, Małgorzata Karolina (2024). "The Poet Who Challenged the Shogun: Asukai Masayo and Shinshoku Kokin Wakashū". The Journal of Japanese Studies. 50 (1): 125–153. doi:10.1353/jjs.2024.a918585. ISSN 1549-4721.
3. Crompton, Louis, Homosexuality and Civilization, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003. p. 423.
4. ^ Keene, Donald. (2003). Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion, p. 16–17, at Google Books
5. Hakuseki, Arai. (1712) Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron, p. 330.
6. ^ JAANUS (Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System). Kitayama bunka(北山文化).
7. Hakuseki, p. 330; Mochiuji's suicide at Hōkoku-ji Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
8. "Yoshinori & Hon-do, Shuon'an Ikkyuji (1334)". Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
9. Yasaka Pagoda, Kyoto.
10. Hakuseki, p. 330; Keene, p. 78
11. ^ Hakuseki, p. 330; Okinawa Prefecture (2004).This is Okinawa, p. 3. Archived 2008-02-29 at the Wayback Machine
12. Keene, Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion, p. 78, at Google Books
13. Thomas D. Conlan (2024). Kings in All but Name: The Lost History of Ouchi Rule in Japan, 1350-1569. Oxford University Press. pp. 138–145. ISBN 9780197677339.
14. Kinihara, Misako. The Establishment of the Tosen-bugyō in the Reign of Ashikaga Yoshinori" (唐船奉行の成立 : 足利義教による飯尾貞連の登用), Tokyo Woman's Christian University: Essays and Studies. Abstract.
15. Kitagawa, Joseph M. "Some Reflections on Japanese Religion and Its Relationship to the Imperial System, Archived 2008-02-29 at the Wayback Machine Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 1990/17:2–3, p. 24.
16. Eason, David. "Warriors, Warlords, and Domains." Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850. Ed. Karl Friday. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2012. 233-42. Print.
17. Crompton, ibid.
18. Titsingh, p. 340., p. 340, at Google Books; Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822, p. 234 n.10; n.b., Yoshinori (b. 1394 – d. 1441) = 48yrs. and Yoshikatsu (b. 1434 – d. 1443) = 8yrs. In this period, "children were considered one year old at birth and became two the following New Year's Day; and all people advanced a year that day, not on their actual birthday."
19. Keene, Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion, p. 4, at Google Books
20. Blum, Mark et al. (2005). Rennyo and the Roots of Modern Japanese Buddhism, p. 17.
21. Titsingh, pp. 331-340., p. 331, at Google Books

References

• Hakuseki, Arai. (1712). Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron. English translation and commentary by Joyce Ackroyd, University of Queensland Press, 1982. ISBN 9780702214851; OCLC 7574544
• Blum, Mark Laurence and Shinʼya Yasutomi. (2005). Rennyo and the Roots of Modern Japanese Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-513275-5 (cloth)
• Crompton, Louis, Homosexuality and Civilization, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2003.
• Keene, Donald. (2003). Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion: The Creation of the Soul of Japan. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13056-1; OCLC 52268947
• Kinihara, Misako. "The Establishment of the Tosenbugyo in the Reign of Ashikaga Yoshinori" (唐船奉行の成立 : 足利義教による飯尾貞連の登用), Tokyo Woman's Christian University: Essays and Studies. Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 27–53.
• 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

v t e Ashikaga family tree
adoption (1305-1358) Takauji r. 1338-1358 (1330-1368) Yoshiakira r. 1358-1367 (1358-1408) Yoshimitsu r. 1367-1395 (1386-1428) Yoshimochi r. 1395-1423 (1394-1441) Yoshinori r. 1429-1441 (1407-1425) Yoshikazu r. 1423-1425 (1433-1443) Yoshikatsu r. 1442-1443 (1435-1491) Masatomo (1436-1490) Yoshimasa r. 1449-1474 (1439-1491) Yoshimi (1481-1511) Yoshizumi r. 1494-1508 (1465-1489) Yoshihisa r. 1474-1489 (1466-1523) Yoshitane r. 1490-1493, 1508-1521 (1509-1573) Yoshitsuna 1509-1573 (1510-1550) Yoshiharu r. 1521-1545 (1538-1568) Yoshihide r. 1568 (1535-1565) Yoshiteru r. 1545-1565 (1537-1597) Yoshiaki r. 1568-1573
References: 新井 (Arai), 白石 (Hakuseki) (1982). Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron. University of Queensland Press. pp. 298, 385. ISBN 978-0-7022-1485-1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric; Roth, Käthe (2002). Japan Encyclopedia. Oriental Translation Fund. pp. 55–57. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5.

v t e Chronology, dates and paternity of the Ashikaga shōguns
Name Lived Reigned Son of 1st Takauji 1305–1358 1338–1358 Sadauji 2nd Yoshiakira 1330–1368 1358–1367 Takauji 3rd Yoshimitsu 1358–1408 1367–1395 Yoshiakira 4th Yoshimochi 1386–1428 1395–1423 Yoshimitsu 5th Yoshikazu 1407–1425 1423–1425 Yoshimochi 6th Yoshinori 1394–1441 1428–1441 Yoshimitsu 7th Yoshikatsu 1433–1443 1442–1443 Yoshinori 8th Yoshimasa 1435–1490 1449–1474 Yoshinori Name Lived Reigned Son of   9th Yoshihisa 1465–1489 1474–1489 Yoshimasa 10th Yoshitane 1465–1522 1490–1493 1508–1521 Yoshimi 11th Yoshizumi 1478–1513 1493–1508 Masatomo 12th Yoshiharu 1510–1550 1521–1545 Yoshizumi 13th Yoshiteru 1535–1565 1545–1565 Yoshiharu 14th Yosihide 1538–1568 1564–1568 Yoshitsuna 15th Yoshiaki 1537–1597 1568–1588 Yoshiharu
Related topics: Muromachi period Hana-no Gosho Nijō Castle Ashikaga clan Sei-i Taishōgun

• 1394 births
• 1441 deaths
• 15th-century Japanese people
• 15th-century shōguns
• Ashikaga shōguns
• Ashikaga clan
• Assassinated Japanese people