Ashikaga Yoshiteru

In this Japanese name, the family name is Ashikaga.

Ashikaga Yoshiteru

Ashikaga Yoshiteru (足利義輝, March 31, 1536 – June 17, 1565), also known as Yoshifushi or Yoshifuji, was the 13th shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1546 to 1565 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the eldest son of the 12th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiharu; and his mother was a daughter of Konoe Hisamichi (later called 慶寿院 Keijuin). When he became shogun in 1546 at age 11, Yoshiteru's name was Yoshifushi (sometimes translated as Yoshifuji);^[1] but some years later in 1554, he changed his name to the one by which he is conventionally known today.^[2] His younger brother Ashikaga Yoshiaki would become the fifteenth shogun.

Installed as shogun

After his father, Yoshiharu, was forced to retire in 1546 over a political struggle with Hosokawa Harumoto, Yoshiteru became Seii Taishogun, albeit a puppet shogun like his father. Yoshiteru was only 11 at the time and his investiture ceremony was held at Sakamoto, Ōmi Province, outside Kyoto.

Yoshiteru had barely been confirmed as shogun when his father Yoshiharu made a truce with Harumoto in order to return to Kyoto. Yet, Harumoto's retainer Miyoshi Nagayoshi parted with Harumoto to take the side of Hosokawa Ujitsuna and the two Hosokawa started a war that drove out Yoshiteru, his father Yoshiharu, and Harumoto as well, from Kyoto. In 1550, Yoshiharu died in Ōmi, unable to return to Kyoto.

In 1552, Yoshiteru made a peace with Nagayoshi to return to Kyoto. However, the next year, Yoshiteru and Harumoto started a war against Nagayoshi to remove his influence. With the help of Rokkaku Yoshikata, the war initially went well for Yoshiteru but he was driven out of Kyoto again in 1558 with a counterattack from Nagayoshi. Nagayoshi did not press on after the victory to kill Yoshiteru for fear of being accused of killing a shogun, and instead signed a truce to have Yoshiteru back in Kyoto under his influence. Nagayoshi continued as the real power in Kyoto, with Yoshiteru nothing more than a rubber stamp.

Timeline

Significant events shaped the period during which Yoshiteru was shogun:^[3]

1550 – Yoshiharu dies in exile; Yoshiteru's "shogunate" in exile begins.^[3]
1551 – Sue Harukata rebels against Ōuchi Yoshitaka.^[3]
1552 – Yoshiteru returns to Kyoto, actual power being held by Miyoshi Nagayoshi and Matsunaga Hisahide.^[3]
1554–1564 – Ōuchi's retainer Mōri Motonari succeeds him and consolidates his power.^[3]
1557 – Ōgimachi succeeds.^[3]
1558 – Nagayoshi drives out Yoshiteru who, however, is reinstated.^[3]
1560 – Oda Nobunaga slays Imagawa Yoshimoto.^[3]
1564 – Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen reach a stalemate at Kawanakajima after continuous battles, checking each other's power. (1553–1564).^[3]
1565 – Matsunaga invests Kyoto; Yoshiteru commits suicide.^[3]

Governance

Yoshiteru, formal portrait

Surrounded by daimyo who only intended to use the authority of shogun for their own good, Yoshiteru still managed to reaffirm the shogun's authority by active diplomacy that extended to every part of Japan. By trying to negotiate a peace between such well known daimyo as Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, Shimazu Takahisa, Ōtomo Yoshishige, Mōri Motonari, and Amago Haruhisa, the shogun's authority was again recognized by various daimyo. Lacking resources, Yoshiteru nevertheless saw opportunities to assign his kanji "輝" on various samurai like Mōri Terumoto to become something close to a godfather. Yoshiteru was well respected for his actions and many researchers credit him as being the last effective shogun to hold the post. Oda Nobunaga and Uesugi Kenshin were among the many daimyo and samurai who travelled to Kyoto to pay their respects to the shogun.

End of Reign

In 1564, Nagayoshi died of illness and Yoshiteru saw an opportunity to fully reclaim the shogun's authority. However, Matsunaga Hisahide and the three member council of Miyoshi, the Miyoshi Triumvirs, who wanted to rule just as Nagayoshi had, were willing to go to any lengths to remove Yoshiteru from the power and to have Ashikaga Yoshihide as the puppet shogun.

In 1565, Hisahide, and Miyoshi Yoshitsugu laid siege against a collection of buildings (that would later become Nijō Castle) where Yoshiteru lived. With no help arriving in time from the daimyo that could have supported him, Yoshiteru and the few troops under him were overrun by Miyoshi.

Three years would pass before his cousin Ashikaga Yoshihide became the fourteenth shogun.

Yoshiteru's Legacy

Because of his inner strength and the katana skills that he was known to have practiced regularly, Yoshiteru was called the "Kengo Shogun" (剣豪将軍) and was closer to being a samurai and a warlord than any shogun since Ashikaga Takauji. One of his sword-fighting instructors was Tsukahara Bokuden, the founder of Kashima Shintō-ryū.^[4] His governance was highly credited but to have been killed in spite of his efforts completely destroyed what little recognition and authority Yoshiteru built up.

The waka Yoshiteru was said to have left on his death shows the extent of his aspirations compared with the limits of achievements.

Kanji	Rōmaji	English
五月雨は　露か涙か　不如帰我が名をあげよ　雲の上まで	samidare wa tsuyu ka namida ka hototogisu waga na o ageyo kumo no ue made	The May rain falls, and is it my tears or the mist that surround me? Hototogisu,^[5] take my name and soar above the clouds

Eras of Yoshiteru's bakufu

There were more than one era name or nengō in which Yoshiteru was identified as Shogun .^[6]

Tenbun (1532–1555)
Kōji (1555–1558)
Eiroku (1558–1570)

Notes

↑ Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982). Lessons from History: the Tokushi Yoron, p. 298.
↑ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 381., p. 381, at Google Books
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ackroyd, p. 332.
↑ Ichiro Watanabe, Tsukahara Bokuden in Shogakukan, Encyclopedia Nipponica. (in Japanese)
↑ Hototogisu is the lesser cuckoo (Cuculus poliocephalus). Written in kanji it means never to return
↑ Titsingh, p. 372–389., p. 372, at Google Books

References

Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982) Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press. ISBN 9780702214851; 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

External links

Momoyama, Japanese Art in the Age of Grandeur, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Ashikaga Yoshiteru

Preceded by Ashikaga Yoshiharu	Muromachi Shogun 1546–1565	Succeeded by Ashikaga Yoshihide

Ashikaga family tree

Takauji ⁽¹⁾
1305–1338–1358

Yoshiakira⁽²⁾
1330–1358-1367–1368

Yoshimitsu⁽³⁾
1358–1367-1395–1408

Yoshimochi⁽⁴⁾
1386–1395-1423–1428

Yoshikazu⁽⁵⁾
1407–1423–1425

Yoshinori⁽⁶⁾
1394–1428–1441

Yoshikatsu⁽⁷⁾
1433–1442–1443

Masatomo
1435–1491

Yoshimasa^{(8)^{[lower-roman 1]}^{[lower-roman 2]}}
1435–1449-1474–1490

Yoshimi
1439–1491

Yoshizumi^{(11)^{[lower-roman 1]}}
1478–1493-1508–1513

Yoshihisa^{(9)^{[lower-roman 1]}}
1465–1474–1489

Yoshitane^{(10)^{[lower-roman 1]}}
1465–1490-1493+1508-1521–1522

Yoshiharu⁽¹²⁾
1510–1521-1545–1550

Yoshitsuna
1509–1573

Yoshiteru⁽¹³⁾
1535–1545–1565

Yoshiaki⁽¹⁵⁾
1537–1568-1573–1597

Yoshihide⁽¹⁴⁾
1538–1564–1568

Notes:

1 2 3 4 Yoshimasa's successors were Yoshihisa (son), Yoshitane (first adopted son) and Yoshizumi (second adopted son)
↑ The broken lines indicate adoptions within the shogunal clan

Chronology, dates and paternity of the Ashikaga shoguns

	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	1568–1573	Yoshiharu

Prominent people of the Sengoku period

Three major daimyo	Oda Nobunaga Toyotomi Hideyoshi Tokugawa Ieyasu

Shogun	Ashikaga Yoshiharu Ashikaga Yoshiteru Ashikaga Yoshihide Ashikaga Yoshiaki Tokugawa Hidetada

Emperors	Go-Kashiwabara Go-Nara Ōgimachi Go-Yōzei

Other daimyo	List of daimyo from the Sengoku period

Swordsmen	Hikita Bungorō Kamiizumi Nobutsuna Miyamoto Musashi Sasaki Kojirō Tadashima Akiyama Tsukahara Bokuden Tsutsumi Hōzan Yagyū Munenori Yagyū Munetoshi

Ninja, rogues and mercenaries	Fūma Kotarō Hattori Hanzō Ishikawa Goemon Katō Danzō Kirigakure Shikaemon Kōzuki Sasuke Mochizuki Chiyome Ogurusu Nakamura Ohama Kagetaka Saika Magoichi Suzuki Sadayu Suzuki Shigehide Suzuki Shigetomo Suzuki Magoroku Igasaki Dōshun

Monks and other religious figures	Ankokuji Ekei Honganji Kennyo Hon'inbo Sansa Ishin Sūden Jion Nankōbō Tenkai Rennyo Sessai Choro Shimozuma Chuko Shimozuma Rairen Shimozuma Rairyū Takuan Sōhō

Onna-bugeisha	Ikeda Sen Kaihime Komatsuhime Maeda Matsu Ōhōri Tsuruhime Tachibana Ginchiyo

Other women	Asahihime Chacha Dota Gozen Gotokuhime Hosokawa Gracia Izumo no Okuni Kitsuno Kyōgoku Maria Kyōgoku Tatsuko Nene Nōhime Oeyo Oichi Ohatsu Okaji no Kata Lady Kasuga Lady Saigō Lady Tsukiyama Senhime Sentōin Tokuhime

See also	List of samurai from the Sengoku period

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 36753408 LCCN: nr00004173

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