The story
The Ashikaga shogunate was Japan's second military government. Ashikaga Takauji, a warrior chief of eastern Japan, took Kyoto in 1336, drove out Emperor Go-Daigo, and put a member of a rival imperial branch on the throne. In 1338 that emperor named him shogun, and the family held the title until 1573. The shoguns' headquarters stood in Kyoto's Muromachi district, so the era is also called the Muromachi period.
Takauji had helped Go-Daigo overthrow the Kamakura shogunate in 1333. Go-Daigo's Kenmu Restoration then tried to return power to the court and gave little to the warriors who had won it for him, so Takauji turned on him. Go-Daigo fled to Yoshino and set up a rival Southern Court, and the two courts fought until 1392, when the third shogun, Yoshimitsu, reunited them. The Ashikaga relied on regional lords who grew powerful, and the Onin War of 1467 to 1477 began the Sengoku, or warring states, era. Even so the age produced Noh theater, tea ceremony and Zen gardens. In 1573 Oda Nobunaga drove out the last Ashikaga shogun.
Why it mattered
- Gave Japan a second shogunate that lasted 237 years, until 1573.
- Divided the imperial house between Northern and Southern Courts for nearly sixty years.
- Led to the fragmentation of power among regional warlords and the Sengoku era after 1467.
- Produced a flowering of culture including Noh, the tea ceremony and Zen-inspired art.
- Paved the way for Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and then the Tokugawa unification of Japan.
Sources
- Muromachi period Britannica
- Kinkaku-ji Britannica
- Ashikaga family Britannica
Drafted by AI (Claude) from the sources above and checked against them by AI; no historian has reviewed this page. Spot a mistake? Suggest a correction. How pages are made
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