Ashikaga Yoshimitsu

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu

Kinkaku, the Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji, originated as the villa of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

In this Japanese name, the family name is "Ashikaga".

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (足利 義満, September 25, 1358 – May 31, 1408) was the 3rd shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate who ruled from 1368 to 1394 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshimitsu was the son of the second shogun Ashikaga Yoshiakira.

In the year after the death of his father Yoshiakira in 1367, Yoshimitsu became Seii Taishogun at age 11.

Significant events shape the period during which Yoshimitsu was shogun:

• 1368 – Yoshimitsu appointed shogun; Chōkei ascends southern throne.
• 1369 – Kusunoki Masanori defects to Ashikaga.
• 1370 – Imagawa Sadayo sent to subdue Kyushu.
• 1371 – Attempts to arrange truce.
• 1373–1406 – Embassies between China and Japan.
• 1374 – En'yū ascends northern throne.
• 1378 – Yoshimitsu builds the Muromachi palace in Kyoto's elite district of Kamigyo, on the site of the former residence of the nobleman Saionji Sanekane.
• 1379 – Shiba Yoshimasa becomes Kanrei.
• 1380 – Kusunoki Masanori rejoins Kameyama; southern army suffers reverses.
• 1382 – Go-Komatsu ascends northern throne; resurgence of southern army.
• 1383 – Yoshimitsu's honors; Go-Kameyama ascends southern throne.
• 1385 – Southern army defeated at Koga.
• 1387–1389 – Dissension in Toki family in Mino.
• 1389 – Yoshimitsu pacifies Kyūshū and distributes lands; Yoshimitsu opposed by Kamakura kanrei Ashikaga Ujimitsu.
• 1390 – Kusunoki defeated; Yamana Ujikiyo chastises Tokinaga.
• 1391 – Yamana Ujikyo attacks Kyoto – Meitoku War.
• 1392 – Northern and Southern courts reconciled under Go-Komatsu.
• 1394 – Yoshimitsu officially cedes his position to his son; Ashikaga Yoshimochi appointed shogun.
• 1396 – Imagawa Sadayo dismissed.
• 1397 – Uprising in Kyūshū suppressed.
• 1398 – Muromachi administration organized.
• 1399 – Ōuchi Yoshihiro and Ashikaga Mitsukane rebel – Ōei War.
• 1402 – Uprising in Mutsu suppressed.
• 1404 – Yoshimitsu is crowned Nippon Koku-Ō (King of Japan) by Emperor Yongle of China.
• 1408 – Yoshimitsu dies.

Muromachi

Yoshimitsu constructed his residence in the Muromachi section in the capital of Kyoto in 1378. As a result, in Japanese, the Ashikaga shogunate and the corresponding time period are often referred to as the Muromachi shogunate and Muromachi period.

Yoshimitsu resolved the rift between the Northern and Southern Courts in 1392, when he persuaded Go-Kameyama of the Southern Court to hand over the Imperial Regalia to Emperor Go-Komatsu of the Northern Court. Yoshimitsu's greatest political achievement was that he managed to bring about the end to Nanboku-cho fighting. This event had the effect of firmly establishing the authority of the Muromachi shogunate and suppressing the power of the regional daimyo who might challenge that central authority.

Although Yoshimitsu retired in 1394 and his son was confirmed as the fourth shogun Ashikaga Yoshimochi, the old shogun didn't abandon any of his powers. Yoshimitsu continued to maintain authority over the shogunate until his death.

Yoshimitsu also played a major role in the genesis of Noh theatre, as the patron of Zeami Motokiyo, the actor considered to be Noh's founder. His close relationship with Zeami was not only based on his appreciation of Zeami's aesthetic sensibilities but also on the fact that Yoshimitu, known as an enthusiastic practitioner of Shudo, or Samurai pederasty, was infatuated with the young Zeami and took the young man as his lover.

Yoshimitsu died suddenly in 1408 at age 50. After his death, his retirement villa (near Kyoto) became Rokuon-ji, which today is famous for its three-storied, gold-leaf covered reliquary known as "Kinkaku." So famous is this single structure, in fact, that the entire temple itself is often identified as the Kinkaku-ji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. A statue of Yoshimitsu is found there today.

Eras of Yoshimitsu's bakufu

The years in which Yoshimitsu was shogun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō. Nanboku-chō southern court

• Eras as reckoned by legitimate Court (as determined by Meiji rescript):
  • Shōhei (1346–1370)
  • Kentoku (1370–1372)
  • Bunchū (1372–1375)
  • Tenju (1375–1381)
  • Kōwa (1381–1384)
  • Genchū (1384–1393)

Nanboku-chō northern court

• Eras as reckoned by pretender Court (as determined by Meiji rescript):
  • Ōan (1368–1375)
  • Eiwa (1375–1379)
  • Kōryaku (1379–1381)
  • Eitoku (1381–1384)
  • Shitoku (1384–1387)
  • Kakei (1387–1389)
  • Kōō (1389–1390)
  • Meitoku (1390–1393)‡

Post-Nanboku-chō reunified court

• Eras merged as Meitoku 3 replaced Genchū 9 as Go-Kameyama abdicated.
  • Meitoku (1393–1384)‡
  • Ōei (1394–1428)

References

• Ackroyd, Joyce I. (1982) Lessons from History: the Tokushi Yoron. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press. 10-ISBN 070221485X/13-ISBN 9780702214851; OCLC 7574544
• Morton, W. Scott and J. Kenneth Olenik. (1973). Japan: Its History and Culture. Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. 10-ISBN 0715357689/13-ISBN 9780715357682; OCLC 462186835
• Pier, Garrett Chatfield. (1914). Temple Treasures of Japan. New York: Frederick Fairchild Sherman. OCLC 535337
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 585069
• Turnbull, Stephen. (2005). Samurai Commanders. Oxford: Osprey Press. 10-ISBN 1841767433/13-ISBN 9781841767437; 10-ISBN 1841767441/13-ISBN 9781841767444; OCLC 60834971
• Worden, Robert L. (1994). "Kamakura and Muromachi Periods, 1185–1573; Economic and Cultural Developments," A Country Study: Japan. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress.

Preceded by Ashikaga Yoshiakira

Muromachi Shogun 1368–1394

Succeeded by Ashikaga Yoshimochi