Ashikaga Yoshiakira

His childhood name was Senjuō (千寿王). He spent his childhood in Kamakura as a hostage of the Hōjō clan. His father Takauji joined forces with the banished Emperor Go-Daigo. Go-Daigo revolted against the Kamakura shogunate in the Kenmu Restoration. Yoshiakira assisted Nitta Yoshisada (1301–1338) in his attack on the Kamakura shogunate. During the Nanboku-cho period, several Loyalist occupations of Kyoto in the 1350s were successfully retaken by Yoshiakira.

Notable events

In 1349, an internal disturbance of the government caused Yoshiakira to be called back to Kyoto, where he found himself named as Takauji's heir. On 5 April 1352, Loyalist forces led by Kitabatake Akiyoshi, Kusunoki Masanori and Chigusa Akitsune occupied Kyoto for 20 days before Yoshiakira was able to retake the city. Loyalist forces led by Masanori and Yamana Tokiuji captured Kyoto again in July 1353, but were repulsed by Yoshiakira in August. In January 1355, Loyalist forces led by Momonoi, Tadafuyu, and Yamana captured Kyoto again. However, Kyoto was recaptured on 25 April by Takauji and Yoshiakira's combined forces. Yoshiakira succeeded his father Takauji as Sei-i Taishōgun after his death in 1358.

Takauji died in 1358, his son Yoshiakira is then appointed shōgun, which leads to dissention and defections in shogunate. In 1362, Hosokawa Kiyouji and Kusunoki Masanori attack Kyoto, Yoshiakira flees, but regains the capital in twenty days. Later, Emperor Go-Daigo's son, Prince Kaneyoshi (also known as Kanenaga, leader of Ashikaga clan's archrival court) gains control of Kyushu in 1365. Yoshiakira falls ill in 1367 and cedes his position to his son.

Some months after his death he was succeeded by his son Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who became the third shōgun in 1368. Yoshiakira was posthumously named 宝篋院 (Hōkyōin), and his grave is at Tōji-in, Kyoto, at the same site as his father's grave.