was the twelfth ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'' of the

Ashikaga shogunate The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669. The Ashikaga shogunate was establ ...

from 1521 through 1546 during the late

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

.Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982). ''Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron'', p. 332. He was the son of the eleventh ''

Ashikaga Yoshizumi was the 11th ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1494 to 1508 during the Muromachi period of Japan. He was the son of Ashikaga Masatomo and grandson of the sixth ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshinori.Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). His chi ...

. His childhood name was Kameomaru (亀王丸). On 1 May 1521, after Shogun

Ashikaga Yoshitane , also known as , was the 10th ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who headed the shogunate first from 1490 to 1493 and then again from 1508 to 1521 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshitane was the son of Ashikaga Yoshimi and grandson ...

and

Hosokawa Takakuni Hosokawa Takakuni (, 1484 – 17 July 1531) was the most powerful military commander in the Muromachi period under Ashikaga Yoshiharu, the twelfth ''shōgun''. His father was Hosokawa Masaharu, a member of the branch of the Hosokawa clan. His ch ...

struggled for power over the shogunate and Yoshitane withdrew to Awaji Island, the way was clear for Minamoto-no Yoshiharu to be installed as shogun as he enters Kyoto. Not having any political power and repeatedly being forced out of the capital of Kyoto, Yoshiharu retired in 1546 over a political struggle between

Miyoshi Nagayoshi , eldest son of Miyoshi Motonaga, was a Japanese samurai and powerful ''daimyō'' who ruled seven provinces of Kansai. Nagayoshi held the court titles of Shūri-dayū (修理太夫) and Chikuzen no Kami (筑前守), and was also known by the more ...

and

Hosokawa Harumoto was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Muromachi and Sengoku periods, and the head of the Hosokawa clan. Harumoto's childhood name was Sōmei-maru (聡明丸). He was born to Hosokawa Sumimoto, another renowned samurai of the Muromachi era. Early ...

making his son

Ashikaga Yoshiteru , also known as Yoshifushi or Yoshifuji, was the 13th '' shōgun'' 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 ''shōgun'', Ashikaga Yoshiharu, and his mot ...

the thirteenth shogun. He dies on 20 May 1550. Later in 1568, supported by

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

, his son

Ashikaga Yoshiaki "Ashikaga Yoshiaki" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. was the 15th and final ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate in Japan who reigned from 1568 to 1573.Ackroyd, J ...

became the fifteenth shogun. From a western perspective, Yoshiharu is significant, as he was shogun when the first contact of Japan with the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an West took place in 1543. A

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

ship, blown off its course to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, landed in Japan. In 1526, Yoshiharu invited archers from neighboring provinces to come to the capital for an archery contest.

Family

* Father:

* Mother: Hino Akiko * Wife: Keijuin (1514–1565), * Concubines: ** Oodate Tsuneoki's daughter * Children: **

by Keijuin **

by Keijuin ** Ashikaga Shuko (d. 1565) ** Shiratori Yoshihisa (d. 1547) ** daughter married Takeda Yoshimune ** daughter married Miyoshi Yoshitsugu ** daughter married Karasume Kosen ** Nun in Hyokoji temple

Events of Yoshiharu's ''bakufu''

Significant events shape the period during which Yoshiharu was ''shōgun'':Ackroyd, p. 331. * 1521 –

has Yoshiharu appointed ''shōgun''. * 1526 – Kasai rebels, Miyoshi rebels: Go-Nara succeeds. * 1528 – Yoshiharu driven out by Miyoshi Nagamoto. * 1533 – Ikkō rebellion. * 1536 – Go-Nara enthroned. * 1538 – Dissension in Koga Kubō's family. * 1546 – Yoshiharu flees to Ōmi; his son, Yoshiteru, appointed ''shōgun'' in exile.

Eras of Yoshiharu's ''bakufu''

The years in which Yoshiharu was ''shōgun'' are more specifically identified by more than one

era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of ...

or ''

nengō The , also known as , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being ""), followed by the literal ...

''.Titsingh, * ''

Daiei , based in Kobe, Hyōgo, Kobe, is one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan. In 1957, Isao Nakauchi founded the chain in Osaka near Sembayashi Station on the Keihan train line. Daiei is now under a restructuring process supported by Maruben ...

'' (1521–1528) * ''

Kyōroku was a after ''Daiei'' and before ''Tenbun''. This era spanned from August 1528 to July 1532. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1528 : The era name was changed to mark the enthronement of Emperor Go-Nara. The previous era ended and a ...

'' (1528–1532) * ''

Tenbun , also known as Tenmon, was a after ''Kyōroku'' and before '' Kōji''. This period spanned from July 1532 through October 1555. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1532 : At the request of Ashikaga Yoshiharu, the 12th ''shōgun'' of the ...

'' (1532–1555)

Notes

References

* Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982) ''Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron''. Brisbane:

University of Queensland Press Established in 1948, University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house. Founded as a traditional university press, UQP has since branched into publishing books for general readers in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, poetr ...

.
OCLC 7574544
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''

Nihon Ōdai Ichiran , ', is a 17th-century chronicle of the serial reigns of Japanese emperors with brief notes about some of the noteworthy events or other happenings. According to the 1871 edition of the ''American Cyclopaedia'', the 1834 French translation of ...

''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon''.
Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 585069
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashikaga, Yoshiharu 1511 births 1550 deaths 16th-century shōguns Ashikaga shōguns Ashikaga clan