Masatomo Ashikaga

Japanese: 足利政知 - あしかが・まさとも

Year of death: Entoku 3.4.3 (1491.5.11)
Year of birth: 1435
A military commander in the late Muromachi period. He was the son of Shogun Yoshinori and the younger brother of Yoshimasa. In 1454, when Kamakura kubō Ashikaga Shigeuji killed Kanto Kanrei Uesugi Noritada and the Kyotoku War broke out in Kanto, the Uesugi clan requested the Muromachi shogunate to send a Kamakura kubō to replace Shigeuji. At this time, Shogun Yoshimasa's younger brother, Tenryū-ji Temple's Kogonin-shū priest, returned to secular life at his brother's command, took the name Masatomo, and traveled to the eastern provinces as Kamakura kubō. However, Shigeuji had moved to Koga in Shimousa and become Koga kubō, and held great influence with the support of daimyo such as Chiba, Oyama, and the Satake clan. Therefore, Masatomo could not enter Kamakura and set up a residence in Horikoshi in Izu, where he was called Horikoshi kubō. Although he inherited some of the authority of the Kamakura kubō, he was essentially dependent on the ruling power of the Uesugi clan, and rarely took any political action based on his own will. In 1482, as a result of the peace treaty between the shogunate and Shigeuji, he was given Izu as a fief, but he remained a minor supporting actor in the eastern provinces. His son Chachamaru succeeded him as head of the family, but the family was soon destroyed by Ise Sozui (Hojo Soun).

(Ichimura Takao)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：延徳3.4.3(1491.5.11)
生年：永享7(1435)
室町時代後期の武将。将軍義教の子で義政の弟。享徳3(1454)年,鎌倉公方足利成氏が関東管領上杉憲忠を殺害し,関東に享徳の乱が始まると,上杉氏は成氏に代わる鎌倉公方の派遣を室町幕府に要請した。このとき,将軍義政の弟,天竜寺香厳院主が兄の命で還俗して政知と名乗り,鎌倉公方として東国に下向した。しかしそのころ東国では,下総古河に移り古河公方となった成氏が,千葉,小山,佐竹氏以下の大名たちの支持を得て大きな勢力を持っていたため,政知は鎌倉に入れず伊豆堀越に座所を構えて堀越公方と呼ばれた。鎌倉公方の権限を一部継承したとはいえ,実質的には上杉氏の支配権に依存,独自の意思に基づく政治的行動はほとんどみられなかった。文明14(1482)年,幕府と成氏の和睦により伊豆を料所として与えられたが,東国では影の薄い脇役に終始した。その家督は子の茶々丸が継いだが,間もなく伊勢宗瑞(北条早雲)に滅ぼされた。

(市村高男)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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