Yoshiaki Ashikaga

Japanese: 足利義明 - あしかが・よしあき

Year of death: Tenbun 7.10.7 (1538.10.29)
Year of birth: Year of birth unknown. A military commander in the Warring States period. Second son of Ashikaga Masauji, the Koga kubo. He became a monk at a young age and was called Aisho-o, and later Hassho-in Kuunen, and held the position of Yukishitadono (the head priest of the young shrine at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura), who played a part in the Kamakura shogunate's ruling system. In the first half of the Eisho period (1504-1520), amidst the continuing conflict between his father Masauji and his older brother Takamoto, he gradually achieved political independence, taking the name Sosai, and then returning to secular life and taking the name Yoshiaki. At first, he acted in the same way as his older brother Takamoto, but around 1516 (Eisho 13), he suddenly turned around and allied with his father Masauji, coming into conflict with Takamoto. During that time, he lived in Takayanagi, Shimousa, but at the request of the Mariya Takeda clan of Kazusa, he entered Koyumi, Shimousa, around July 1516, and took the religious name Dotetsu on this occasion. From then on, he was honored as the Koyumi Kubo, a symbol of the unification of the southern Kanto clans, and while he expanded his power, he also intensified the conflict with the Koga Kubo Takamoto. This relationship was passed on to Takamoto's son, Haruuji, but as if to symbolize the limits of his power, in Tenbun 7 (1538), he fought against the Hojo Ujitsuna army at Kounodai in Shimousa under Haruuji's orders, and fought alone in the midst of the melee, only to be defeated and killed. <References> Sato Hironobu, "The Establishment and Development of the Koyumi Kubo Ashikaga Clan"

(Tsuneaki Takikawa)

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

Japanese:

没年：天文7.10.7(1538.10.29)
生年：生年不詳
戦国時代の武将。古河公方足利政氏の次男。幼少時に僧籍に入り愛松王,のちには八正院空然と称し,鎌倉府支配体制の一翼を担った雪下殿(鎌倉鶴岡八幡宮若宮別当)の地位にあった。永正期(1504～20)前半,父政氏,兄高基の抗争が続くなかで次第に政治的自立を果たし,宗斎,次いで還俗して義明と名乗った。当初兄高基と同一行動をとったが,永正13(1516)年ごろから一転して父政氏と結び,高基と対立。その間,居所は下総高柳の地にあったが,上総真里谷武田氏の要請により同15年7月ごろ下総小弓に入部し,これを機に道号道哲を称した。以後南関東諸氏統合の象徴として小弓公方と尊称され,その権力を浸透させる一方,古河公方高基との抗争を激化させた。その関係は高基の子晴氏にも引き継がれたが,その権力の限界を象徴するかのように,天文7(1538)年下総国府台において,晴氏の命を受けた北条氏綱軍と交戦し,乱戦の最中孤軍奮闘,敗死した。<参考文献>佐藤博信『小弓公方足利氏の成立と展開』

(滝川恒昭)

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

<<: Yoshiaki Ashikaga

>>: Ashikaga Motouji