Yoshimi Ashikaga

Japanese: 足利義視 - あしかが・よしみ

Year of death: Entoku 3.1.7 (1491.2.15)
Year of birth: Eikyo 11, leap year 1, 18 (1439.3.3)
A military commander in the Muromachi period. Son of Yoshinori and younger brother of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Born in Muromachi-dai, Kyoto. As the 10th son of lowly origins, he was forced to enter Jodo-ji Temple in 1443, and, calling himself Yoshihiro, was once denied worldly hopes. However, his brother's wife, Hino Tomiko, had no sons, and in November 1464, he was designated Yoshimasa's successor. After returning to secular life, he changed his name to Yoshimi, and was appointed Left Horse Captain, Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade, a position held by candidates for Shogun, and was called Imadegawa-dono due to the location of his residence. The following year, he was promoted to Councilor and Left Middle Captain, and then to Gon Dainagon, but in November of the same year, Tomiko gave birth to Yoshihisa, and Tomiko relied on Yamana Mochitoyo (Sozen) to try to oust Yoshimi, and a dispute over the succession to the Shogunate broke out. In September 1466, Inryoken (Kikei) Shinzui and the steward of the mandokoro, Ise Sadachika, conspired to assassinate Yoshimi, causing Yoshimi to panic and flee to the residence of Hosokawa Katsumoto. Mochitoyo and Katsumoto joined forces to urge Yoshimasa to eliminate Sadachika and his men, causing Shinzui and Sadachika to flee to Omi (the Bunsho Coup). With the outbreak of the Onin War the following year, Yoshimasa once again appointed Sadachika, and Yoshimi fled to Ise, eventually joining the Western Army and being made Shogun by Mochitoyo and others. Yoshimi was thus branded a traitor, but he issued internal and external letters to supervise the generals of the Western Army. In 1473, after the deaths of Katsumoto and Mochitoyo, Ichijo Kaneyoshi mediated between Yoshimasa and Yoshimasa, but in the end, he did not return to Kyoto even after the end of the great rebellion, instead relying on Saito Myojun and residing in Akanebe, Mino. When Yoshimasa died in January 1490, his eldest son Yoshimasa was designated as the heir, and she went to Kyoto to act as his guardian. In July of the same year, at the same time that Yoshimasa was appointed, she was also proclaimed quasi-empress while still in her Buddhist dharma form, but she died of illness the following year. The fact that she was the equivalent of a general for the Western Army during the Onin War is significant.

(Akira Imaya)

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

Japanese:

没年：延徳3.1.7(1491.2.15)
生年：永享11.閏1.18(1439.3.3)
室町時代の武将。義教の子,将軍足利義政の弟。京都室町第で出生。10男という出自の低さから嘉吉3(1443)年浄土寺に入室させられ,義尋と称していったんは世俗の望みを絶たれたが,兄の妻日野富子に男子が生まれず,寛正5(1464)年11月義政の後継に指定された。還俗して義視と改名,従五位下左馬頭に叙任されたが,この官は将軍候補が帯びるもので,邸宅の位置から今出川殿と称された。翌年には参議・左中将,次いで権大納言に進んだが,同年11月富子に義尚が生まれ,富子は山名持豊(宗全)に頼って義視を排せんとし,ここに将軍家跡目争いが勃発。文正1(1466)年9月,蔭涼軒(季瓊)真蘂と政所執事伊勢貞親は共謀して義視の暗殺を計画,義視は恐慌をきたして細川勝元邸に逃亡した。持豊,勝元は一致して義政に貞親らの排除を迫り,真蘂,貞親は近江に逃亡した(文正の政変)。翌年の応仁の乱勃発に伴い,義政が再び貞親を登用,義視は伊勢に逃れ,結局西軍に投じて持豊らにより将軍に擬された。こうして義視は逆賊の汚名を着せられたが,御内書,奉書を発して西軍諸将を督した。文明5(1473)年勝元,持豊らが死ぬと一条兼良は義政との間を斡旋したが,結局大乱収拾後も帰京せず,斎藤妙椿に頼って美濃茜部に寓居した。延徳2(1490)年1月義政の死で嫡男義材が継嗣に指定されると,上洛してこれを後見。同7月義材任官と同時に法体のまま准后の宣を受けたが,翌年病死した。応仁の乱で西軍の将軍格であった事実は重要。

(今谷明)

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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