Ashikaga Motouji (足利基氏; 1340–1367) was a Japanese samurai lord of the Nanboku-chō period. The fourth son of shogun Ashikaga Takauji, he was the first of a dynasty of five Kantō kubō, Kamakura-based representatives in the vital Kamakura-fu of Kyoto's Ashikaga regime. Meant to stabilize a volatile situation in the Kantō, a region where many warrior clans wanted the return of the shogunate from Kyoto back to Kamakura, the dynasty he started almost immediately developed the ambition to usurp the shogunate, becoming a serious problem for the central government. Motouji was the only kubō who always remained loyal to the Kyoto government. During the Kannō disturbance, a historical episode with serious repercussions on his life, he tried to reconcile his father with his uncle Ashikaga Tadayoshi and, after his father's demise, he collaborated with his elder brother, shogun Ashikaga Yoshiakira, to stabilize the shogunate. He died young during an epidemic.
- ⭐ Core Definition: Ashikaga Motouji
- Ashikaga Motouji in the context of Kantō kubō
- Ashikaga Motouji in the context of Ashikaga Ujimitsu
Ashikaga Motouji in the context of Kantō kubō
Kantō kubō (関東公方) (also called Kantō gosho (関東御所), Kamakura kubō (鎌倉公方), or Kamakura gosho (鎌倉御所)) was a title equivalent to shōgun assumed by Ashikaga Motouji after his nomination to Kantō kanrei, or deputy shōgun for the Kamakura-fu, in 1349. Motouji transferred his original title to the Uesugi family, which had previously held the hereditary title of shitsuji, and would thereafter provide the Kantō kanrei. The Ashikaga had been forced to move to Kyoto, abandoning Kamakura and the Kantō region, because of the continuing difficulties they had keeping the Emperor and the loyalists under control (see the article Nanboku-chō period). Motouji had been sent by his father, shōgun Ashikaga Takauji, precisely because the latter understood the importance of controlling the Kantō region and wanted to have an Ashikaga ruler there, but the administration in Kamakura was from the beginning characterized by its rebelliousness. The shōgun's idea never really worked and actually backfired.
After Motouji, all the kubō wanted power over the entire country. The Kantō kubō era is therefore essentially a struggle for the shogunate between the Kamakura and the Kyoto branches of the Ashikaga clan. In the end, Kamakura had to be retaken by force by troops from Kyoto. The five kubō recorded by history, all of which were Motouji's bloodline, were (in order Motouji himself) Ujimitsu, Mitsukane, Mochiuji and Shigeuji.
View the full Wikipedia page for Kantō kubōAshikaga Motouji in the context of Ashikaga Ujimitsu
Ashikaga Ujimitsu (足利氏満) (1359–1398) was a Nanboku-chō period warrior and the Kamakura-fu's second Kantō kubō, or Shōgun Deputy. Son of first Kantō Kubō Ashikaga Motouji, he succeeded his father in 1367 at the age of nine when this last suddenly died during an epidemic. It was during his reign that the Kanto kubō title became common enough to appear for the first time in writing. It is in fact contained in a 1382 entry of the Tsurugaoka Jishoan (鶴岡事書安). This title was in itself rebellious, because it was first adopted by Takauji himself and its use therefore implied equality with the shogun. In fact, sometimes the Kanto Kubō was called Kantō shōgun.
Ujimitsu was the first Kantō kubō to openly aspire to the shogunate, and his relationship with shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in Kyoto consequently deteriorated to the point of being likened to that of "cats and dogs".
View the full Wikipedia page for Ashikaga Ujimitsu