Ashikaga clan
The Ashikaga clan (Japanese: 足利氏, Hepburn: Ashikaga-shi) was a Japanese samurai clan and dynasty which established the Ashikaga shogunate and ruled Japan from roughly 1333 to 1573. The Ashikaga were descended from a branch of the Minamoto clan, deriving originally from the town of Ashikaga in Shimotsuke Province (modern-day Tochigi Prefecture).
| Ashikaga clan 足利 | |
|---|---|
Ashikaga Futatsubiki (足利二つ引き), the Ashikaga clan mon | |
| Parent house | Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) |
| Titles | Various |
| Founder | Minamoto no Yoshiyasu (Ashikaga Yoshiyasu) |
| Final ruler | Ashikaga Yoshiaki |
| Ruled until | 1573, Ashikaga shogunate deposed by Oda Nobunaga |
| Cadet branches | Hosokawa clan Imagawa clan Hatakeyama clan (restored line) Asano clan (after Asano Nagamasa) Kira clan Shiba clan Hachisuka clan others |
For about a century, the clan was divided in two rival branches, the Kantō Ashikaga, who ruled from Kamakura, and the Kyōto Ashikaga, rulers of Japan. The rivalry ended with the defeat of the first in 1439. The clan had many notable branch clans, including the Hosokawa, Imagawa, Hatakeyama (after 1205), Kira , Shiba, and Hachisuka clans. After the head family of the Minamoto clan died out during the early Kamakura period, the Ashikaga came to style themselves as the head of the Minamoto, co-opting the prestige which came with that name.
Another Ashikaga clan, not related by blood, and derived instead from the Fujiwara clan, also existed.