Ashikaga family

Ashikaga family, Japanese warrior family that established the Ashikaga shogunate in 1338. The founder, Ashikaga Takauji (1305–58), supported the emperor Go-Daigo’s attempt to wrest control of the country from the Hōjō family, but then turned on him and set up an emperor from another branch of the imperial family, who granted Takauji the title of shogun. Takauji’s grandson Yoshimitsu (1358–1408), the third Ashikaga shogun, ended the dual imperial courts that had resulted from his grandfather’s actions, took an active role in the court bureaucracy, and reorganized civil government. Yoshimitsu reopened formal trade with China and is remembered as a sponsor of the arts; he commissioned the famous Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji) in Kyōto. Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436–90), the eighth Ashikaga shogun, was also a great patron of the arts and a devotee of the tea ceremony. He commissioned the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji), whose understated elegance contrasts with the opulence of the Golden Pavilion. Politically, Yoshimasa’s tenure as shogun coincided with increasing loss of control over the countryside as Japan headed toward a century of civil war. See also Muromachi period; daimyo; Ōnin War; samurai.