Ashikaga Takauji

After Takauji and his brother were forced to retreat to the west, he then allied himself with the clans native to Kyūshū. After defeating the Kikuchi clan at Hakata Bay in the Battle of Tatarahama (1336), Takauji was "virtually master of Kyushu".^{[attribution needed][5]: 44–47} His brother advanced simultaneously by land and both reached the environs of present-day Kobe in July.^{[5]: 48–50}

At the decisive

• Father: Ashikaga Sadauji (足利 貞氏; 1273–1331)
• Mother: Uesugi Kiyoko (上杉 清子; 1270–1343)
• Siblings:
  • Half-siblings: Ashikaga Takayoshi (足利高義; 1297–1317)
  • Natural Siblings: Ashikaga Tadayoshi (足利 直義; 1307–1352)

Consorts and issue:

• Wife: Akahashi Toshi (赤橋 登子; 1306 – 4 May 1365)
  • Son: Ashikaga Yoshiakira (足利 義詮; July 4, 1330 – December 28, 1367)
  • Son: Ashikaga Motouji (足利基氏) (1340–1367)
  • Daughter: Tsur-ō (鶴王; d.1353)
• Concubine: Kako no Tsubone
  • Son: Ashikaga Takewakamaru (足利 竹若丸; d. 1333)^[8]
• Concubine: Echizen no Tsubone (越前局)
  • Illegitimate son: Ashikaga Tadafuyu (足利 直冬; 1327–1387, Ashikaga Tadayoshi's adopted son)
• Concubine Unknown name
  • Daughter: Unknown name (d. 2 October 1342)
  • Son: Seiōmaru (聖王丸; d. 1 August 1345)
  • Daughter: Ashikaga Tadayoshi's adopted daughter (d.14 October 1347)
  • Daughter: Unknown name
  • Son: Eichu Hoshin (英仲法俊; d. 26 February 1416)

Family tree

Emperor Seiwa

"Hachimantarō" Yoshiie

Minamoto no Yoshichika

Minamoto no Yoshikuni

Nitta clan

Ashikaga clan

Minamoto no Tameyoshi

Nitta Yoshishige

Ashikaga Yoshiyasu

Yamana clan

Minamoto no Yoshitomo

Nitta Yoshikane

Yamana Yoshinori

Ashikaga Yoshikane

Minamoto no Yoshikiyo

Minamoto no Yoritomo

Ashikaga Yoshiuji

Hirosawa Yoshizane

Kira clan

Hosokawa clan

Ashikaga Yasuuji

Kira Osauji

Hosokawa Yoshisue

Uesugi clan

Imagawa clan

Uesugi Shigefusa

Ashikaga Yoriuji

Kira Mitsuuji

Imagawa Kuniuji

Uesugi Yorishige

Ashikaga Ietoki

Uesugi Kiyoko

Ashikaga Sadauji

Hojō Hisatoki

Nitta Yoshisada

Ashikaga Takauji

Akahashi Tōshi

Hōjō Moritoki

Ashikaga Yoshiakira

Timeline of shogunate

Significant events which shaped the period during which Takauji was shōgun are:

• 1338 – Takauji appointed shōgun.^[9]
• 1349 – Go-Murakami flees to A'no; Ashikaga Tadayoshi and Kō no Moronao quarrel; Ashikaga Motouji, son of Takauji, appointed Kamakura Kanrei^[9]
• 1350 – Tadayoshi, excluded from administration, turns priest;^[9] Tadayoshi's adopted son, Ashikaga Tadafuyu is wrongly repudiated as a rebel.^[10]
• 1351–1358 – Struggle for Kyoto.
• 1351 – Tadayoshi joins Southern Court, southern army takes Kyoto; truce, Takauji returns to Kyoto; Tadayoshi and Takauji reconciled; Kō no Moronao and Kō no Moroyasu are exiled.^[9]
• 1352 – Tadayoshi dies, Southern army recaptures Kyoto; Nitta Yoshimune captures Kamakura; Ashikaga forces recapture Kamakura and Kyoto; Tadafuyu joins Southern Court; Yamana Tokiuji joins Tadafuyu.^[9]
• 1353 – Kyoto retaken by Southern forces under Yamana Tokiuji; retaken by Ashikaga forces.^[9]
• 1354 – Takauji flees with Go-Kōgon; Kitabatake Chikafusa dies.^[9]
• 1355 – Kyoto taken by Southern army; Kyoto retaken by Ashikaga forces.^[9]
• 1358 – Takauji dies.^[11]

Takauji's son Ashikaga Yoshiakira succeeded him as shōgun after his death. His grandson Ashikaga Yoshimitsu united the Northern and Southern courts in 1392.

Eras of Takauji's bakufu

Because of the anomalous situation, which he had himself created and which saw two Emperors reign simultaneously, one in Yoshino and one in Kyoto, the years in which Takauji was shōgun as reckoned by the Gregorian calendar are identified in Japanese historical records by two different series of Japanese era names (nengō), that following the datation used by the legitimate Southern Court and that formulated by the pretender Northern Court.^[12]

Eras as reckoned by the Southern Court (declared legitimate by a

• Engen (1336–1340)
• Kōkoku (1340–1346)
• Shōhei (1346–1370)

Eras as reckoned by the pretender Northern Court (declared illegitimate by a Meiji era decree because not in possession at the time of the Japanese Imperial Regalia):

• Ryakuō (1338–1342)
• Kōei (1342–1345)
• Jōwa (1345–1350)
• Kan'ō or Kannō (1350–1352)
• Bunna (1352–1356)
• Enbun (1356–1361)

Literary references

The story of Ashikaga Takauji, Emperor Go-Daigo, Nitta Yoshisada, and Kusunoki Masashige from the Genko rebellion to the establishment of the Northern and Southern Courts is detailed in the 40 volume Muromachi period epic Taiheiki.

Honours

• Junior First Rank (9 July 1358; posthumous)

References