Ashikaga Yoshiharu

Who was Ashikaga Yoshiharu?

Ashikaga Yoshiharu was the twelfth shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate who held the reins of supreme power from 1521 through 1546 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the son of the eleventh shogun Ashikaga Yoshizumi.

May 1, 1521: After the tenth shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane and Hosokawa Takakuni struggled for power over the shogunate and Yoshitane withdrew to Awaji Island, the way was clear for Minamoto-no Yoshiharu to be installed as shogun.

1521: Yoshiteru enters Kyoto.

1526: Shogun Yoshiharu invited archers from neighboring provinces to come to the capital for an archery contest.

Not having any political power and repeatedly being forced out of the capital of Kyoto, Yoshiharu eventually retired in 1546 over a political struggle between Miyoshi Nagayoshi and Hosokawa Harumoto making his son Ashikaga Yoshiteru the thirteenth shogun.

May 20, 1550: Yoshiharu died.

Supported by Oda Nobunaga, his son Ashikaga Yoshiaki became the fifteenth shogun.

From a western perspective, Yoshiharu is significant, as he was shogun in 1542, when the first contact of Japan with the European West took place. A Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, landed in Japan.