Ashikaga Yoshihisa

Who was Ashikaga Yoshihisa?

Ashikaga Yoshihisa was the 9th shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1473 to 1489 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshihisa was the son of the eighth shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa.

Since the almost 30-year-old shogun Yoshimasa had no heir by 1464, he adopted his younger brother Ashikaga Yoshimi in order to succeed him. However, Yoshihisa was born in the next year starting a struggle for succession between brothers that erupted into the Ōnin War starting in 1467, beginning the Sengoku period of Japanese history. In the middle of hostilities, Yoshimasa retired in 1473, relinquishing the position of Seii Taishogun to Yoshihisa.