Background
Yoshimochi Ashikaga was born on 12 March 1386. He was a son of Yoshimitsu.
足利 義持
Yoshimochi Ashikaga was born on 12 March 1386. He was a son of Yoshimitsu.
His father, Yoshimitsu, turned over the shogunate to him in 1394, making him the fourth shogun, but until his father’s death in 1408 he was not allowed to exercise actual power. Thereafter, with the assistance of Mansai Jugo and others, he took control of the government.
In 1416 Uesugi Zenshu led a revolt in the Kanto region, and Yoshimochi’s younger brother, Yoshitsugu, began plotting to join the revolt, whereupon
Yoshimochi killed his brother and defeated and killed Ucsugi Zenshu in battle. In 1423 he turned over the shogunate to his son, Yoshikazu, but Yoshikazu died of dissipation in 1425, and Yoshimochi resumed control of the government until his own death in 1428.
He adopted policies quite different from those of his father. His father had expressed the wish that after his death he might be given a posthumous title by the court, but when the court complied by con- fering such a title, Yoshimochi modestly declined to allow his father to be so honored. He also discontinued the trade with Ming China that his father had begun, on the grounds that it was undignified.
