Background
Yoshinori Ashikaga was born on 12 July 1394 in Japan. He was a son of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.
足利 義教
Yoshinori Ashikaga was born on 12 July 1394 in Japan. He was a son of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.
In 1428 his elder brother, Shogun Yoshimochi, died and, Yoshimochi’s son having died earlier without leaving an heir, there was no one in the direct line to succeed to the shogunate. Thereupon the four brothers of Yoshimochi drew lots to see which would become shogun, and Gien emerged as the winner. At first he took the name Yoshinobu but later changed it to Yoshinori.
One of those who had borne the brunt of his oppression, the military leader Akamatsu Mitsusuke, finally assassinated him in 1441, and in turn was attacked and forced to commit suicide by Yamana Sozen.
In 1432, in an effort to improve the financial state of the government, he reopened the trade with Ming China that his brother Yoshimochi had earlier suspended. He also launched an attack on his kins¬man Ashikaga Mochiuji, who controlled the Kanto region, and in 1439 forced him to commit suicide. In this way Yoshinori worked to strengthen the power and prestige of the shogunate, filling everyone about him with fear and apprehension.
He entered the Buddhist clergy at an early age, took the religious name Gien, and in time advanced to the highest position in the Tendai sect, that of zasu, or head of the sect.
