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This period is also known as the Muromachi period and gets its name from the Muromachi area of Kyoto where the third shogun Yoshimitsu established his residence.

In part because the founder of the Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga Takauji, did so by siding with the Emperor against the previous Kamakura shogunate, the Ashikagas shared more of the governmental authority with the Imperial government than the Kamakura had. Thus, it was the weakest shogunate among Kamakura shogunate and Tokugawa shogunate. However, most of the regional power still remained with the provincial daimyo, and the military power of the shogunate depended largely on their loyalty to the Ashikaga. As the daimyo increasingly feuded among themselves in the pursuit of power, that loyalty grew increasingly strained, until it erupted into open warfare in the late Muromachi period, also known as the Sengoku Period.

The Ashikaga shogunate was destroyed in 1573 when Oda Nobunaga drove the 15th and last Ashikaga shogun Yoshiaki out of Kyoto. Afterwards, Yoshiaki sought and received protection from the Mori clan in western Japan and later was requested by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to accept him as an adopted son and 16th Ashikaga Shogun but Yoshiaki refused. The Ashikaga family still survive to this day.

1. Ashikaga Takauji ( 1305Events Wenceslas III becomes king of Bohemia The Papacy removed to France following riots in the Papal State. Births Ashikaga Takauji, Ashikaga shogun Deaths Emperor Kameyama of Japan March 19- Blanche, daughter of King Philip III of France June 21 Wences- 1358Events Births August 24 King John I of Castile September 25 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Ashikaga shogun Deaths 25 January Isabella of France (wife of King Edward II of England) June 7 Ashikaga Takauji, Ashikaga shogun August 16 Duke Albert II of Austria 1358.) (r. 1338Events Ashikaga Takauji granted title of Shogun by the emperor of Japan. Births Emperor Go-Kogon of Japan, fourth of the Northern Ashikaga Pretenders 31 January Charles V of France 29 November Lionel of Antwerp (son of King Edward III of England) Deaths 1- 1358Events Births August 24 King John I of Castile September 25 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Ashikaga shogun Deaths 25 January Isabella of France (wife of King Edward II of England) June 7 Ashikaga Takauji, Ashikaga shogun August 16 Duke Albert II of Austria 1358.)
2. Ashikaga YoshiakiraAshikaga Yoshiakira ( Jp. July 4, 1330 December 28, 1367) was the second shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1358 to 1367 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshiakira was the son of the founder and first shogun of the Muromachi shogunate ( 1330Events October 19 King Edward III of England starts his personal reign, executing his regent Roger Mortimer Births June 15 Edward the Black Prince (son of King Edward III of England) July 4 Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Ashikaga shogun Deaths Maximus Planudes, Byz- 1368) (r. 1359- 1368)
3. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu ( 1358- 1408) (r. 1368- 1394)
4. Ashikaga Yoshimochi ( 1386- 1428) (r. 1395- 1423)
5. Ashikaga Yoshikazu ( 1407- 1425) (r. 1423- 1425)
6. Ashikaga Yoshinori ( 1394- 1441) (r. 1429- 1441)
7. Ashikaga Yoshikatsu ( 1434- 1443) (r. 1442- 1443)
8. Ashikaga Yoshimasa ( 1436- 1490) (r. 1449- 1473)
9. Ashikaga Yoshihisa ( 1465- 1489) (r. 1474- 1489)
10. Ashikaga Yoshitane ( 1466- 1523) (r. 1490- 1493, 1508- 1521)
11. Ashikaga Yoshizumi ( 1480- 1511) (r. 1495- 1508)
12. Ashikaga Yoshiharu ( 1510- 1550) (r. 1522- 1547)
13. Ashikaga Yoshiteru ( 1536- 1565) (r. 1547- 1565)
14. Ashikaga Yoshihide ( 1540- 1568) (r. 1568)
15. Ashikaga Yoshiaki ( 1537- 1597) (r. 1568- 1573)

See also: shogun -- Cloistered rule -- History of Japan -- Lists of incumbents