Ashikaga Yoshinori

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Ashikaga Yoshinori (Jp. 足利 義教) (July 12, 1394 – July 12, 1441) was the 6th shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1429 to 1441 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshinori was the son of the 3rd shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

After the death of the 5th shogun Ashikaga Yoshikazu in 1425, the 4th shogun Ashikaga Yoshimochi would not decide a successor. After Yoshimochi's death in 1428, Yoshinori became Seii Taishogun the year after by pulling lots in front of Iwashimizu Shrine in Kyoto to solve the long undecided matter of succession.

Yoshinori strengthened the power of the shogunate after defeating Ashikaga Mochiuji in the Eikyo Rebellion of 1438. Like most shoguns, he practiced the shudo tradition, taking Akamatsu Sadamura as his wakashu. A number of Ashikaga shoguns chose their beloveds from the Akamatsu family.

Yoshinori was assassinated in 1441, on his 47th birthday by Akamatsu Mitsusuke in the Kakitsu Rebellion. This is thought to have been precipitated by his attempt to take Mitsusuke's lands in order to grant them to his beloved Sadamura. ("The Love of the Samurai: A Thousand Years of Japanese Homosexuality by Tsuneo Watanabe and Jun'ichi Iwata)

He was succeeded by his son, the 7th shogun Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, in the next year but the power of the shogunate fell into decline.

Preceded by: Ashikaga Yoshikazu

Ashikaga Shogun 1429–1441

Succeeded by: Ashikaga Yoshikatsu