Ashikaga Shogunate

  General Description   The period between 1336 and 1467 CE in Japan is known by several different names but is referred to here as ’Muromachi Ashikaga’, a combination of two designations used in isolation in some sources. Muromachi, a district of Kyoto, was the base of the shogunate’s power, while Ashikaga is the name of the family who served as shoguns throughout the period. ^[1] The Muromachi Ashikaga period sometimes includes the sub-periods known as ’the Northern and Southern Courts’ and the ’Warring States’, although we have decided to separate the Warring States period into its own polity. ^[1]
The period begins with the disintegration of Emperor Go-Daigo’s brief ’Kenmu Restoration’, an unsuccessful attempt to restore direct imperial control in Japan, and the appointment of Ashikaga Takauji as shogun by another branch of the imperial line with the support of other disillusioned lords. ^[2] This initiated the divide between the Northern and Southern Courts (1336-1392 CE), both of which claimed to be the legitimate ruling authority. The Northern Court was located in Kyoto and headed by Emperor Komyo (from the senior imperial line) and the Ashikaga shoguns. The Southern Court was located at Yoshino and was the seat of the Emperor Go-Daigo (from the junior imperial line) and his supporters. ^[3]
The peak of the Ashikaga period corresponds to the reign of Shogun Yoshimitsu (r. 1368-1394 CE), who helped to broker the unification of the Northern and Southern Courts (1392 CE), with imperial succession reinstated through the Northern line. An able statesman, he helped advance many aspects of government and policy and was an active patron of the arts. ^[4] His death in 1408 left a power vacuum that enabled provincial lords to gain greater independence from the court and shogunate.
The Onin War (1467-1477 CE) effectively brought an end to this period, although the Ashikaga shogunate remained in power nominally until the overthrow of their last shogun by Oda Nobunaga in 1573. ^[5] This civil war, precipitated by economic problems, famine and conflicts over succession (both to the shogunate and to provincial military offices) initiated the period of instability known as the Warring States period. The conflict destroyed much of Kyoto, and spilled out into the provinces. ^[4]
Initially, the power of the Ashikaga Shogunate had theoretically extended throughout the main islands of Japan; however, by the time of the Onin War, the area under its direct control had shrunk to Kyoto and its hinterland. ^{[6] [7]} Despite this territorial disintegration, the ’idea’ of a larger unified culture did not disappear. ^[8]
Population and political organization
During the period of the Northern and Southern Courts, the respective imperial heads were nominally in power, while the Ashikaga shogunate controlled the government. In contrast to the preceding Kamakura military regime, the Ashikaga shoguns did not have absolute control: their power was in tension with ’other court families, other members of the military aristocracy, and the religious orders’. ^[9] Initially the Ashikaga shogunate retained much of the Kamakura administrative structure, even continuing to occupy the government buildings in Kamakura before moving their administration to the Muromachi district in 1378 CE. ^[10] Because the Ashikaga clan ’lacked significant landholdings and military might’, these shoguns relied on their relationships with powerful vassals and provincial military governors to enforce their policies and keep other lords in line. However, as personal ties of loyalty deteriorated over time, the control of the shogunate over powerful provincial lords loosened and the latter were able to increase their independence from the central government. ^{[10] [11]}
Population estimates for this period range from roughly 10 million around 1300 CE to approximately 17 million in 1500 CE. ^{[12] [13]}

[1]: (Deal 2005, 3) William E. Deal. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[2]: (Deal 2005, 88) William E. Deal. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[3]: (Deal 2005, 7) William E. Deal. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[4]: (Deal 2005, 8) William E. Deal. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[5]: (Deal 2005, 9) William E. Deal. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[6]: (Totman 1993, 3-4) Conrad Totman. 1993. Early Modern Japan. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

[7]: (Hall 2008, 216) John Whitney Hall. 2008. ’The Muromachi Bakufu’, in The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 3: Medieval Japan, edited by Kozo Yamamura, 231-59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[8]: (Batten 1999, 175) Bruce Batten. 1999. ’Frontiers and Boundaries of Pre-Modern Japan’. Journal of Historical Geography 25 (2): 166-82.

[9]: (Hall 2008, 10) John Whitney Hall. 2008. ’Introduction’, in The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 4: Early Modern Japan, edited by Kozo Yamamura, 1-39. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[10]: (Deal 2005, 7-8) William E. Deal. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[11]: (Friday 2004, 59) Karl F. Friday. 2004. Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan. New York: Routledge.

[12]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 181) Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. London: Penguin Books.

[13]: (Farris 2006, 94) William Wayne Farris. 2006. Japan’s Medieval Population: Famine, Fertility, and Warfare in a Transformative Age. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.