The Muromachi period or Muromachi era, also known as the Ashikaga period or Ashikaga era, is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shōgun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kenmu Restoration (1333–1336) of imperial rule was brought to a close. The period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun of this line, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, was driven out of the capital in Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga.
Ashikaga Yoshiteru, also known as Yoshifushi or Yoshifuji, was the 13th shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1546 to 1565 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the eldest son of the 12th shōgun, Ashikaga Yoshiharu, and his mother was a daughter of Konoe Hisamichi. When he became shogun in 1546 at age 11, Yoshiteru's name was Yoshifushi ; but some years later in 1554, he changed his name to the one by which he is conventionally known today. His childhood name was Kikubemaru (菊童丸). His younger brother Ashikaga Yoshiaki became the fifteenth shōgun.
The Nanboku-chō period, spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate of Japanese history.
Tenbun (天文), also known as Tenmon, was a Japanese era name after Kyōroku and before Kōji. This period spanned from July 1532 through October 1555. The reigning emperor was Go-Nara-tennō (後奈良天皇).
Fujiwara no Sadaie (藤原定家), better-known as Fujiwara no Teika, was a Japanese anthologist, calligrapher, literary critic, novelist, poet, and scribe of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. His influence was enormous, and he is counted as among the greatest of Japanese poets, and perhaps the greatest master of the waka form – an ancient poetic form consisting of five lines with a total of 31 syllables.
Imagawa clan was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji by way of the Kawachi Genji. It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan.
Ōtomo clan was a Japanese samurai family whose power stretched from the Kamakura period through the Sengoku period, spanning over 400 years. The clan's hereditary lands lay in Kyūshū.
Shōtetsu was a Japanese poet during the Muromachi period, and is considered to have been the last poet in the courtly waka tradition; a number of his disciples were important in the development of the renga art form, which led to the haiku.
Carl Steenstrup was a Danish Japanologist.
Ōuchi Yoshihiro, also known as Ouchi Sakyo-no-Tayu, was a Muromachi period samurai clan head and military leader.
The Shinshokukokin Wakashū was an imperial anthology of Japanese waka; it was finished somewhere around 1439 CE, six years after the Emperor Go-Hanazono first ordered it in 1433 at the request of the Ashikaga Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshinori. It was compiled by Asukai Masayo ; its Japanese and Chinese Prefaces were written by Ichijō Kanera. It consists of twenty volumes containing 2,144 poems.
Travelers of a Hundred Ages is a nonfiction work on the literary form of Japanese diaries by Donald Keene, who writes in his Introduction that he was introduced to Japanese diaries during his work as a translator for the United States in World War II when he was assigned to translate captured diaries of soldiers; he found them moving enough that he continued to study that genre. Keene's book takes the form of self-contained long chapters that deal with a single diary, each of which is valuable in its own right as a literary work This treatment is especially apparent when Keene writes of Matsuo Bashō's travel diaries, such as The Narrow Road to the North, or provides a window into an author's life, such as in the case of Fujiwara no Teika's Meigetsuki.
Ōuchi Yoshioki became a sengoku daimyō of Suō Province and served as the 15th head of the Ōuchi clan. Yoshioki was born early in the Sengoku period, the son of Ōuchi Masahiro, shugo of Suō Province and the 14th head of the Ōuchi clan. The first character in Yoshioki's name originated from Ashikaga Yoshihisa, the ninth shōgun in the Muromachi bakufu. In 1492, Masahiro ordered Yoshioki to join the battle against Rokkaku Takayori, a sengoku daimyō from southern Ōmi Province. In the midst of this engagement in 1493, an incident known as the Meiō no seihen occurred, by which Hosokawa Masamoto, a kanrei, or deputy, held the shōgun, Ashikaga Yoshiki, in confinement. Yoshioki withdrew his men from the battle to Hyōgo in Settsu Province to wait for the outcome of the event, which resulted in Yoshiki being deposed and replaced by Ashikaga Yoshizumi. Yoshioki's younger sister was abducted while staying in Kyōto in an area under the control of Takeda Motonobu, an ally of Hosokawa Masamoto. Masamoto took her hostage as leverage against Masahiro in his support for Yoshiki. Masahiro then ordered close associates of Yoshioki to commit seppuku. This may have been as retribution for what he viewed as Yoshioki's tepid response to the pressure exerted upon him by Masamoto and his retainers. Nevertheless, Yoshioki's decision to withdraw his forces was well-received by the hikan, or administrators, in his birthplace of Kyōto, building relationships that benefit him later at the time of his succession to Masahiro.
Nabeshima clan is a Japanese samurai kin group.
Imagawa Ujichika was a Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku period. He was the 10th head of the Imagawa clan of Suruga Province. Ujichika was the son of Imagawa Yoshitada. He was the husband of Jukei-ni.
The Kikuchi clan of Higo Province was a powerful daimyō family of Higo, Kyūshū. The lineage was renowned for valiant service in defense of the emperor and against foreign invaders. They initially distinguished themselves during the Jürchen invasion of northern Kyūshū in 1019 and rose to prominence during the Mongol invasions of Japan when the heroism of Kikuchi Takefusa helped drive back the enemy. The Kikuchi was active in the Kenmu Restoration (1333-1336), an attempt by the emperor Go-Daigo to reassert imperial authority against the Kamakura shogunate.
Waka is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Although waka in modern Japanese is written as 和歌, in the past it was also written as 倭歌, and a variant name is yamato-uta (大和歌).
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was the third shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate, ruling from 1368 to 1394 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshimitsu was Ashikaga Yoshiakira's third son but the oldest son to survive, his childhood name being Haruō (春王). Yoshimitsu was appointed shōgun, a hereditary title as head of the military estate, in 1368 at the age of ten; at twenty he was admitted to the imperial court as Acting Grand Counselor.
The Asukai family was a Japanese noble family.
Tō Tsuneyori was a samurai lord and poet of the mid-Muromachi period and early Sengoku period. He was the lord of Shinowaki Castle in Mino Province and served as Governor of Shimotsuke Province. He is known as the founder of Kōkin Denju poetic school. He held the court rank of Junior Fifth Rank. He was also known as Tōyashū.
