Volta
Person1358 – 1408

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu

Third Muromachi shogun (r. 1368–1394), who reunited the Northern and Southern Courts in 1392, was invested by the Ming as “King of Japan” to open the tally trade, and built the Golden Pavilion

Son of the second shogun Ashikaga Yoshiakira, he became shogun at ten in 1368. In 1378 he built the Flower Palace at Muromachi in Kyoto, and in the Meitoku (1391) and Ōei (1399) rebellions he crushed overmighty shugo daimyo. He absorbed the Southern Court in 1392 to reunite the realm, and in 1394 handed the shogunate to his son Yoshimochi, became grand chancellor and then took holy orders. He built the Golden Pavilion at Kitayama and, invested by the Ming as “King of Japan”, opened the tally trade. He died in 1408.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    1336 – 1392Muromachi Shogunate and the Northern and Southern Courtsrelated figure

    After the fall of the Kamakura shogunate, Ashikaga Takauji broke with Emperor Go-Daigo, set up a Northern Court in Kyoto in 1336 and became shogun in 1338. The civil war against the Southern Court at Yoshino lasted until Ashikaga Yoshimitsu reunited the courts in 1392.

  2. 2
    1404Ming–Japan Tally Tradeleader

    In return for being invested by the Ming as “King of Japan” and suppressing pirates, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu won tributary trade with China from 1404, open only to ships carrying a tally (kangō) to prove their identity.

People who appear alongside

  • Ashikaga Takauji1305 – 1358

    Warrior who founded the Muromachi shogunate; after helping overthrow Kamakura he broke with Emperor Go-Daigo, set up the Northern Court in Kyoto and became shogun in 1338

  • Emperor Go-Daigo1288 – 1339

    Japanese emperor (r. 1318–1339) who overthrew the Kamakura shogunate and launched the Kenmu Restoration; driven out by Ashikaga Takauji, he set up the Southern Court at Yoshino

  • Yongle Emperor (Chengzu of Ming)1360 – 1424

    Third Ming emperor (r. 1402–1424), who seized the throne from his nephew the Jianwen Emperor in the Jingnan campaign, moved the capital to Beijing and sent out Zheng He’s fleets

Themes this person appears in

  • Song, Ming and Samurai JapanAD 960 – 1500

    The age when the civil-minded Song bought peace from Liao, Western Xia and Jin while the lower Yangtze boomed and Neo-Confucianism took shape, and the Ming, having driven out the Yuan, rebuilt the East Asian order through imperial autocracy, the sea ban and tribute — as Japan passed through the Kamakura and Muromachi warrior governments into the Warring States era, and Korea from Goryeo to Joseon