Ashikaga Yoshinori

Ashikaga Yoshinori (1394-1441) was the sixth shogun of the Muromachi shogunate and, known by the epithet “Bannin Kyōfu” (Terror of All Men), one of the most powerful shoguns of the Muromachi period. Yoshinori initially entered the Shōren-in monzeki as a monk of the Tendai school, going by the name “Gien.” When there was no heir to the shogunate, he was chosen as shogun by lottery, an unusual course of events, and took office as seii taishōgun in 1429.

Yoshinori's style of rule stood sharply apart from that of his predecessors, being highly authoritarian. To strengthen shogunal power, he actively punished shugo daimyō and stripped them of their holdings, and those who resisted were ruthlessly destroyed. Because of his severe political stance, he became known as “Bannin Kyōfu” (Terror of All Men), and it is said that every power, whether shugo daimyō, court nobles, or temples and shrines, feared Yoshinori's wrath. During his time in office, he handled many political difficulties through force, including the conflict with Ashikaga Mochiuji, the Kamakura kubō (Eikyō Rebellion), and the suppression of Southern Court forces.

On 12 July 1441 (Kakitsu 1/6/24), Yoshinori was invited to a banquet held at the residence of Akamatsu Mitsusuke, shugo of Harima, where he was suddenly surrounded by warriors of the Akamatsu clan and assassinated. This Kakitsu Incident was an unprecedented event in which a sitting seii taishōgun was murdered by a shugo daimyō, and it deeply shook the authority of the Muromachi shogunate. After Yoshinori's death, shogunal power rapidly declined, laying the groundwork for the age of warfare that led to the Ōnin War. The historical irony that a shogun who had terrified all men fell so easily to a scheme devised by a shugo daimyō has left a deep impression on later generations.