Motouji Ashikaga

(1340–1367) was a warrior of the Nanboku-chō period. The fourth son of shōgun Ashikaga Takauji, he was the first of a dynasty of five Kantō kubō, Kamakura-based representatives in the vital Kamakura-fu of Kyoto's Ashikaga regime. Meant to stabilize a volatile situation in the Kantō, a region where many warrior clans wanted the return of the shogunate from Kyoto back to Kamakura, the dynasty he started almost immediately developed the ambition to usurp the shogunate, becoming a serious headache for the central government. Motouji was the only kubō who always remained loyal to the Kyoto government. During the Kannō disturbance, a historical episode with serious repercussions on his life, he tried to reconcile his father with his uncle Ashikaga Tadayoshi and, after his father's demise, he collaborated with his elder brother, shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiakira, to stabilize the shogunate. He died still young during an epidemic. Background His childhood name first was Ikuō (光王) later become Kamewakamaru (亀若丸). In the first weeks of 1336,{{efn|Gregorian date obtained directly from the original Nengō using Nengocalc : (Kenmu era, 1st month)}} two years after the fall of Kamakura, the first of the Ashikaga shōguns Ashikaga Takauji left the city for Kyoto in pursuit of Nitta Yoshisada. He left behind his 4-year-old son Yoshiakira as his representative in the trust of three guardians: Hosokawa Kiyouji, Uesugi Noriaki, and Shiba Ienaga. This action however formally divided the country in two, giving the east and the west two separate administrations with similar authority and powers. In 1349 Takauji called Yoshiakira to Kyoto to take his brother Tadayoshi's place, replacing him in Kamakura with another of his sons, Motouji, to whom he gave the title of Kantō kanrei, or "Kantō deputy". Because the kanrei was the son of the shōgun, ruled Kantō and controlled the military forces there, the area was usually called Kamakura Bakufu or Kamakura shogunate, and Motouji shogun or Kamakura/Kantō Gosho, an equivalent title. When later the habit of calling kubō the shōgun spread from Kyoto to the Kantō, the ruler of Kamakura came to be called Kamakura kubō. The kanrei title was passed on to the Uesugi hereditary shitsuji.Jansen (1995:119–120) However, the first time the Kanto Kubō title appears in writing is in a 1382 entry of the , after Motouji's death. Family Father: Ashikaga Takauji Mother: Akahashi Toshi (1306–1365) Wife: Seiken'in Son: Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359–1398)