- Ashikaga clan (Fujiwara)
The nihongo|Ashikaga clan|足利氏|-shi was a branch family of the
Japan eseFujiwara clan of court nobles, more specificallyFujiwara no Hidesato of theNorthern Fujiwara branch. The clan was a powerful force in theKantō region during theHeian period (794-1185). It bore no direct relation to thesamurai Ashikaga clan which ruled Japan under theAshikaga shogunate from 1333 to 1587 and which was descended from theMinamoto clan .History
The clan was based in the city of Ashikaga, in
Shimotsuke province , over which Fujiwara no Hidesato was Imperial Governor ("kami").Ashikaga no Nariyuki was the first to take the Ashikaga name, after the city.In
1161 , the position of "jitō " (manor lord) of Ashikaga city inShimotsuke province came to be disputed between theKoyama clan , descendants of Fujiwara no Hidesato, andUtsunomiya Ietsuna , a member of theShiroi Utsunomiya clan , also descended from the Fujiwara, whose son Toshitsuna controlled several thousandhectare s of land in that area. The dispute eventually ended in Hidesato's descendants being granted the post of "shugo " (shogunal governor) in the northern Kantō. The area soon came to be in dispute once again, between the Minamoto-descended Ashikaga clan (who took their name from the same city) and theNitta clan , but this dispute ended when both clans, along with the Utsunomiya, joinedMinamoto no Yoritomo in theGenpei War (1180-1185) against theTaira clan .Following the Genpei War, Yoritomo established the
Kamakura shogunate , and the descendants of Ashikaga no Nariyuki, now known as the Sano, Ōgo, and Asonuma families, came to serve as direct vassals ("gokenin ") to the shogun.References
*"Much of the content of this article is derived from the corresponding article on the Japanese Wikipedia."
*『国史大事典 第1巻』吉川弘文館 国史大辞典編集委員会(編)ISBN 4642005013
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