Ashikaga Takauji was a contender for shogun, an imperial general, a loyal vassal \u2014 until he was no longer. In 1336 he overthrew the emperor he had served and founded a shogunate that would last 237 years. To his credit or to his blame, depending on one’s perspective.<\/p>\n\n
In Japanese historical culture he was, for centuries, the villain. While Kusunoki Masashige, who died for the imperial cause, was honoured as a national hero, Takauji was long denied a monument. He had given Japan one of the most productive cultural periods in its history \u2014 N\u014d theatre, the tea ceremony, Zen architecture. That was not credited to him.<\/p>\n\n
The Kamakura shogunate (1185\u20131333) was in deep crisis in the early 14th century. Japan had survived the Mongol invasions of 1274 and 1281 \u2014 but the shogunate had no spoils to distribute afterwards. The warriors who had repelled the invasions expected land and rewards. Loyalty eroded.<\/p>\n\n
Emperor Go-Daigo exploited this weakness. He plotted an uprising twice, failed, and launched his third attempt in 1333, this time successfully. Takauji was sent as a Kamakura general to put down Go-Daigo’s uprising. On arriving in Ky\u014dto, he switched sides. Kamakura fell shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n\n
Varley analyses this change of allegiance: Takauji was no idealist \u2014 he was a pragmatic politician who recognised that the Kamakura shogunate could not be saved.<\/p>\n\n
After the fall of Kamakura, Go-Daigo established the Kenmu Restoration<\/em> \u2014 the attempt to reinstate direct imperial rule. The problem: the warriors did not want it. Seven hundred years of feudal structure had created an entire social class whose existence depended on fiefs, military duties, and lord-vassal relationships. Rewards were poorly distributed. Warriors felt passed over.<\/p>\n\n Takauji saw this weakness. In 1335 he began to oppose Go-Daigo. In 1336 he marched on Ky\u014dto. Go-Daigo fled to Yoshino and there founded the Southern Court \u2014 the beginning of the Nanboku-ch\u014d<\/em>, the war of the two imperial courts, which lasted until 1392.<\/p>\n\n What Takauji set in motion was one of the bloodiest chapters in Japanese history: 56 years of civil war between two imperial lines. Varley shows how the Nanboku-ch\u014d was portrayed in Japanese war literature (above all in the Taiheiki<\/em>) as a moral dilemma: not \u201cgood versus evil”, but \u201eloyalty versus pragmatism”. Kusunoki Masashige \u2014 the defender of the imperial cause, who fell at the catastrophic Battle of Minatogawa in 1336 and committed seppuku \u2014 became the tragic hero of this narrative. Takauji the villain.<\/p>\n\n The Muromachi bakufu in Ky\u014dto was different from Kamakura: less decentralised, more firmly anchored at the imperial court, more culturally open to the world. The cultural flowering of the Muromachi is remarkable: N\u014d theatre, the tea ceremony, ink painting, Zen garden art, ikebana \u2014 all in an age that Takauji founded. It is the origin of essential parts of what is known today as classical Japanese culture.<\/p>\n\n Takauji himself actively promoted Zen Buddhism and had Ankokuji<\/em> temples (temples of national pacification) built throughout the country \u2014 both a religious gesture and a political instrument for integrating defeated regions.<\/p>\n\n In the Edo period, Takauji was the negative example par excellence. Under Meiji nationalism this intensified: Go-Daigo became a model for the Meiji Restoration, Kusunoki Masashige a national martyr, Takauji a condemned traitor. Symbolic protests were still being staged before the fief of Takauji’s descendants in Ky\u014dto as late as the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n Varley shows how this assessment is beginning to crumble: modern Japanese historians increasingly view Takauji as a pragmatic statesman who acted under real political constraints.<\/p>\n\n In its early days the Muromachi shogunate was no one-man project. Takauji’s younger brother Tadayoshi was an equal co-regent \u2014 responsible for administration, while Takauji handled military operations. From around 1349 the relationship between the two turned into open rivalry \u2014 the Kann\u014d no J\u014dran<\/em>, a phase of fighting during which Tadayoshi temporarily allied himself with the Southern Court. Tadayoshi died in 1352 \u2014 poisoning is suspected as the cause, though it is not certain.<\/p>\n\n A strategic decision of Takauji’s that is often overlooked: he built his shogunate in Ky\u014dto \u2014 not in Kamakura. Kamakura was geographically isolated; Ky\u014dto was the court, the trade routes, the symbolic centre of Japan. The Ashikaga shoguns became part of court culture, not its guardians from a distance. This had advantages \u2014 the shogunate’s culture absorbed courtly elegance and religious depth. It also had disadvantages: when central shogunate power eroded during the Sengoku period, there was no longer any geographically isolated power centre to defend.<\/p>\n\n Ashikaga Takauji (1305\u20131358) was a Japanese warrior and statesman who founded the Muromachi shogunate in 1336. Previously he had overthrown Emperor Go-Daigo and triggered the Nanboku-ch\u014d. He ruled as the first Ashikaga shogun until his death.<\/p>\n\n He originally fought for Emperor Go-Daigo, switched sides, overthrew the emperor, and founded a shogunate of his own. In the Edo period and under Meiji nationalism, which propagated imperial loyalty as the highest virtue, he became a negative example. Kusunoki Masashige, who died for Go-Daigo, by contrast became a national hero.<\/p>\n\n Go-Daigo’s attempt (1333\u20131336), after the fall of the Kamakura shogunate, to restore direct imperial rule without warrior mediation. It failed because the warrior class was not prepared to give up its feudal privileges \u2014 which made Takauji’s rebellion possible.<\/p>\n\n The Muromachi shogunate under Takauji and his successors promoted N\u014d theatre, the tea ceremony, Zen garden art, and ink painting \u2014 essential parts of what is regarded today as classical Japanese culture. Takauji had Zen temples built throughout the country.<\/p>\n\n Display case C03V of the Samurai Museum Berlin presents objects from the Kamakura and early Muromachi periods \u2014 from the era in which Ashikaga Takauji reshaped Japan’s political foundations. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Auguststra\u00dfe 68, Berlin-Mitte.<\/p>\n\n \u2192 Tickets & Opening Hours<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n \u2192 All Exhibitions at a Glance<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n \u00a9 Samurai Museum Berlin \u2013 All rights reserved<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ashikaga Takauji overthrew Emperor Go-Daigo and founded the Muromachi shogunate \u2013 yet is still regarded as a traitor in Japan. The story of one of Japan’s most controversial men.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":51792,"template":"","wissen_category":[35],"class_list":["post-52584","wissen","type-wissen","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","wissen_category-chronicles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samuraimuseum.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wissen\/52584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samuraimuseum.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wissen"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samuraimuseum.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wissen"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samuraimuseum.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samuraimuseum.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wissen\/52584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samuraimuseum.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samuraimuseum.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"wissen_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samuraimuseum.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wissen_category?post=52584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/span>The Nanboku-ch\u014d: Japan Divided<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
<\/span>The Muromachi Shogunate: What Takauji Built<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
<\/span>Takauji’s Reputation: A Historical Assessment in Flux<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
<\/span>Takauji’s Brother Tadayoshi: The Other Half of the Shogunate<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
<\/span>Takauji’s Strategy: Why He Resided in Ky\u014dto<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
<\/span>Frequently Asked Questions about Ashikaga Takauji<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
Who was Ashikaga Takauji?<\/h3>\n\n
Why is Takauji regarded as a traitor in Japan?<\/h3>\n\n
What was the Kenmu Restoration?<\/h3>\n\n
What was Takauji’s cultural legacy?<\/h3>\n\n
<\/span>Visit the Samurai Museum Berlin<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
Related Articles<\/h3>\n\n
\n
<\/span>List of Sources<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
\n