Database: Ashikaga Yoshiaki
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Yoshiaki was the 15th and last shogun of the Ashikaga dynasty. He was the 3rd son of the 12th shogun Ashikaga Yoshiharu and was not destined for a political career and had become a monk at Kofuku-ji in Nara. His brother Yoshiteru succeeded his father but was assassinated in 1565 by the lords Miyoshi and Matsunaga Hisahide who put forward a cousin, Yoshihide, who became the 14th shogun. However, the latter was completely powerless without any possibility of freeing himself from his protectors. Yoshihide was defeated by Oda Nobunaga who entered Kyoto in 1568 and then pushed Yoshiaki to take the head of the shogunate. Yoshiaki reigned as shogun until 1588 when his relations with Nobunaga deteriorated. An alliance between several great lords including the Mori, the Takeda, and the Asakura to support Yoshiaki failed and Yoshiaki was driven out of Kyoto by Nobunaga. This event marked the end of the Muromachi shogunate. However, it should be noted that Yoshiaki then lived a difficult existence before taking refuge in Bingo at Tomo (near present-day Hiroshima) under the protection of Mori Terumoto for several years. It should be noted there was also the shogunal government of Tomo, a completely fictitious government without any grip on reality. Akechi Mitsuhide counted on Yoshiaki's help during his rebellion in 1582 against Nobunaga, but his failure sealed the definitive political end for Yoshiaki who resumed his monastic life with the support of Hideyoshi. It is interesting that Hideyoshi proposed to Yoshiaki to become his adopted son with a view to becoming shogun, but he refused.