Ashikaga (family): Japanese family that occupied the office of shogun from 1338 to 1573, known as the Muromachi period because the shogun's palace was in the Muromachi district of Kyoto.
Ashikaga Yoshimasa (reigned 1449-1474) was unable to stop the devastating Onin War (1467-1477) between the great daimyo, and after he abdicated in 1474 to devote himself to the arts, a succession dispute hastened the family's decline.
The Ashikaga shoguns became puppets of the contending daimyo in the bitter fighting of the 16th century, the so-called Epoch of Warring States.
Despite the violent internecine strife of the early and late Ashikaga era, in the middle decades literature and art flourished, ruled by Zen standards of restraint and refinement.
At the same time, the complete collapse of what little authority Ashikaga had exercised over the nation became apparent, and there was great social unrest, resulting in numerous popular uprisings.
Under popular pressure, Yoshimasa, like other Ashikaga shoguns, repeatedly issued Acts of Grace, which, unlike those of the Kamakura period, were sweeping debt cancellations for the benefit of the whole debtor class.
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