Ashikaga Shogunate - Government Structure

Government Structure

The Ashikaga Shogunate is the weakest of the three Japanese bakufu governments. Unlike its predecessor, the Kamakura Shogunate, or its successor, the Tokugawa Shogunate, when Ashikaga Takauji established his bakufu he had little personal territories with which to support his rule. The Ashikaga Shogunate was thus heavily reliant on the prestige and personal authority of its shoguns. The centralized master-vassal system used in the Kamakura system was replaced with the highly de-centralized daimyo (local lord) system, and because of the lack of direct territories, the military power of the shoguns depended heavily on the loyalty of the daimyo.

On the other hand, the Imperial Government was no longer a credible threat to military rule. The failure of the Kenmu Restoration have rendered the court weakened and subservient, a situation the Ashikaga Takauji reinforced by establishing within close proximity of the emperor at Kyoto. The authority of the local daimyo greatly expanded from its Kamakura times. In addition to military and policing responsibilities, the bakufu appointed shugos now absorbed the justice, economical and taxation powers of the local Imperial governors, while the government holdings in each province were rapidly absorbed into the personal holdings of the daimyos or their vassals. The loss of both political clout and economic base deprived the Imperial court of much of its power, which were then assumed by the Ashikaga shoguns. This situation reached its peak under the rule of the third Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

After Yoshimitsu however, the structural weakness of the Ashikaga bakufu were exposed by numerous succession troubles and early deaths. This became dramatically more acute after the Onin War, after which the bakufu itself became reduced to little more than a local political force in Kyoto.