He was born the tenth son of Ashikaga Yoshinori, sixth shogun of the Muromachi shogunate. Yoshimasa, later the eighth shogun, was his elder brother. He became the adopted son of the court noble Ōgimachi-Sanjō Sanemasa, and like many sons of the shogun's house it was decided early that he would enter the Buddhist clergy.
In the Kakitsu Rebellion his father Yoshinori was killed at a banquet in the residence of Akamatsu Mitsusuke, constable of Harima. A shogun losing his life to a vassal was unheard of, and the shogunate's authority was badly shaken. Still an infant, Yoshimi grew up with almost no memory of his father.
He entered the Buddhist clergy, becoming head of the Jōdo-ji temple under the name Gijin. As the shogun's younger brother he followed the path to the top of the temple world and was expected to end his life as a monk. His brother Yoshimasa later became shogun, and quiet years followed with politics left to his brother.
Strongly urged by his brother Yoshimasa, who had no male heir, he returned to lay life and took the name Yoshimi. When he hesitated, Yoshimasa is said to have shown him a written oath that any son born later would become a monk, with the kanrei Hosokawa Katsumoto as his guardian. Called Imadegawa-dono, he was seen as the next shogun.
He married Yoshiko, younger sister of Yoshimasa's wife Hino Tomiko, tightening his ties to the shogun's house. But at the end of that year Tomiko gave birth to a son, Yoshihisa. Partly because Tomiko wished her own child to become shogun, Yoshimi's position as designated heir suddenly became unstable.
Ise Sadachika, a close aide of Yoshimasa, accused Yoshimi of plotting rebellion. Fearing for his life, Yoshimi fled to the residence of Hosokawa Katsumoto, and powerful constables such as Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen protected him. As a result Sadachika himself was driven from the capital, and Yoshimi was cleared.
When the rivalry between Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen erupted into the Ōnin War, Yoshimi was given the shogun's banner and joined the fighting as commander in chief of Katsumoto's Eastern Army. But tossed about by the schemes of those around him, he lost his footing, and in summer took temporary refuge with the Kitabatake clan in Ise.
Recalled by Yoshimasa, he returned to Kyoto, but angered his brother by demanding the removal of Tomiko's brother Hino Katsumitsu and others. Sensing danger, Yoshimi fled to Mount Hiei and was soon welcomed by the enemy Western Army, which set him up almost as a shogun in a structure sometimes called the Western Shogunate.
Both Yamana Sōzen of the West and Hosokawa Katsumoto of the East died, and at the end of the year his nephew Yoshihisa became the ninth shogun. For Yoshimi, who had returned to lay life on the promise of becoming shogun, this meant his hopes were slipping away. Still the Western Army kept him as its figurehead, and the fighting in Kyoto dragged on.
One by one the Western daimyō withdrew to their home provinces, and the eleven-year Ōnin War at last came to an end. Taking his son Yoshiki with him, Yoshimi left the capital to rely on Saitō Myōchin, the powerful man of Mino. Leaving ruined Kyoto behind, father and son began a long life in the provinces.
While staying in Mino, he formally reconciled with his brother Yoshimasa. The brothers, once placed at the center of a struggle over the shogunate, at last put an end to their feud. Yoshimi went on living in Mino, watching his son Yoshiki grow up and waiting for a chance to return to the capital.
Shogun Yoshihisa died young in his camp in Ōmi without an heir, and Yoshiki became a candidate for the next shogun. Yoshimi brought Yoshiki back to Kyoto after more than ten years, and soon took Buddhist vows again under the name Dōson. Tomiko too backed Yoshiki as successor, and the old hostility softened.
His brother Yoshimasa died, and that summer his son Yoshiki became the tenth shogun. Yoshimi received the high honor of jusangū and guided the government as the shogun's father. It was as though he had at last gained, through his son, the leadership of the shogun's house that had been promised in his youth but never realized.
Soon after the new year he died of illness at the Sanjō palace in Kyoto. By a strange coincidence, it is said he died on the same day of the same month as his brother Yoshimasa. He was later posthumously granted the rank of Grand Minister. A life tossed about by the quarrels of others, it also symbolized the turmoil of the age of the Ōnin War.
Akamatsu MitsusukeAshikaga YoshinoriYamana SōzenHosokawa KatsumotoHino Tomiko
Asakura Takakage (Toshikage)Hosokawa KatsumotoŌta DōkanAshikaga YoshimasaHino TomikoHatakeyama MasanagaHosokawa MasamotoŌuchi Yoshioki
People of the Muromachi period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.