He is said to have been born at Hosokawa in Nukata district, Mikawa Province, a son of Hosokawa Yoriharu of the Ashikaga clan. His childhood name was Yakuro. The Hosokawa were a branch of the Ashikaga; his father followed Ashikaga Takauji with his cousin Kazuuji and others, and the family later grew powerful as constables in Shikoku.
When the Kanno Disturbance split the shogunate in two, warriors in Awa sided with the Southern Court. Yoriyuki was sent to Awa in his father's place and fought the Southern forces there. This is his first recorded activity and became the foothold of his later rule in Shikoku.
His father Yoriharu died when Southern Court troops attacked Kyoto. Yoriyuki led his army to the capital and, under Ashikaga Yoshiakira, joined the battle of Otokoyama that drove the Southern troops away. He then succeeded his father as constable of Awa and set about governing the province.
When Ashikaga Tadafuyu allied with Yamana Tokiuji and others and spread his power in western Honshu, Yoriyuki was made constable of Bingo and commander of the campaign against him. He led warriors of several provinces, including Bizen, Bitchu, Aki and Iyo, and brought the region over to the shogunate.
His cousin Hosokawa Kiyouji, the shogun's steward, lost a power struggle, went over to the Southern Court and crossed to Shikoku. On Yoshiakira's orders Yoriyuki defeated Kiyouji's army at Shiramine in Sanuki. Kiyouji died in the battle, and Yoriyuki became the leader of the Hosokawa, ruling most of Shikoku.
Shortly before his death the ailing 2nd shogun Yoshiakira called Yoriyuki to Kyoto, made him kanrei and entrusted him with his nine-year-old son Yoshimitsu. Yoriyuki oversaw the boy's education and promotions and later the building of the Palace of Flowers, working to raise the shogun's authority.
Yoriyuki issued a law limiting hanzei, by which constables took half the dues of estates. It aimed to protect estates of the imperial house, temples and shrines and to curb arbitrary levies by constables and warriors; it is called the Oan hanzei law. He also issued laws against extravagance.
The year before, Yoriyuki had won over the leading Southern general Kusunoki Masanori, and this year he appointed Imagawa Sadayo (Ryoshun) as Kyushu tandai and sent him west. Ryoshun gradually drove back Prince Kaneyoshi and the Southern forces in Kyushu, and shogunal rule spread there too.
Opponents led by Shiba Yoshimasa and the Yamana gathered troops, surrounded Yoshimitsu's palace and demanded Yoriyuki's dismissal. Yoshimitsu agreed, and Yoriyuki went down to Shikoku with his kin, took Buddhist vows and became Jokyu. A Chinese poem, Kainan-ko, said to have been composed then survives.
When Yoshimitsu traveled to Itsukushima Shrine, Yoriyuki had the local warriors of Sanuki provide ships for the journey and welcomed him at Utazu. He was pardoned and the relationship restored, and two years later he was called back to Kyoto. It was a reconciliation between the former guardian and the shogun.
When Shiba Yoshimasa resigned as kanrei, Yoriyuki was called back to Kyoto. Being already a monk, he had his adopted son Yorimoto made kanrei and took part in government as his guardian. At the end of the year he fought for the shogunate in the Meitoku War raised by Yamana Ujikiyo and others.
In spring of that year he died in Kyoto after a severe cold, at 63. Yoshimitsu himself presided over his funeral at Shokokuji. That autumn the two courts were reunited, and the Hosokawa continued as one of the great houses, with the Shiba and Hatakeyama, that supplied the kanrei.
Sasaki DōyoAshikaga YoshimitsuAshikaga TakaujiImagawa Sadayo (Ryōshun)Ashikaga YoshiakiraShiba Yoshimasa
Ashikaga TakaujiAshikaga TadayoshiNijō YoshimotoImagawa Sadayo (Ryōshun)Ashikaga YoshiakiraKan'amiAshikaga MotoujiShiba Yoshimasa
People of the Muromachi period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.