Born a son of Miyoshi Motonaga of Awa (Tokushima). The Miyoshi were retainers of the Hosokawa, the shogun's deputies.
His father, fallen from favour with their lord Hosokawa Harumoto, was attacked by an Ikkō uprising and took his own life. Young Nagayoshi fled to Awa.
At Eguchi he defeated his kinsman Miyoshi Masanaga. His lord Hosokawa Harumoto and the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru fled to Ōmi, and Nagayoshi came to dominate the Kinai around Kyoto.
He clashed again with the shogun Yoshiteru, with whom he had made peace, and drove him to Ōmi. Ruling without a shogun, he is sometimes called "the first ruler of the realm".
He made peace with Yoshiteru, who returned to Kyoto, while Nagayoshi kept real power.
He moved to Iimoriyama castle in Kawachi as his seat and extended his power into Yamato and Kawachi; the Miyoshi reached their peak. He was also a cultured lover of linked verse.
After his brother Sogō Kazumasa, his brother Miyoshi Jikkyū was killed in battle. The next year his heir Yoshioki died of illness, plunging Nagayoshi into grief.
After summoning his brother Ataka Fuyuyasu to his castle and having him killed, he died of illness at Iimoriyama castle. After his death the Miyoshi weakened through infighting.
Ashikaga YoshiteruMatsunaga HisahideAshikaga Yoshihide
Takeda ShingenSue Harukata (Takafusa)Sen no RikyūShibata KatsuieTakigawa KazumasuHachisuka MasakatsuSakai TadatsuguAkechi Mitsuhide
People of the Sengoku/Azuchi-Momoyama period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.