Ashikaga Yoshiteru , also known as Yoshifushi or Yoshifuji , was the 13th shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1546 to 1565 during the late Muromachi period of Japan . He was the eldest son of the 12th shogun , Ashikaga Yoshiharu ; and his mother was a daughter of Konoe Taneie ( later called 慶寿院 " Keijuin " ) . When he became shogun in 1546 at age 11 , Yoshiteru ' s name was Yoshifushi ( sometimes translated as Yoshifuji ) ; but some years later in 1554 , he changed his name to the one by which he is conventionally known today . His younger brother Ashikaga Yoshiaki would become the fifteenth shogun . Installed as shogun . After his father , Yoshiharu , was forced to retire in 1546 over a political struggle with Hosokawa Harumoto , Yoshiteru became " Seii Taishogun " , albeit a puppet shogun like his father . Yoshiteru was only 11 at the time and his investiture ceremony was held at Sakamoto , Ōmi Province , outside Kyoto . Yoshiteru had barely been confirmed as shogun when his father Yoshiharu made a truce with Harumoto in order to return to Kyoto . Yet , Harumoto ' s retainer Miyoshi Nagayoshi parted with Harumoto to take the side of Hosokawa Ujitsuna and the two Hosokawa started a war that drove out Yoshiteru , his father Yoshiharu , and Harumoto as well , from Kyoto . In 1550 , Yoshiharu died in Ōmi , unable to return to Kyoto . In 1552 , Yoshiteru made a peace with Nagayoshi to return to Kyoto . However , the next year , Yoshiteru and Harumoto started a war against Nagayoshi to remove his influence . With the help of Rokkaku Yoshikata , the war initially went well for Yoshiteru but he was driven out of Kyoto again in 1558 with a counterattack from Nagayoshi . Nagayoshi did not press on after the victory to kill Yoshiteru for fear of being accused of killing a shogun , and instead signed a truce to have Yoshiteru back in Kyoto under his influence . Nagayoshi continued as the real power in Kyoto , with Yoshiteru nothing more than a rubber stamp . Timeline . Significant events shaped the period during which Yoshiteru was shogun : Governance . Surrounded by daimyo who only intended to use the authority of shogun for their own good , Yoshiteru still managed to reaffirm the shogun ' s authority by active diplomacy that extended to every part of Japan . By trying to negotiate a peace between such well known daimyo as Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin , Shimazu Takahisa , Ōtomo Yoshishige , Mōri Motonari , and Amago Haruhisa , the shogun ' s authority was again recognized by various daimyo . Lacking resources , Yoshiteru nevertheless saw opportunities to assign his kanji " 輝 " on various samurai like Mōri Terumoto to become something close to a godfather . Yoshiteru was well respected for his actions and many researchers credit him as being the last effective shogun to hold the post . Oda Nobunaga and Uesugi Kenshin were among the many daimyo and samurai who travelled to Kyoto to pay their respects to the shogun . End of Reign . In 1564 , Nagayoshi died of illness and Yoshiteru saw an opportunity to fully reclaim the shogun ' s authority . However , Matsunaga Hisahide and the three member council of Miyoshi , the Miyoshi Triumvirs , who wanted to rule just as Nagayoshi had , were willing to go to any lengths to remove Yoshiteru from the power and to have Ashikaga Yoshihide as the puppet shogun . In 1565 , Hisahide , and Miyoshi Yoshitsugu laid siege against a collection of buildings ( that would later become Nijo Castle ) where Yoshiteru lived . With no help arriving in time from the daimyo that could have supported him , Yoshiteru and the few troops under him were overrun by Miyoshi . Three years would pass before his cousin Ashikaga Yoshihide became the fourteenth shogun . Yoshiteru ' s Legacy . Because of his inner strength and the katana skills that he was known to have practiced regularly , Yoshiteru was called the " Kengo Shogun " ( 剣豪将軍 ) and was closer to being a samurai and a warlord than any shogun since Ashikaga Takauji . His governance was highly credited but to have been killed in spite of his efforts completely destroyed what little recognition and authority Yoshiteru built up . The waka Yoshiteru was said to have left on his death shows the extent of his aspirations compared with the limits of achievements . Eras of Yoshiteru ' s " bakufu " . There were more than one era name or " nengō " in which Yoshiteru was identified as Shogun .