Ashikaga Yoshiharu (足利 義晴; April 2, 1511 – May 20, 1550) was the twelfth shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate from 1521 through 1546 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the son of the eleventh shōgun Ashikaga Yoshizumi.
From a western perspective, Yoshiharu is significant, as he was shōgun when the first contact of Japan with the European West took place in 1543. A Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, landed in Japan. In 1526, Yoshiharu invited archers from neighbouring provinces to come to the capital for an archery contest.
His childhood name was Kameomaru (亀王丸). On 1 May 1521, after Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshitane and Hosokawa Takakuni struggled for power over the shogunate and Yoshitane withdrew to Awaji Island, the way was clear for Ashikaga Yoshiharu to be installed as shōgun as he enters Kyoto.
In 1521, Hosokawa Takakuni orchestrated the appointment of Yoshiharu as shōgun. By 1526, tumultuous events marked by the Kasai and Miyoshi rebellions unfolded. In 1528, the political landscape shifted dramatically as Yoshiharu was ousted by Miyoshi Nagamoto, setting the stage for a period of significant change.
The 1530s further complicated the era, beginning with the eruption of the Ikkō rebellion in 1533. 1536 became a pivotal year with Emperor Go-Nara's ascension, and by 1538, internal strife plagued the Koga Kubō's family, introducing new layers of discord. Later in 1546 Yoshiharu sought refuge in Ōmi, while his son, Yoshiteru, assumed the role of shōgun in exile.
Void of any political power and repeatedly forced from the capital in Kyoto, Yoshiharu retired in 1546 over a political struggle between Miyoshi Nagayoshi and Hosokawa Harumoto making his son Ashikaga Yoshiteru the thirteenth shōgun. He died on 20th May, 1550. Later in 1568, supported by Oda Nobunaga, his other son Ashikaga Yoshiaki became the fifteenth shōgun.
daughter married Takeda Yoshimune
daughter married Miyoshi Yoshitsugu
daughter married Karasume Kosen
The years in which Yoshiharu was shōgun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.
Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982) Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press. ISBN 9780702214851; OCLC 7574544
Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 585069