Ashikaga Ujimitsu

[1] Ujimitsu was the first Kantō kubō to openly aspire to the shogunate, and his relationship with shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in Kyoto consequently deteriorated to the point of being likened to that of "cats and dogs".

[6] He however over the years abandoned the idea after Uesugi Noriharu committed seppuku in protest and he came to realize his lack of reliable support from other clans like the Toki and the Kyōgoku.

In 1391 he allied himself with shōgun Yoshimitsu against the Yamana clan and, although the campaign ended before he could participate, he was nonetheless rewarded with the Mutsu and Dewa Provinces.

[4] Ujimitsu never completely abandoned the ambition to become shōgun, and gradually his relationship with shogun Yoshimitsu worsened to the point of being described as one of open enmity.

[5] The fact he didn't have to suffer the consequences of the situation is probably due to the good offices of his childhood tutor Gidō Shūshin who, being in Kyoto, could intercede for him with Yoshimitsu, but also to the mediation of the Uesugi and to his work against the Oyama clan, which had served the interests of the Ashikaga's Kansai branch.

On the spot near Zuisen-ji where Yōan-ji used to be stands a stele, which reads:[7] When Kantō kubō Ashikaga Ujimitsu died on January 11, 1398,[8] he was given the posthumous name Yōanji Hekizan Zenkō (永安寺壁山全公).