The Ashikaga clan (足利氏, Ashikaga-shi) is an important Japanese samurai clan that established the Ashikaga shogunate and ruled Japan for over two centuries, from 1336 to 15731.
The Ashikaga descended from a branch of the Minamoto clan, originating from the town of Ashikaga in Shimotsuke province, nowadays Tochigi prefecture.
For nearly a century, the clan was divided into two rival branches, the Kantō kubō Ashikaga who ruled from Kamakura, and the Ashikaga of Kyoto, the masters of Japan.
The rivalry ended with the defeat of the former in 1439. The clan had many branches, including the Hosokawa, Imagawa, Hatakeyama (after 1205), Kira, Shiba and Hachisuka clans.
After the head of the family of Minamoto clan passed away in the early Kamakura period, the Ashikagas presented themselves as the heads of Minamoto clan, securing the prestige associated with this name.
There was another Ashikaga clan without any blood relation but from Fujiwara clan.
1. Ashikaga Yoshiyasu
2. Ashikaga Yoshikane
3. Ashikaga Yoshiuji
4. Ashikaga Yasuuji
5. Ashikaga Yoriuji
6. Ashikaga Ietoki
7. Ashikaga Sadauji
8. Ashikaga Takauji