The first comprehensive English-language history of Japan’s fifteen Ashikaga shoguns.

For more than two centuries, the Ashikaga shoguns stood at the center of Japan’s political and cultural life. Founded by the rebel warrior Ashikaga Takauji in 1335, the dynasty oversaw periods of military conflict, political intrigue, and extraordinary artistic achievement before its eventual collapse in the age of Oda Nobunaga. The Shogun at War is the first comprehensive account in English of all fifteen Ashikaga shoguns, tracing their struggles to gain, wield, and retain power in a rapidly changing world. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, Frederik Cryns brings to life the personalities, ambitions, and rivalries that shaped medieval Japan, while showing how the dynasty fostered enduring cultural achievements. It is a story of power won and lost, and of a cultural legacy that outlasted the rulers who created it.