Shiba

The Shiba were a cadet branch of the Ashikaga house and traced their descent from the Seiwa-Genji, the Minamoto line of Emperor Seiwa. At the end of the thirteenth century Shiba Ieuji, son of Ashikaga Yasuuji, took the Shiba name, and the family held lands in Mutsu Province while inheriting the governorship of Owari.

Shiba Takatsune sided with Ashikaga Takauji against Emperor Go-Daigo in 1335 and was rewarded with the shugo governorships of Echizen and Wakasa when the Ashikaga shogunate was founded. His son Yoshimasa became kanrei, deputy to the shogun, in 1379.

Succession disputes weakened the house, and its feud with rivals helped spark the Ōnin War of 1467 to 1477, during which the Asakura seized Echizen. Reduced to figureheads in Owari, the last Shiba lord Yoshimune was killed by Oda Nobutomo in 1554, and the clan effectively ended with Yoshikane's death in 1572.