Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
1358 – 1408 · 50 years · Kyoto · Asia
Reign: 1368 – 1408 (Japan: shoguns & emperors)
Shogun from 1368; in 1392 he ended the split between the Northern and Southern Courts. He formally retired in 1394 but ruled until his death, opened trade with Ming China by accepting the title 'King of Japan', and built the Golden Pavilion.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 14th century
Portrait: Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Sigismund — emperor of the Council of Constance that ended the Schism and burned Hus, 10 years younger
- Richard II — boy king who faced down the Peasants' Revolt and was deposed by his cousin, 9 years younger
- Henry V — victor of Agincourt who became heir to the French crown, 28 years younger
- Charles IV — emperor who made Prague an imperial capital and issued the Golden Bull, 42 years older
- Edward III — king who began the Hundred Years' War and won at Crécy, 46 years older
- Rupert of the Palatinate — Elector Palatine chosen to replace the deposed Wenceslaus, 6 years older
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Andrei Rublev — icon painter, 2 years younger
- Sergius of Radonezh — saint and abbot, 44 years older
- Dmitry Donskoy — Grand Prince of Moscow, 8 years older
- Vasily I — grand prince who annexed Nizhny Novgorod, 13 years younger
Middle East
- Bayezid I the Thunderbolt — sultan defeated and captured by Timur at Ankara, 2 years younger
- Murad I — sultan who took Adrianople and fell at Kosovo, 32 years older
- Hafez — Persian poet, 33 years older
- Mehmed I Çelebi — sultan who reunited the realm after Timur, 31 years younger
Africa
- Ibn Khaldun — historian and thinker, 26 years older
- Ibn Battuta — traveller, 54 years older
Asia
- Timur — emir and conqueror, 22 years older
- Zheng He — admiral and explorer, 13 years younger
- Sejong the Great — King of Joseon Korea, 39 years younger
- Ashikaga Yoshimochi — shogun who broke off tributary trade with Ming China, 28 years younger
- Ulugh Beg — ruler and astronomer, 36 years younger
- Ashikaga Yoshinori — shogun chosen by lot and murdered by his own vassal, 36 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- 1368 Founding of the Ming dynasty — aged 10, Asia
- 1370 Timur makes Samarkand his capital — aged 12, Asia
- 1377 Jikji, printed with movable metal type — aged 19, Asia
- 1380 Battle of Kulikovo — aged 22, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1385 Union of Krewo — aged 27, Europe
- 1392 Founding of Joseon — aged 34, Asia
- c. 1400 Founding of Malacca — aged 42, Asia
- 1405–1433 Voyages of Zheng He — aged 47, Asia