足利家族(Ashikaga family)
日本武将家族，1338年建立足利时代（Ashikaga shogunate）。创建者足利尊氏（Ashikaga Takauji, 1305～1358）原本支持後醍醐（Go-Daigo）天皇从北条家族（Hojo family）手中夺回国家的控制权的企图，但後来两人反目，并从皇族支系另立天皇，他被授予幕府的称号。尊氏的孙子义满（Yoshimitsu, 1358～1408），第三代足利幕府，结束了因其祖父的行动造成的朝廷分治的局面。他完成了内政改组的工作，努力恢复同中国的贸易关系，兴修许多宏伟的寺庙和宫殿，其中最着名的是在京都（Kyoto）的金阁寺（Golden Pavilion）。足利义政（Ashikaga Yoshimasa, 1436～1490）是第八代足利幕府，也是一位艺术爱好者，他奖励文学艺术的发展，曾在京都建造着名的银阁寺（Silver Pavilion, Ginkaku-ji），专门研究茶道。政治上，在他担任幕府时期已逐渐丧失国家的控制权，使得日本爆发了持续近百年的内战（参阅Onin War）。
English version：
Ashikaga family
Japanese warrior family that established the Ashikaga shogunate in 1338. The founder, Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358), supported the emperor Go-Daigo's attempt to wrest control of the country from the Hojo family, but then turned on him and set up an emperor from another branch of the imperial family, who granted Takauji the title of shogun. Takauji's grandson Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), the third Ashikaga shogun, ended the dual imperial courts that had resulted from his grandfather's actions, took an active role in the court bureaucracy, and reorganized civil government. Yoshimitsu reopened formal trade with China and is remembered as a sponsor of the arts; he commissioned the famous Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji) in Kyoto. Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436-1490), the eighth Ashikaga shogun, was also a great patron of the arts and a devotee of the tea ceremony. He commissioned the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji), whose understated elegance contrasts with the opulence of the Golden Pavilion. Politically, Yoshimasa's tenure as shogun coincided with increasing loss of control over the countryside as Japan headed toward a century of civil war. See also daimyo, Onin War, samurai.