Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki, whom Nobunaga had been instrumental in installing, became restive in the subordinate part which he was permitted to play. He sought out the princes who still resisted Nobunaga’s supremacy and communicated with them in reference to combining against him. He even went so far as to fortify some of the castles near Kyōto. Nobunaga took strenuous measures against Yoshiaki, and in A.D. 1573 deposed him. He was the last of the Ashikaga shōguns, and with him came to an end a dynasty which had continued from Taka-uji in A.D. 1335 for two hundred and thirty-eight years. Nobunaga assumed the duties which had hitherto been performed by the shōgun, that is he issued orders and made war and formed alliances in the name of the emperor. But he never took the name of shōgun(157) or presumed to act in a capacity which from the time of Yoritomo had always been filled by a member of the Minamoto family, while he was a member of the Taira family. Whether this was the cause of his unwillingness to call himself by this title to which he might legitimately have aspired we can only conjecture. Of one thing we may be sure, that he was disinclined to arouse the enmity of the ambitious princes of the empire, whose co-operation he still needed to establish his power on an enduring basis, by assuming a position which centuries of usage had appropriated to another family. The emperor bestowed upon him the title of _nai-daijin_, which at this time however was a purely honorary designation and carried no power with it.