In 1489, after Yoshihisa ASHIKAGA, the ninth Shogun of the Muromachi Government, died during his war to conquer Takayori ROKKAKU, Yoshiki left the domain of Shigeyori TOKI, where he was hiding, in order to visit the Imperial Court in Kyoto with his father, who had signed a truce with his uncle, Yoshimasa ASHIKAGA, was adopted by Yoshimasa and appointed by the Emperor as the tenth Shogun of the Muromachi Government in 1490.
延徳元年（1489年）、室町幕府第9代将軍の足利義尚が近江国の六角高頼征伐の在陣中に死去した後、伯父の義政と和睦した父・義視と共に逼塞先の美濃国の土岐成頼のもとから上洛し、足利義政の養子となって延徳2年（1490年）に第10代将軍に就任した。