, officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, shoguns were themselves figureheads, with real power in hands of the

Shikken The was a titular post held by a member of the Hōjō clan, officially a regent of the shogunate, from 1199 to 1333, during the Kamakura period, and so he was head of the ''bakufu'' (shogunate). It was part of the era referred to as . During rou ...

of the Hōjō clan. The office of shogun was in practice hereditary, though over the course of the history of Japan several different clans held the position. The title was originally held by military commanders during

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

in the eighth and ninth centuries. When

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

gained political ascendency over Japan in 1185, the title was revived to regularize his position, making him the first shogun in the usually understood sense. The shogun's officials were collectively referred to as the ; they were the ones who carried out the actual duties of administration, while the Imperial court retained only nominal authority.Beasley, William G. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868'', p. 321. The tent symbolized the shogun's role as the military's field commander but also denoted that such an office was meant to be temporary. Nevertheless, the institution, known in English as the shogunate (), persisted for nearly 700 years, ending when Tokugawa Yoshinobu relinquished the office to Emperor Meiji in 1867 as part of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

Etymology

The term is the abbreviation of the historical title ''Sei-i Taishōgun'' 征 (''sei'', せい) means "conquer" or "subjugate" and 夷 (''i'', い) means "barbarian" or "savage". 大 (''dai'', だい) means "great", (''shō'', しょう) means "commander" and 軍 (''gun'', ぐん) means "army". Thus, a translation of ''Seii Taishōgun'' would be "Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians". The term originally referred to the general who commanded the army sent to fight the tribes of northern Japan, but after the twelfth century, the term was used to designate the leader of the ''

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

''. The term is often translated ''

generalissimo ''Generalissimo'' ( ) is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used. Usage The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative of ('general') thus me ...

'' and is also used for such military leaders of foreign nations by Japanese.

Bakufu

The administration of a shogun is called in Japanese and literally means "government from the ". During battles, the head of the samurai army would sit in a scissor chair inside a semi-open tent, called a ''maku'', that exhibited its respective mon or

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...

. The application of the term ''bakufu'' to the shogun government shows an extremely strong and representative symbolism.Turnbull, 2006a:207.

Titles

Historically, similar terms to ''Seii Taishōgun'' were used with varying degrees of responsibility, although none of them had equal or more importance than ''Seii Taishōgun''. Some of them were: * Friday, 2007:108. * * * * * * *

History

First shogun

There is no consensus among the various authors since some sources consider Tajihi no Agatamori the first, others say

Ōtomo no Otomaro was a Japanese general of the Nara period and of the early Heian period. He was the first to hold the title of '' sei-i taishōgun''. The title of Shōgun was bestowed by Emperor Kanmu in 794. Some believe he was born in 727. His father was Ōt ...

, other sources assure that the first was

Sakanoue no Tamuramaro was a court noble, general and ''shōgun'' of the early Heian period of Japan. He served as Dainagon, Minister of War and ''Ukon'e no Taisho'' (Major Captain of the Right Division of Inner Palace Guards). He held the '' kabane'' of Ōsukune ...

, while others avoid the problem by just mentioning from the first Kamakura shogun

Heian period (794–1185)

Originally, the title of ''Sei-i Taishōgun'' ("Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians")''The Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary'', was given to military commanders during the early

for the duration of military campaigns against the Emishi, who resisted the governance of the

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

-based imperial court.

was the first ''Sei-i Taishōgun''. The most famous of these shoguns was

. In the later Heian period, one more shogun was appointed.

Minamoto no Yoshinaka , , or Lord Kiso was a general from the late Heian period of Japanese history. A member of the Minamoto clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was his cousin and rival during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and the Taira clans. Yoshinaka was born in Musas ...

was named ''sei-i taishōgun'' during the Genpei War, only to be killed shortly thereafter by

Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a military commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles which toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-brother Yoritomo conso ...

Sakanoue no Tamuramaro

Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (758–811) was a Japanese general who fought against the Emishi tribes of northern Japan (settled in the territory that today integrates the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa). Tamarumaro was the first general to bend these tribes, integrating their territory to that of the

Yamato State The was a tribal alliance centered on the Yamato region (Nara Prefecture) from the 4th century to the 7th century, and ruled over the alliance of noble families in the central and western parts of the Japanese archipelago. The age is from th ...

. For his military feats he was named Seii Taishōgun and probably because he was the first to win the victory against the northern tribes he is generally recognized as the first shogun in history. (Note: according to historical sources

also had the title of Seii Taishōgun).

Kamakura shogunate (1192–1333)

In the early 11th century, ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' protected by

came to dominate internal Japanese politics. Two of the most powerful families – the

Taira The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided ...

and

Minamoto was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during th ...

– fought for control over the declining imperial court. The Taira family seized control from 1160 to 1185, but was defeated by the Minamoto in the Battle of Dan-no-ura.

seized power from the central government and aristocracy and by 1192 established a

feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...

based in Kamakura in which the private military, the

, gained some political powers while the Emperor and the aristocracy remained the ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...

'' rulers. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"''Kamakura-jidai''"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. In 1192, Yoritomo was awarded the title of ''Sei-i Taishōgun'' by

Emperor Go-Toba was the 82nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1183 through 1198. This 12th-century sovereign was named after Emperor Toba, and ''go-'' (後), translates literally as "later"; a ...

and the political system he developed with a succession of shoguns as the head became known as a shogunate.

Hojo Masako Hojo or Hōjō may refer to: Hojo or HoJo: *Howard Johnson's, a U.S. chain of restaurants and hotels *A nickname for Howard Johnson *A nickname for Howard Jones *A nickname for Howard Jones *MGR-1 Honest John, the first nuclear-capable missile ...

's (Yoritomo's wife) family, the Hōjō, seized power from the Kamakura shoguns. When Yoritomo's sons and heirs were assassinated, the shogun himself became a hereditary figurehead. Real power rested with the Hōjō regents. The Kamakura shogunate lasted for almost 150 years, from 1192 to 1333. The end of the Kamakura shogunate came when Kamakura fell in 1333, and the Hōjō Regency was destroyed. Determined to restore power to the Imperial Court, in 1331

Emperor Go-Daigo Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 ''Go-Daigo-tennō'') (26 November 1288 – 19 September 1339) was the 96th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')後醍醐天皇 (96) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional order ...

tried to overthrow the shogunate. As a result, Daigo was exiled. Around 1334–1336,

Ashikaga Takauji was the founder and first '' shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Murom ...

helped Daigo regain his throne in the

Kenmu Restoration The was a three-year period of Imperial rule in Japanese history between the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period from 1333 to 1336. The Kenmu Restoration was an effort made by Emperor Go-Daigo to overthrow the ruling Kamakura Shogunate ...

. The fight against the shogunate left the

with too many people claiming a limited supply of land. Takauji turned against the Emperor when the discontent about the distribution of land grew great enough. In 1336 Daigo was banished again, in favor of a new Emperor, leading to the creation of the new

Ashikaga shogunate The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669. The Ashikaga shogunate was establi ...

. During the Kenmu Restoration, after the fall of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333, another short-lived shogun arose.

Prince Moriyoshi (1308 – August 12, 1335) was a Japanese prince and monk. He was the son of Emperor Go-Daigo and his consort Minamoto no Chikako. Moriyoshi was named by his father as the head abbot of the Enryaku-ji temple on Mount Hiei. Go-Daigo attempted t ...

(Morinaga), son of Go-Daigo, was awarded the title of ''Sei-i Taishōgun''. However, Prince Moriyoshi was later put under house arrest and, in 1335, killed by Ashikaga Tadayoshi.

Ashikaga (Muromachi) shogunate (1336/1338–1573)

In 1336 or 1338,

, like Minamoto no Yoritomo, a descendant of the

princes, was awarded the title of ''sei-i taishōgun'' and established the

, which nominally lasted until 1573. The Ashikaga had their headquarters in the Muromachi district of Kyoto, and the time during which they ruled is also known as the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

. For the first fifty years of the Shogunate the Ashikaga were unable to assert power over the entire country, as the descendants of Go-Daigo formed a rival court challenging their authority in the

Nanboku-chō period The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, ''Nanboku-chō jidai'', "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Mur ...

. Finally in 1392, the Southern Court surrendered to the

Northern Court The , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. The present Imperial House of Japan is descended from the Northern Cou ...

and the authority of the bakufu. Following the

Onin War Onin may refer to: * Ōnin, a Japanese era ** Ōnin War * Onin peninsula, on the Bomberai Peninsula of Indonesian Papua * Onin language Onin is a minor Austronesian language of the Onin Peninsula Onin may refer to: * Ōnin, a Japanese era ** � ...

the power of the Ashikaga Shoguns slowly dwindled and with the start of the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

were reduced to puppets of various warlords, until ultimately the last Muromachi Shogun,

Ashikaga Yoshiaki "Ashikaga Yoshiaki" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. was the 15th and final '' shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate in Japan who reigned from 1568 to 1573.Ackroyd, ...

was deposed in 1573.

Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573–1600)

With the end of the Ashikaga bakufu Oda Nobunaga and his successor,

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

, rose to power, governing using the court titles of Imperial Regent and gaining far greater power than any of their predecessors in those offices had. Hideyoshi is considered by many historians to be among Japan's greatest rulers, yet neither man was ever formally granted the title of Shogun.

Tokugawa shogunate (1600–1868)

After Hideyoshi's death following the failed invasion of Korea,

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

seized power with the victory at the Battle of Sekigahara and established a shogunate government at Edo (now known as

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

) in 1600. He received the title ''sei-i taishōgun'' in 1603, after he forged a family tree to show he was of

descent. The

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

lasted until 1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned as shogun and abdicated his authority to Emperor Meiji. Ieyasu set a precedent in 1605 when he retired as shogun in favour of his son

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

, though he maintained power from behind the scenes as (, cloistered shogun). During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, effective power rested with the Tokugawa shogun, not the Emperor in

, even though the former ostensibly owed his position to the latter. The shogun controlled foreign policy, the military, and feudal patronage. The role of the Emperor was ceremonial, similar to the position of the

Japanese monarchy The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the w ...

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The Honjō Masamune was inherited by successive shoguns and it represented the Tokugawa shogunate.http://internal.tbi.net/~max/ff9ref2.htm History of Masamune by Jim Kurrasch It was crafted by swordsmith

Masamune , was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as ''tachi'' and ''tantō'', in the ''Sōshū'' school. However, many of his forged ''tachi'' were made into ...

(1264–1343) and recognized as one of the finest Japanese swords in history. After World War 2, in December 1945,

Tokugawa Iemasa Prince also known as Iyemasa, was a Japanese political figure of the Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was the 17th hereditary head of the former shogunal branch of the Tokugawa clan and the final President of the House of Peers in the ...

gave the sword to a police station at Mejiro and it went missing.

Timelines

Timeline of the Kamakura shogunate

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:30 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = early DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1190 till:1335 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:20 start:1190 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97) id:PA value:green id:GP value:red Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Shogun PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:Shogun from:1192 till:1199 color:PA text:" Yoritomo (1192–1199)" from:1202 till:1203 color:PA text:" Yoriie (1202–1203)" from:1203 till:1219 color:PA text:" Sanetomo (1203–1219)" from:1226 till:1244 color:PA text:" Yoritsune (1226–1244)" from:1244 till:1252 color:PA text:" Yoritsugu (1244–1252)" from:1252 till:1266 color:PA text:" Munetaka (1252–1266)" from:1266 till:1289 color:PA text:" Koreyasu (1266–1289)" from:1289 till:1308 color:PA text:" Hisaaki (1289–1308)" from:1308 till:1333 color:PA text:" Morikuni (1308–1333)" barset:skip

Timeline of the Ashikaga shogunate

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:30 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = early DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1330 till:1575 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:25 start:1338 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97) id:PA value:red id:GP value:red Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Shogun PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:Shogun from:1338 till:1358 color:PA text:" Takauji (1338–1358)" from:1358 till:1367 color:PA text:" Yoshiakira (1358–1367)" from:1368 till:1394 color:PA text:"

Yoshimitsu is a name used by three different characters who appear in the ''Tekken'' and ''Soulcalibur'' series of fighting games by Namco. The first version of Yoshimitsu made his debut in the original ''Tekken (video game), Tekken'' in 1994. The second ...

(1368–1394)" from:1394 till:1423 color:PA text:" Yoshimochi (1394–1423)" from:1423 till:1425 color:PA text:" Yoshikazu (1423–1425)" from:1429 till:1441 color:PA text:" Yoshinori (1429–1441)" from:1442 till:1443 color:PA text:" Yoshikatsu (1442–1443)" from:1449 till:1473 color:PA text:" Yoshimasa (1449–1473)" from:1473 till:1489 color:PA text:" Yoshihisa (1473–1489)" from:1490 till:1493 color:PA text:" Yoshitane (1490–1493)" from:1494 till:1508 color:PA text:"

Yoshizumi Yoshizumi (written: 良純, 宜純, 佳純, 義澄 or 義処) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese shōgun *, Japanese weather forecaster, television personality and actor *, Japanese molecular biol ...

(1494–1508)" from:1508 till:1521 color:PA text:" Yoshitane (1508–1521)" from:1521 till:1546 color:PA text:" Yoshiharu (1521–1546)" from:1546 till:1565 color:PA text:" Yoshiteru (1546–1565)" from:1568 till:1568 color:PA text:" Yoshihide (1568)" from:1568 till:1573 color:PA text:" Yoshiaki (1568–1573)" barset:skip

Timeline of the Tokugawa shogunate

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:30 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = early DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1600 till:1870 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:25 start:1600 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97) id:PA value:blue id:GP value:red Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Shogun PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:Shogun from:1603 till:1605 color:PA text:"

Ieyasu was the founder and first '' shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and f ...

(1603–1605)" from:1605 till:1623 color:PA text:"

Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

(1605–1623)" from:1623 till:1651 color:PA text:" Iemitsu (1623–1651)" from:1651 till:1680 color:PA text:" Ietsuna (1651–1680)" from:1680 till:1709 color:PA text:" Tsunayoshi (1680–1709)" from:1709 till:1712 color:PA text:"

Ienobu (June 11, 1662 – November 12, 1712) was the sixth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Tsunashige, thus making him the nephew of Tokugawa Ietsuna and Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the grandson of Tokugawa Iem ...

(1709–1712)" from:1713 till:1716 color:PA text:" Ietsugu (1713–1716)" from:1716 till:1745 color:PA text:" Yoshimune (1716–1745)" from:1745 till:1760 color:PA text:" Ieshige (1745–1760)" from:1760 till:1786 color:PA text:" Ieharu (1760–1786)" from:1786 till:1837 color:PA text:" Ienari (1787–1837)" from:1837 till:1853 color:PA text:" Ieyoshi (1837–1853)" from:1853 till:1858 color:PA text:" Iesada (1853–1858)" from:1858 till:1866 color:PA text:" Iemochi (1858–1866)" from:1867 till:1868 color:PA text:" Yoshinobu (1867–1868)" barset:skip

Shogunate

Shogun-Hearing-in-Fukiage-by-Toyohara-Chikanobu-1889

The term originally meant the dwelling and household of a shogun, but in time, became a metonym for the system of government dominated by a feudal military dictatorship, exercised in the name of the shogun or by the shogun himself. Therefore, various ''bakufu'' held absolute power over the country (territory ruled at that time) with limited interruptions between 1192 to 1867, glossing over actual power, clan and title transfers. The shogunate system was originally established under the

Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no ...

after the Genpei War, although theoretically the state (and therefore the Emperor) still held ''

'' ownership of all land in Japan. The system had some feudal elements, with lesser territorial lords pledging their allegiance to greater ones.

Samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

were rewarded for their loyalty with agricultural surplus, usually rice, or labor services from

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

s. In contrast to European feudal

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

s, samurai were not landowners. The hierarchy that held this system of government together was reinforced by close ties of loyalty between the ''

'', samurai, and their subordinates. Each shogunate was dynamic, not static. Power was constantly shifting and authority was often ambiguous. The study of the ebbs and flows in this complex history continues to occupy the attention of scholars. Each shogunate encountered competition. Sources of competition included the Emperor and the court aristocracy, the remnants of the imperial governmental systems, the ''daimyōs'', the '' shōen'' system, the great temples and shrines, the ''

sōhei were Buddhist warrior monks of both classical and feudal Japan. At certain points in history, they held considerable power, obliging the imperial and military governments to collaborate. The prominence of the ''sōhei'' rose in parallel wit ...

'', the ''

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

'' and ''

jitō were medieval territory stewards in Japan, especially in the Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates. Appointed by the ''shōgun'', ''jitō'' managed manors including national holdings governed by the provincial governor ( kokushi). There were also ...

'', the ''

jizamurai The were lords of smaller rural domains in feudal Japan.Harold Britho, 'The Han', in John Whitney Hall, ed., ''The Cambridge History of Japan, volume 4: Early Modern Period'' (Cambridge UP, 1988), 183–234, They often used their relatively sma ...

'' and early modern ''daimyō''. Each shogunate reflected the necessity of new ways of balancing the changing requirements of central and regional authorities.

Relationship with the emperor

Since

turned the figure of the shogun into a permanent and hereditary position and until the

there were two ruling classes in Japan: 1. the emperor or ,Mitchelhill & Green, 2003:59. who acted as "chief priest" of the official religion of the country,

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

, and 2. the shogun, head of the army who also enjoyed civil, military, diplomatic and judicial authority.Kuno, 2007:245. Although in theory the shogun was an emperor's servant, it became the true power behind the throne. No shogun tried to usurp the throne, even when they had at their disposal the military power of the territory. There were two reasons primarily: *Theoretically the shogun received the power of the emperor, so this was his symbol of authority. *There was a sentimentalist tradition created by priests and religious who traced the imperial line from the "age of the gods" into an "eternal line unbroken by the times." According to Japanese mythology, the emperor was a direct descendant of Amaterasu, goddess of the

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. Unable to usurp the throne, the shoguns sought throughout history to keep the emperor away from the country's political activity, relegating them from the sphere of influence. One of the few powers that the imperial house could retain was that of being able to "control time" through the designation of the Japanese

Nengō The , also known as , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being ""), followed by the literal ...

or Eras and the issuance of calendars. Emperors twice tried to recover the power they enjoyed before the establishment of the shogunate. In 1219 the

accused the Hōjō as outlaws. Imperial troops mobilized, leading to the

Jōkyū War , also known as the Jōkyū Disturbance or the Jōkyū Rebellion, was fought in Japan between the forces of Retired Emperor Go-Toba and those of the Hōjō clan, regents of the Kamakura shogunate, whom the retired emperor was trying to overthrow ...

(1219–1221), which would culminate in the third

Battle of Uji (1221) The third battle at the Uji River was the primary battle of the Jōkyū War in Japan. Bakufu forces led by Imperial regent Hōjō Yoshitoki sought to enter Kyoto and overthrow Emperor Go-Toba, using Uji and Seta as their gateways. The Emperor's ...

. During this, the imperial troops were defeated and the emperor Go-Toba was exiled.Turnbull, 2006a:41. With the defeat of Go-Toba, the samurai government over the country was confirmed. At the beginning of the fourteenth century the

decided to rebel, but the Hōjō, who were then regents, sent an army from Kamakura. The emperor fled before the troops arrived and took the imperial insignia.Turnbull, 2006a:43. The shogun named his own emperor, giving rise to the era . During the 1850s and 1860s, the shogunate was severely pressured both abroad and by foreign powers. It was then that various groups angry with the shogunate for the concessions made to the various European countries found in the figure of the emperor an ally through which they could expel the

from power. The motto of this movement was and they finally succeeded in 1868, when imperial power was restored after centuries of being in the shadow of the country's political life.

Legacy

Upon Japan's surrender after World War II, American Army General Douglas MacArthur became Japan's ''de facto'' ruler during the years of occupation. So great was his influence in Japan that he has been dubbed the . Today, the head of the Japanese government is the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

; the usage of the term "shogun" has nevertheless continued in colloquialisms. A retired Prime Minister who still wields considerable power and influence behind the scenes is called a , a sort of modern incarnation of the

cloistered rule was a form of government in Japan during the Heian period. In this bifurcated system, an emperor abdicated, but retained power and influence. Those retired emperors who withdrew to live in monasteries (''in'') continued to act in ways intended to ...

. Examples of "shadow shoguns" are former Prime Minister

Kakuei Tanaka was a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1947 to 1990, and was Prime Minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974. After a power struggle with Takeo Fukuda, he became the most influential member of the ruling Liberal ...

and the politician

Ichirō Ozawa is a Japanese politician and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1969, representing the Iwate 3rd district (Iwate 2nd district prior to the 1996 general election and Iwate 4th district prior to the 2017 general election). H ...

References

Bibliography

* Adolphson, Mikael; Edward Kamens, Stacie Matsumoto (2007). ''Heian Japan: Centers and Peripheries.'' University of Hawaii Press. . * Friday, Karl (2007). ''The First Samurai: The Life and Legend of the Warrior Rebel, Taira Masakado.'' John Wiley and Sons. . * Hall, John Whitney; James L. McClain, Marius B. Jansen (1991). ''The Cambridge History of Japan.'' Cambridge University Press. . * Iwao, Seiichi; Teizō Iyanaga, Maison Franco-Japonaise Tōkyō, Susumu Ishii, Shōichirō Yoshida (2002). Maisonneuve & Larose. . * Cranston, Edwin (1998). ''A Waka Anthology: Volume One: The Gem-Glistening Cup''. Stanford University Press. . * Sansom, George Bailey (1931). ''Japan: A Short Cultural History.'' Stanford University Press. . * Takekoshi, Yosaburō (2004). ''The Economic Aspects of the History of the Civilization of Japan.'' Taylor & Francis. . * Shively, Donald; John Whitney Hall, William H. McCullough (1999). ''The Cambridge History of Japan: Heian Japan.'' Cambridge University Press. . * De Bary, William Theodore; Yoshiko Kurata Dykstra; George Tanabe; Paul Varley (2001). ''Sources of Japanese Tradition: From Earliest Times to 1600.'' Columbia University Press. . * Turnbull, Stephen (2005). ''Samurai Commanders (1) 940–1576.'' Osprey Publishing. . * Turnbull, Stephen (2006a). ''Samuráis, la historia de los grandes guerreros de Japón''. Libsa. ISBN 84-662-1229-9. * Deal, William (2007). ''Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan.'' Oxford University Press US. . * Perkins, Dorothy (1998). ''The Samurai of Japan: A Chronology from Their Origin in the Heian Era (794–1185) to the Modern Era.'' Diane Publishing. . * Perkins, George. (1998). ''The Clear Mirror: A Chronicle of the Japanese Court During the Kamakura Period (1185–1333).'' Stanford University Press. . * Murdoch, James (1996). ''A History of Japan: 1652–1868.'' Routledge. . * Hall, John Whitney (1 January 1977). ''Japan in the Muromachi Age''. University of California Press. p. 11. . * Grossberg, Kenneth A. (1976). "From Feudal Chieftain to Secular Monarch. The Development of Shogunal Power in Early Muromachi Japan". ''Monumenta Nipponica''. 31 (1): 34. doi:10.2307/2384184.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs ...

0027-0741. * * * Andressen, Curtis; Milton Osborne (2002). ''A Short History of Japan: From Samurai to Sony''. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-516-2. * Ramírez-Faria, Carlos. ''Concise Encyclopedia of World History''. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. ISBN 81-269-0775-4. * Mitchelhill, Jennifer; David Green (2003). ''Castles of the Samurai: Power and Beauty''. Kodansha International. ISBN 4-7700-2954-3. * Kuno, Yoshi (2007). Japanese Expansion on the Asiatic Continent - Volume I. Read Books. ISBN 1-4067-2253-7. * Davis, Paul (2001). ''100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

US. ISBN 0-19-514366-3.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shogun Shōguns, Military ranks of Japan Government of feudal Japan Positions of authority Titles of national or ethnic leadership Military history of feudal Japan 2nd millennium in Japan