shogun (redirected from Shoguns)

shogun (shō`gŭn'), title of the feudal military administrator who from the 12th cent. to the 19th cent. was, as the emperor's military deputy, the actual ruler of Japan. The title itself, Sei-i-tai Shogun [barbarian-subduing generalissimo], dates back to 794 and originally meant commander of the imperial armies who led the campaigns against the Ainu in N Japan. The shogunate as a military administrative system was established by Yoritomo after 1185 and was known as the Bakufu [literally, army headquarters]. The imperial court at Kyoto continued to exist, but effective power and actual administration were in the hands of the hereditary shoguns. The shogunate was held in turn by the Minamoto family and their successors, with their capital at Kamakura (1192–1333); the Ashikaga, with their capital at Kyoto (1338–1597); and the Tokugawa, with their capital at Yedo (Tokyo) after 1603. The overthrow of the shogun in 1867 brought the Meiji restoration and the beginning of modern Japan. See daimyo.

Bibliography

See J. P. Mass and W. B. Hauer, The Bakufu in Japanese History (1985).

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shogun

(Japanese; “barbarian-quelling generalissimo”)

In Japanese history, a military ruler. The title was first used during the Heian period, when it was occasionally bestowed on a general after a successful campaign. In 1185 Minamoto Yoritomo gained military control of Japan; seven years later he assumed the title of shogun and formed the first bakufu, or shogunate (see Kamakura period). Later Kamakura shoguns lost real power to the Hojo family while remaining rulers in name. Ashikaga Takauji received the title of shogun in 1338 and established the Ashikaga shogunate (see Muromachi period), but his successors enjoyed even less control over Japan than had the Kamakura shoguns, and the country gradually fell into civil war (see Onin War). Tokugawa Ieyasu's shogunate (see Tokugawa period) proved the most durable, but the Japanese penchant for titular rulers prevailed, and in time a council of elders from the main branches of the Tokugawa clan ruled from behind the scenes. Since the title of shogun ultimately came from the emperor, he became a rallying point for those who brought down the shogunate in the Meiji Restoration.