Shogun

, the first shogun (1192–1199) of the Kamakura shogunate]] A (literally, "a commander of a force") was one of the (usually) hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents (1203–1333), were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor. When Portuguese explorers first came into contact with the Japanese (see Nanban period), they described Japanese conditions in analogy, likening the emperor, with great symbolic authority but little political power, to the pope, and the shogun to secular European rulers, e.g. the Holy Roman emperor. In keeping with the analogy, they even used the term "emperor" in reference to the shogun/regent, e.g. in the case of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, whom missionaries called "Emperor Taicosama" (from Taiko and the honorific sama)

The modern rank of shogun is equivalent to a generalissimo. Although the original meaning of "shogun" is simply "a general", as a title, it is used as the short form of 征夷大将軍, the governing individual at various times in the history of Japan, ending when Tokugawa Yoshinobu relinquished the office to the Meiji Emperor in 1867.

A shogun's office or administration is known in English as a "shogunate". In Japanese it was known as which literally means "tent office", and originally meant "house of the general", and later also suggested a private government. Bakufu could also mean "tent government" and was the way the government was run under a shogun. The tent symbolized the field commander but also denoted that such an office was meant to be temporary. The shogun's officials were as a collective the bakufu, and were those who carried out the actual duties of administration while the Imperial court retained only nominal authority.

Etymology

The term means "great general who subdues barbarians". Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate, seized considerable power and land from the aristocracy in Kyoto. He became the practical ruler of Japan, and received the title sei-i taishōgun. Thereafter, the heads of three successive shogunates received the same title. After the downfall of the Kamakura Shogunate, certain conditions had to be met in order for a warlord to be bestowed the title of shogun. First and foremost, the warlord had to descend from the Minamoto clan. Secondly, all of Japan had to be unified under a single warlord, or daimyo. If a daimyo unified Japan, and was not of Minamoto descent, then he would be given the title of "regent". In formal diplomatic communications with foreign countries, the title taikun, the source of the English word tycoon, was used.

History

Heian period (794–1185)

Originally, the title of Seii Taishōgun was given to military commanders during the early Heian Period for the duration of military campaigns against the Emishi who resisted the governance of the Imperial court based in Kyoto. Ōtomo no Otomaro became the first Seii Taishōgun in history. The most famous of these shogun was Sakanoue no Tamuramaro who conquered the Emishi in the name of Emperor Kammu. Eventually, the title was abandoned in the later Heian period after the Ainu had been either subjugated or driven to Hokkaidō.

In the later Heian, one more shogun was appointed. Minamoto no Yoshinaka was named sei-i taishōgun during the Gempei War only to be killed shortly thereafter by Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

Kamakura shogunate (1192–1333)

In the early 11th century, feudal estates headed by daimyo and protected by samurai came to dominate internal Japanese politics.

Kemmu restoration (1333–1336)

The end of the Kamakura shogunate came when Kamakura fell in 1333 and the Hōjō Regency was destroyed. Two imperial families, Go-Saga the senior line, and Go-Daigo the junior line, had a claim to the throne. The problem was solved with the intercession of the Kamakura Shogunate, who had the two lines alternate. This lasted until 1331, when the Go-Daigo line refused to alternate with the Go-Saga line. As a result the Go-Daigo was exiled. Around 1334–1336 Ashikaga Takauji helped the Go-Daigo line regain the throne.

The fight against the shogunate left the new Emperor with too many people claiming a limited supply of land. Ashikaga Takauji turned against the Emperor when the discontent about the distribution of land grew great enough. In 1336 the emperor was banished again, in favor of a new emperor. The Tokugawa shogunate lasted until 1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned as shogun and abdicated his authority to Emperor Meiji.

During the Edo period effective power rested with the Tokugawa shogun, not the emperor in Kyoto, 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 after the Second World War.

The title of shogun in Japan meant a military leader equivalent to general, and at various times in the first millennium shoguns held temporary power, but it became a symbol of military control over the county. The establishment of the shogunate (or bakufu) at the end of the twelfth century saw the beginning of samurai control of Japan for 700 years until the Meiji Restoration in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Modern usage

Although today the head of the Japanese government is called "prime minister", the usage of the term "shogun" has continued somewhat. A retired prime minister who still wields considerable power and influence behind the scenes is called a "shadow shogun", a somewhat modern incarnation of the cloistered rule. A shadow shogun in Japanese is called yami shogun. Examples of shadow shoguns are former prime minister Kakuei Tanaka and the politician Ichiro Ozawa.

Shogunate

The term bakufu originally meant the dwelling and household of a shogun, but in time it came to be generally used for the system of government of a feudal military dictatorship, exercised in the name of the shogun; and this is the meaning that has been adopted into English through the term "shogunate."

The shogunate system was originally established under the Kamakura shogunate by Minamoto no Yoritomo. Although theoretically the state, and therefore the Emperor, held ownership of all land of Japan, the system had some feudal elements, with lesser territorial lords pledging their allegiance to greater ones. Samurai were rewarded for their loyalty with land, which was in turn, on the liege lord's permission, handed down and divided among their sons. The hierarchy that held this system of government together was reinforced by close ties of loyalty between 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 shōen system, the great temples and shrines, the shugo and the jitō, the kokujin and early modern daimyo. Each shogunate reflected the necessity of new ways of balancing the changing requirements of central and regional authorities.

See also

List of shoguns

History of Japan

Feudalism

Daimyo

References

Notes

Further reading

Beasley, William G. (1955). Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868. London: Oxford University Press. [reprinted by RoutledgeCurzon, London, 2001. 10-ISBN 0-197-13508-0; 13-ISBN 978-0-197-13508-2 (cloth)]

Mass, Jeffrey P. and William B. Hauser, eds. (1985). The Bakufu in Japanese History. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Sansom, George. 1961. A History of Japan, 1134–1615. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 10-ISBN 0-804-70525-9; 13-ISBN 978-0-804-70525-7

*Shogun Category:Military ranks of Japan Category:Government of feudal Japan Category:Positions of authority Category:Titles of national or ethnic leadership Category:Feudal Japan