Shogun

Shogun (English: /ˈʃoʊɡʌn/ SHOH-gun;[1] Japanese: 将軍, romanized: shōgun, pronounced [ɕoːɡɯɴ] ⓘ), officially sei-i taishōgun (征夷大将軍, "Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians"),[2] was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868.

When Minamoto no Yoritomo 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.

[8][9][10] The shogun's officials were collectively referred to as the bakufu (幕府, IPA: [baꜜkɯ̥ɸɯ]; "tent government"); they were the ones who carried out the actual duties of administration, while the imperial court retained only nominal authority.

In this context, "curtain" is a synecdoche for a type of semi-open tent called a maku, a temporary battlefield headquarters from which a samurai general would direct his forces, and whose sides would be decorated with his mon.

Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (758–811)[31] 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).

For his military feats he was named sei-i 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.

They excluded other clans from the political center and monopolized the highest positions in the court, such as sesshō (摂政, Imperial Regent for Minor Emperors), kampaku (関白, Imperial Regent fo Adult Emperors), and daijō-daijin (太政大臣, Chancellor of the Realm), reaching their peak at the end of the 10th century under Fujiwara no Michinaga and Fujiwara no Yorimichi.

Masakado proclaimed that the Kanto region under his rule was independent of the imperial court and called himself the Shinnō (新皇, New Emperor).

In the midst of the Genpei War, Minamoto no Yoshinaka expelled the Taira clan from Kyoto, and although initially welcomed by the hermit Emperor Go-Shirakawa, he became estranged and isolated due to the disorderly military discipline and lack of political power under his command.

He staged a coup, overthrew the emperor's entourage, and became the first of the Minamoto clan to assume the office of Sei-i Taishōgun (shogun).

Later, the prevailing theory was that the year was 1185, when Yoritomo established the shugo (守護), which controlled military and police power in various regions, and the jitō (地頭), which was in charge of tax collection and land administration.

The shogunate learned its lesson and set up an administrative body in Kyoto called the Rokuhara Tandai (六波羅探題) to oversee the imperial court and western Japan.

[61] Emperor Go-Daigo rejected cloistered rule and the shogunate and abolished the sesshō and kampaku in favour of an emperor-led government.

However, the nobles who had long been out of politics and the newly appointed samurai were unfamiliar with administrative practices, and the court was unable to handle the drastic increase in lawsuits.

[57][61] After the failure of the Kenmu Restoration, Emperor Go-Daigo fled to Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei with the Three Sacred Treasures (Imperial regalia, 三種の神器).

[66][68] The war devastated Kyoto, destroying many aristocratic and samurai residences, Shinto shrines, and Buddhist temples, and undermining the authority of the Ashikaga shoguns, greatly reducing their control over the various regions.

According to several historical books, including Luís Fróis' Historia de Japam, he fought hard with naginata and tachi during a raid, defeating many of his enemies, but eventually ran out of strength and was killed.

[83] Ruled by 15 Tokugawa shoguns, the Edo period (1603–1868) saw dramatic economic and cultural development, fostered by a relatively peaceful society.

On the other hand, he reassigned the tozama daimyo (外様大名) who had submitted to Tokugawa Ieyasu after the Battle of Sekigahara, to remote areas separated from politically important regions.

He also encouraged the cultivation of cash crops such as sweet potatoes and sugar cane, which allowed agriculture to flourish and increased tax revenues.

[96] Tanuma Okitsugu, who held the position of rōjū (老中, Elder), during the reign of Tokugawa Ieharu, the 10th shogun, adopted a policy of mercantilism.

Prior to his reign, Japan had suffered major earthquakes, several volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods and urban fires, and the finances of the shogunate were strained.

[98] The beginning of the Bakumatsu era at the end of the Edo period is the subject of various theories, and can be dated to the 1820s and 1830s, when the shogunate's rule became unstable, or to the Tenpō Reforms of 1841–1843, or to Matthew C. Perry's arrival in Japan in 1853 and his call for the opening of the country.

On the other hand, the end point is clear, when the 15th Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, returned the authority to govern Japan to Emperor Meiji.

In retaliation, Hitotsubashi samurai assassinated Ii Naosuke, the tairō (大老, Great Elder) in the Sakuradamon Incident.

With this war, the domestic pacification of the imperial forces was nearly complete, and with the Meiji Restoration, Japan began to rapidly modernize and emerge as an international military and economic power.

The rapid modernization of Japan during the Meiji era (1868–1912) was aided by the fact that, under the rule of successive Tokugawa shoguns, many Japanese were educated in terakoya (寺子屋, private elementary schools) and had a thriving publishing culture.

There were two reasons primarily:[118] 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.

The motto of this movement was Sonnō jōi (尊王攘夷, "Revere the Emperor, Eject the Barbarians") and they finally succeeded in 1868, when imperial power was restored after centuries of being in the shadow of the country's political life.

A retired Prime Minister who still wields considerable power and influence behind the scenes is called a "shadow shogun" (闇将軍, yami shōgun),[123] a sort of modern incarnation of the cloistered rule.