("Commander of the Forces") is a military rank and historical title for Hereditary
Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces of
Japan. The modern rank is equivalent to a
Generalissimo. As a title, it is the short form of
seii taishōgun, 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.
[Beasley, William G. (1955). Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868, p. 321.]Etymology
The term
seii taishōgun means "great general who subdues eastern 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. 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.
Two of the most powerful families, the
Taira and
Minamoto, 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.
Minamoto no Yoritomo seized certain powers from the central government and aristocracy and established a feudal system based in
Kamakura in which the private military, the
samurai, gained some political powers while the
Emperors of Japan and the
aristocracy in
Kyoto remained the
de jure (and in many ways
de facto) rulers. In 1192, Yoritomo was awarded the title of
Sei-i Taishōgun by the emperor and the political system he developed with a succession of shogun at the head became known as a shogunate.
Yoritomo's wife's family, the
Hōjō, seized the power from the Kamakura shoguns. When Yoritomo's sons and heirs were assassinated, the shogun became a hereditary figurehead. Real power rested with the Hōjō regents. The Kamakura shogunate lasted for almost 150 years, from 1192 to 1333.
In 1274 and 1281, the
Mongol Empire launched invasions against Japan. An attempt by
Emperor Go-Daigo to restore imperial rule in 1331 was unsuccessful, but weakened the shogunate significantly and led to its eventual downfall.
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.
During the Kemmu Restoration, after the fall of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333, another short-lived shogun arose.
Prince Moriyoshi (also known as Prince Morinaga), son of
Emperor 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 shogunate (1336–1573)
In 1338
Ashikaga Takauji, like Yoritomo a descendant of the Minamoto princes, was awarded the title of
sei-i taishōgun and established
Ashikaga Shogunate, which lasted until 1573. The Ashikaga had their headquarters in the Muromachi district of Kyoto, and the time period during which they ruled is also known as the Muromachi Period.
Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867)
Tokugawa Ieyasu seized power and established a government at
Edo (now known as
Tokyo) in 1600. He received the title
sei-i taishōgun in 1603 after he forged a family tree to show he was of Minamoto descent. 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.
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 are called "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
