Shogun

Shogun, title of the military dictators who ruled Japan almost continuously from 1192 to 1867. The term, which is a contraction of seii tai shogun (Japanese for “barbarian-subduing generalissimo”), was first used in the Nara period in the early 8th century. It designated generals sent to subdue indigenous tribal groups (collectively known as Ezo) in northeastern Honshū. The title then fell into disuse until Minamoto Yoshinaka claimed it when he seized the capital of Kyōto from the rival Taira clan in 1183.

After Yoshinaka's death, the imperial court awarded the title in 1192 to Minamoto Yoritomo, already overlord of Japan, giving him the standing rights to take military action against anyone he deemed to be disturbing the peace and to appoint provincial officials to supervise the country. Yoritomo's regime was known as the Kamakura shogunate, from the city where Yoritomo housed his military government.

After Yoritomo's death in 1199, his ancestral line died out, and was replaced by that of his in-laws, the Hōjō. The Hōjō did not rule directly; instead they installed aristocrats as puppet shoguns, and they governed as regents. Rule by shoguns was interrupted by the Kemmu Restoration (1333-1336) led by Emperor Go-Daigo, which briefly restored direct imperial rule to Japan.

The power of the shogun was restored by the Ashikaga family, who governed in alliance with regional warlords, known as daimyo. This period was known as the Muromachi shogunate (1338-1573), named after the Muromachi district in Kyōto, which housed the Ashikaga residence. After about 1450, the power of the Muromachi shoguns began to wane, and the powers of the daimyo began to increase. These changes led to 100 years of civil war—the Warring States Period, or Sengoku Jidai, from 1467 to 1568.

Japan was reunified in the period between 1568 and 1603 by the so-called “Three Heroes”: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu defeated all his rivals in 1600 at the Battle of Sekigahara, and then, citing a distant relationship to the Minamoto clan, he took the title of shogun in 1603. Tokugawa shoguns governed for over 250 years, setting their capital at Edo (modern Tokyo). Tokugawa rule lasted until 1867, when its inability to prevent Western encroachment led to a rebellion to restore direct imperial rule, the Meiji Restoration.