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Shogun

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For other uses, see Shogun (disambiguation).
Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate

Shōgun (将軍, shōgun) listenⓘ is a military rank and historical title in Japan. The rank is equivalent to "general", a high officer in an army.[1] As a title, it is the short form of sei-i taishōgun (征夷大将軍:せいいたいしょうぐん), the governing individual at various times in the history of Japan, ending when Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu relinquished the office to Emperor Meiji in 1867.[1]

The title

A shogun's office or administration is a "shogunate" or "bakufu" (幕府:ばくふ), the latter of which literally means "an office in the tent" in Japanese, and suggests a "private government".[2] The tent is symbolic of the role of the military in fighting wars in the field but also denoted that such an office was meant to be temporary.

The term sei-i taishōgun means "great general who subdues the eastern barbarians."[1] "Eastern barbarian" is one of several ancient terms for various groups who lived in eastern area and had not yet become subject to the central government. Among them were the aboriginal Ainu people who once inhabited Honshū in addition to Hokkaidō.

Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, seized considerable power 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.

History

Heian period (794–1185)

Main article: Heian period

Originally, the title of Seii Taishogun 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)

Main articles: Kamakura shogunate and Kamakura period

In the early 11th century, feudal estates headed by daimyo and protected by samurai came to dominate internal Japanese politics.[3] 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 power from the emperor and established a feudal system of government based in Kamakura in which the military, the samurai, assumed political power while the Emperors of Japan and the aristocracy in Kyoto remained the de jure 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. 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.[4]

Kemmu restoration (1333–1336)

Main article: Kemmu restoration

The end of the Kamakura shogunate came when Kamakura fell in 1334 and the Hojo Regency was destroyed. Bakufu had ruled up through the 12th century. After this two 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 Bakufu, 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.[5]

The new Emperor found out that the fight against Bakufu left him 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.[5]

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 and put in charge of the military. However, Prince Moriyoshi was later put under house arrest and, in 1335, killed by Ashikaga Tadayoshi.

Ashikaga shogunate (1336–1573)

The tomb of Ashikaga Takauji.
Main articles: Ashikaga shogunate and Muromachi period

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.

Oda Nobunaga and the Toyotomi

Main articles: Sengoku period and Azuchi-Momoyama period

The two powerful sengoku daimyo, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were never titled shoguns (sei-i taishōgun). Although these two military adventurers did not succeed in establishing new dynasties of shoguns, they stood at a crucial moment in Japanese history. Their successes paved the way for the relative tranquility of the Tokugawa era. Even though westerners mistook them as shoguns, they were not actually shoguns at all.

Nobunaga was offered the title but he died before accepting the title.[6][7] Hideyoshi was named kampaku which was the highest rank nominated by the Imperial family.[8]

Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868)

Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Main articles: Tokugawa shogunate and Edo period

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. The Tokugawa shogunate lasted until 1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned as shogun and abdicated his authority to Emperor Meiji in 1867.[1]

During the Edo period effective power rested with the Tokugawa shoguns, 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.[9]

See Late Tokugawa shogunate.

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 bakufu 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.

In political terms, each bakufu was dynamic, not static. Power was constantly shifting and authority was often ambiguous. The study of the ebbs and flows in this complex history is continuing to occupy the attention of scholars who find the bakufu developing as an institutional structure of authority. Each bakufu 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 bakufu reflected the necessity of new ways of balancing the changing requirements of central and regional authorities.[10]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Shogun". The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book. 1992. pp. 432–433. ISBN 0-7166-0092-7.
  2. ^ Totman, Conrad (1966). "Political Succession in The Tokugawa Bakufu: Abe Masahiro's Rise to Power, 1843-1845". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 26: 102–124.
  3. ^ "Japan". The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book. 1992. pp. 34–59. ISBN 0-7166-0092-7.
  4. ^ Columbia University (2000). "Japan: History: Early History to the Ashikaga Shoguns". Factmonster. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
  5. ^ a b Sansom, George (1961). A History of Japan, 1134-1615. United States: Stanford University Press.
  6. ^ William Scott Morton, J. Kenneth Olenik. "Japan: Its History and Culture". Retrieved 2007-04-18.
  7. ^ June Kinoshita, Nicholas Palevsky. "Gateway to Japan". Retrieved 2007-04-18.
  8. ^ Dorothy Perkins. "Samurai of Japan: A Chronology From Their Origin in the Heian Era (794-1185) to the Modern Era". Retrieved 2007-04-18.
  9. ^ Wakabayashi, Bob Tadashi (1991). "In Name Only: Imperial Sovereignty in Early Modern Japan". Journal of Japanese Studies. 17 (1): 25–57. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Mass, J. et al., eds. (1985). The Bakufu in Japanese History, p. 189.

Further reading

  • Columbia University (2000). "Japan: History: Early History to the Ashikaga Shoguns". Factmonster. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
  • Brazell, Karen (1972). "The Changing of the Shogun 1289: An Excerpt from Towazugatari". The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese. 8 (1): 58–65. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Brock, Karen L. (1995). "The Shogun's 'Painting Match'". Monumenta Nipponica. 50 (4): 433–484. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Grossberg, Kenneth A. (1976). "Bakufu Bugyonin: The Size of the Lower Bureaucracy in Muromachi Japan". The Journal of Asian Studies. 35 (4): 651–654. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Grossberg, Kenneth A. (1976). "From Feudal Chieftain to Secular Monarch. The Development of Shogunal Power in Early Muromachi Japan". Monumenta Nipponica. 31 (1): 29–49. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • "Japan". The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book. 1992. pp. 34–59. ISBN 0-7166-0092-7.
  • Mass, Jeffrey P. and William B. Hauser, eds. (1985). The Bakufu in Japanese History. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  • McCune, George M. (1946). "The Exchange of Envoys between Korea and Japan During the Tokugawa Period". The Far Eastern Quarterly. 5 (3): 308–325. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Ravina, Mark (1995). "State-Building and Political Economy in Early-modern Japan". The Journal of Asian Studies. 54 (4): 997–1022. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Seigle, Cecilia Segawa (1999). "The Shogun's Consort: Konoe Hiroko and Tokugawa Ienobu". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 59 (2): 485–522. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Hurst, C. Cameron, III (1981). "Review of Learning from Shogun: Japanese History and Western Fantasy, by Henry Smith". The Journal of Asian Studies. 41 (1): 158–159. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Sansom, George (1961). A History of Japan, 1134-1615. United States: Stanford University Press.
  • "Shogun". The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book. 1992. pp. 432–433. ISBN 0-7166-0092-7.
  • Sinsengumi, Bakumatuisin (2003). "仙台藩主". Bakusin (in Japanese). Retrieved 2007-04-17.
  • Smith, Henry (ed.) (1980). Learning from Shogun: Japanese History and Western Fantasy (PDF). Santa Barbara: University of California Program in Asian Studies. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  • Totman, Conrad (1966). "Political Succession in The Tokugawa Bakufu: Abe Masahiro's Rise to Power, 1843-1845". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 26: 102–124.
  • Wakabayashi, Bob Tadashi (1991). "In Name Only: Imperial Sovereignty in Early Modern Japan". Journal of Japanese Studies. 17 (1): 25–57. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
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