This page is about the Japanese ruler and military rank. For other meanings of shogun, see Shogun (disambiguation).

In Japanese history, a shōgun (将軍) was the practical ruler of Japan for most of the time from 1192 to the Meiji Era beginning in 1868. A Shōgun's administration is referred to in English as a shogunate (bakufu (幕府) in Japanese)

The term shōgun means "general, " whereas the full title Seii Taishōgun (征夷大将軍) means "generalissimo who overcomes the barbarians". Used in common reference to the historical full title, the term shōgun is still used to refer to the rank of general in the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

At the launch of the Kamakura shogunate, the shogun seized power from the Imperial Court in Kyoto, becoming the practical ruler of Japan until the Meiji Restoration.

Seii Taishogun of Heian Period Japan (794 - 1185)

Conquest of the Emishi

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 shoguns was Sakanoue no Tamuramaro who conquered the Emishi in the name of the emperor Kammu. Eventually the title was abandoned in the later Heian after the Emishi had been either subjugated or driven to Hokkaido.

Genpei

However, in the later Heian one more shogun was appointed. Minamoto no Yoshinaka was named Seii Taishogun during the Genpei War only to be killed shortly thereafter by his distant cousin Minamoto no Yoshitsune, brother of Minamoto no Yoritomo.

Seii Taishogun of Feudal Period Japan (1185 - 1868)

Kamakura Shogunate

In the 1100s, lawlessness was spreading through the provinces. people fought for land and power. The Minamoto and Taira warrior families fought for power. Then, after the defeat of the Taira clan in the Genpei War in 1185, Minamoto no Yoritomo seized power from the emperor and became the dictator and de facto ruler of Japan. He established a feudal system of government based in Kamakura in which the military, the samurai, assumed all political power while the Emperors of Japan and the aristocracy in Kyoto remained the figurehead de jure rulers. In 1192 Yoritomo was awarded the title of Seii Taishogun by the emperor and the political system he developed with a succession of shogun at the head became known as a bakufu (tent government) or shogunate. From this point in history, all shogun that headed shogunates were by tradition descendants of the Minamoto princes, the sons of emperor Seiwa, and the title passed generation to generation to the eldest sons.

Kemmu Restoration

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 Seii Taishogun and put in charge of the military. After Ashikaga Takauji, later founder of the Muromachi shogunate, rebelled against the emperor, Prince Moriyoshi was put under house arrest and killed in 1335 by Takauji's younger brother Ashikaga Tadayoshi.

Muromachi and Edo Shogunates

In Japanese history, besides Minamoto no Yoritomo whose Kamakura shogunate lasted for approximately 150 years, from 1192 to 1333, only Ashikaga Takauji and Tokugawa Ieyasu, each being descendants of the Minamoto princes, were awarded the title of Seii Taishogun and established bakufu in their own right. The Ashikaga Shogunate lasted from 1338 to 1573, while the Tokugawa Shogunate lasted from 1603 to 1868.

The so-called Transitional shoguns of 1568-1598 were never given the title of Seii Taishogun by the emperor and did not establish bakufu, but did for a period hold power over the emperor and most/all of Japan.

The title Seii Taishogun was abolished during the Meiji Restoration in 1868, in which effective power was "restored" to the emperor and his appointees. See Taisei houkan .

List of Seii Taishoguns

• Otomo no Otomaro
• Sakanoue no Tamuramaro
• Hun'ya no Watamaro (title Seii Shogun)
• Minamoto no Yoshinaka
• 9 Kamakura shoguns
• Prince Morinaga (or Moriyoshi)
• Prince Narinaga (or Nariyoshi)
• 15 Ashikaga shoguns
• 15 Tokugawa shoguns

Shogunate

Bakufu (幕府) originally described the dwelling and household of a shōgun, but in time it came to be generally used in Japanese to describe the system of government of a feudal military dictatorship, exercised by the shoguns (literally "tent government", meaning a military rule), and this is the meaning that has been adopted into English through the term shogunate.

The system of bakufu was originally established under the Kamakura bakufu by Minamoto no Yoritomo. The military wing of the government came to dominate the civil (imperial) government, so that while the Emperors of Japan still technically led the government, all practical (and especially military) power rested with the shogun and the daimyo. The system was feudal in nature, with lesser territorial lords pledging their allegiance to greater ones. Samurai were rewarded for their loyalty with land, which was in turn 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 apprentices. The shoguns also took lovers from among the ranks of the samurai, a practice known as shudo, "the way of the young", or nanshoku, "male color".

Three primary bakufu periods are usually identified, each centered around a family which tended to dominate the position of shogun during that regime. In the Japanese language, the time period of each regime is named after the capital of the bakufu. The Ashikaga and Tokugawa bakufu can also be (and usually are) named in this fashion.

• Kamakura Bakufu - Kamakura period
• Ashikaga Bakufu or Muromachi Bakufu - Muromachi period
• Tokugawa Bakufu or Edo Bakufu - Edo period