SHOGUNS
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |
INTRODUCTION
A shogun is a hereditary commander-in-chief in feudal Japan. Because of the military power concentrated in his hands and the weakness of the emperor, the shogun was generally the real ruler of the country until feudalism was abolished in 1868.
The word "shogun" is a title that was granted by the Emperor to the country's top military commander. During the Heian period (794-1192) the members of the military gradually became more powerful than the court officials, and eventually they took control of the whole government.
TOKUGAWA SHOGUN
The Tokugawa shoguns were the last of the Japanese military government which existed between 1603 and 1868. The people that were on top of the Japanese government were the shoguns, and each was a member of the Tokugawa tribe.
ANCIENT SHOGUN
In the year 784 AD the emperor of Japan moved his court from Nara to Kyoto. For the next four hundred years, art and literature flourished at the new capital Kyoto while control of Japan by the central government withered away.
Although the emperor ruled in name at Kyoto, the real power in Japan during this time was increasingly exercised by samurai or daimyo that were intent upon increasing their land holdings and their independence from control by the emperor.
Feuding between samurai warrior clans finally led to collapse of the central government at Kyoto, and for the purpose of restoring order, the emperor appointed the leader of the victorious samurai faction, Minamoto Yoritomo, Japan's first shogun or military commander in 1185. While a form of civil government continued under the emperor at Kyoto, it exercised no real authority, and the shogun was in reality the military dictator of Japan supported in power by his samurai warriors. The title of shogun became hereditary, and this form of military dictatorship stayed in Japan until 1868 when the last shogun resigned and the emperor was restored to power.