Shogun

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

Shogun (將軍 shōgun?) is a military rank and historical title in Japan. The rank is equivalent to "general," a high officer in an army. As a title, it is the short form of sei-i taishōgun (征夷大將軍). The Imperial Court in Kyoto awarded this title first to the leaders of military expeditions against eastern people, and later to the heads of military governments at many times in the history of Japan.

A shogun's office or administration is a shogunate or bakufu (幕府). The latter literally means "an office in the tent" in Japanese. The tent is symbolic of the role of the military in fighting wars in the field.

The term sei-i taishōgun means "great general who subdues the eastern barbarians." "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. It continued in use until the Meiji Restoration.

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[edit] Sei-i Taishogun of Heian Period of Japan (794–1185)

[edit] Conquest of the Ainu

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 Ainu 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.

[edit] Gempei wars

In the later Heian, one more shogun was appointed. Minamoto no Yoshinaka was named sei-i taishōgun during the Genpei War only to be killed shortly thereafter by Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

[edit] Sei-i Taishogun of Feudal Period Japan (1185–1868)

[edit] Kamakura Shogunate

In the 1100s, the wars between the Minamoto and Taira families came to a conclusion with the defeat of the Taira clan in the Genpei War (1185). 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 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 shogunate. The Kamakura shogunate lasted for almost 150 years, from 1192 to 1333.

[edit] 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. However, Prince Moriyoshi was later put under house arrest and, in 1335, killed by Ashikaga Tadayoshi.

[edit] Muromachi and Edo Shogunates

Next, Ashikaga Takauji, like Yoritomo a descendant of the Minamoto princes, was awarded the title of sei-i taishōgun and established bakufu. The Ashikaga Shogunate lasted from 1338 to 1573.

Subsequently, 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 1868.

The so-called transitional shoguns, of 1568–1598, did not receive the title of sei-i taishōgun from the emperor and did not establish shogunates, but did, for a period, hold power over the emperor and most of Japan.

The title sei-i taishōgun was abolished during the Meiji Restoration in 1868, in which effective power was "restored" to the emperor and his appointees. See Late Tokugawa shogunate.

[edit] List of sei-i taishōgun

Order
(In its shogunate)
Name In office Notes
1 Otomo no Otomaro 793-794?  
2 Sakanoue no Tamuramaro 797-811?  
- Funya no Watamaro 813 Sei-i shogun
- Fujiwara no Tadabumi 940 征東大將軍だが、異傳あり
3 Minamoto no Yoshinaka 1184 從四位下伊豫守
4 (1) Minamoto no Yoritomo 1192-1199 1195年辭任の説あり。正二位前權大納言
5 (2) Minamoto no Yoriie 1202-1203 正二位左衛門督
6 (3) Minamoto no Sanetomo 1203-1219 正二位右大臣
7 (4) Kujo_Yoritsune 1226-1244 攝家(藤原)將軍。九条道家の子。正二位權大納言
8 (5) Kujo Yoritsugu 1244-1252 從三位左近衛中將
9 (6) Prince Munetaka 1252-1266 皇族將軍。後嵯峨天皇の皇子。一品中務卿
10 (7) Koreyasu Shinnou(Prince Koreyasu)(惟康王→源惟康→惟康親王) 1266-1289 二品
11 (8) Prince Hisaaki 1289-1308 後深草天皇の皇子。一品式部卿
12 (9) Prince Morikuni 1308-1333 二品
13 Prince Moriyoshi 1333 二品兵部卿
14 Prince Nariyoshi 1335-1336 四品上野太守
15 (1) Ashikaga Takauji (高氏→尊氏) 1338-1358 正二位權大納言
16 (2) Ashikaga Yoshiakira 1358-1367 正二位權大納言
17 (3) Ashikaga Yoshimitsu 1367-1394 准三宮従一位左大臣。將軍辭職後、太政大臣。
18 (4) Ashikaga Yoshimochi 1394-1423 從一位内大臣
19 (5) Ashikaga Yoshikatsu 1423-1425 正四位下參議右近衛中將
20 (6) Ashikaga Yoshinori(義宣→義教) 1429-1441 從一位左大臣
21 (7) Ashikaga Yoshikatsu 1442-1443 從四位下左近衛中將
22 (8) Ashikaga Yoshimasa (義成→義政) 1449-1473 准三宮從一位左大臣
23 (9) Ashikaga Yoshihisa(義尚→義煕) 1473-1489 從一位内大臣
24 (10) Ashikaga Yoshiki (義材→義尹→義稙) 1490-1493 從四位下參議右近衛中將
25 (11) Ashikaga Yoshizumi(義高→義遐→義澄) 1494-1508 從三位參議左近衛中將
26 (10) Ashikaga Yoshitane (義材→義尹→義稙) 1508-1521 再任。從二位權大納言
27 (12) Ashikaga Yoshiharu 1521-1546 從三位權大納言
28 (13) Ashikaga Yoshiteru (義藤→義輝) 1546-1565 從四位下參議左近衛中將
29 (14) Ashikaga Yoshihide 1568 從五位下左馬頭
30 (15) Ashikaga Yoshiaki (義秋→義昭) 1568-1573 實は出家時の1588年までは名目上在任。從三位權大納言
31 (1) Tokugawa Ieyasu(松平元康→德川家康) 1603-1605 從一位右大臣。將軍辭職後、太政大臣。
32 (2) Tokugawa Hidetada 1605-1623 從一位右大臣。將軍辭職後、太政大臣。
33 (3) Tokugawa Iemitsu 1623-1651 從一位左大臣。太政大臣宣下固辭。
34 (4) Tokugawa Ietsuna 1651-1680 正二位右大臣
35 (5) Tokugawa Tsunayoshi 1680-1709 正二位右大臣
36 (6) Tokugawa Ienobu(Tsunatoyo→Ienobu) 1709-1712 正二位内大臣
37 (7) Tokugawa Ietsugu 1712-1716 正二位内大臣
38 (8) Tokugawa Yoshimune(松平賴方→德川吉宗) 1716-1745 正二位右大臣
39 (9) Tokugawa Ieshige 1745-1760 正二位右大臣
40 (10) Tokugawa Ieharu 1760-1786 正二位右大臣
41 (11) Tokugawa Ienari 1787-1837 從一位太政大臣
42 (12) Tokugawa Ieyoshi 1837-1853 從一位左大臣
43 (13) Tokugawa Iesada (家祥→家定) 1853-1858 正二位内大臣
44 (14) Tokugawa Iemochi(Toshitomi→Iemochi) 1858-1866 從一位右大臣
45 (15) Tokugawa Yoshinobu 1866-1867 正二位内大臣

[edit] 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 by 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 (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.

Three primary shogunates were each centered around a family which seized power and received the title of shogun during that regime. One name of the shogunate stems from the location of the headquarters (Kamakura, Muromachi in Kyoto, and Edo). Another name comes from the shogunal family (Ashikaga, Tokugawa).

[edit] See also