Shugo

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This article is about the Japanese post. For the character in Legend of the Twilight please see Shugo Kunisaki.

Shugo (守護) was the title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the Shogun to oversee a province (kuni).

The post was initially created in 1185 by Minamoto no Yoritomo, in order to aid the capture Yoshitsune but an additional motivation was to extend the rule of the Shogunate government throughout Japan. The Shugo progressively supplanted the existing Kokushi, who were appointed by the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Officially, the gokenin in each kuni were supposed to serve its shugo, but in practice, the relationship between them was fragile, as the gokenin were vassals of the Shogun as well.

Shugo often stayed for long periods in the capital far from their province, and were sometimes appointed Shugo for several provinces at the same time. In such cases, a delegate Shugo or Shugodai (守護代) was appointed.

Over time, the powers of some Shugo grew considerably. Around the time of the Ōnin War, conflicts between Shugo became common. Some Shugo lost their powers to subordinates (for example Shugodai), others strengthened their grip.

As a result, at the end of the 15th century, the beginning of the Sengoku period, the power in the country was divided amongst lords of various kinds (Shugo, Shugodai or others), also called daimyo.