A ‘Shogun’ was a Japanese general of armed forces, but he was also chief of a system of government which dates from the end of the 12th century. He was a ‘barbarian-quelling-gemeralissimo’ (seii-tai-shogun), a title bestowed by the Emperor himself.
Probably the most important in Japanese history were the Tokugawa – shoguns from 1603 to 1868 – nearly three centuries – who ruled as military dictators while the Emperor was merely a figurehead, with little or no actual power. The rule of the shoguns controlled and regulated life in Japan down to the tiniest detail, and was naturally unpopular, though fear of these peerless Samurai kept noses to the grindstone. The shogunates were terminated during and after the Meiji Restoration (q.v.).
SHOGUNATES
Kamakura:
1192 – 1199 Minamoto Yoritomo
1202 – 1203 Minamoto Yoriie
1203 – 1219 Minamoto Sanetomo
1226 – 1244 Fujiwara Yoritsune
1244 – 1252 Fujiwara Yoritsugu
1252 – 1256 Munetaka Shinno
1266 – 1289 Koreyasu Shinno
1289 – 1308 Hisaaki Shinno
1308 – 1333 Morikuno Shinno
The Kamakura Shogunate was overthrown in 1333 and replaced by the Ashikagas. Their government was based in Kyoto; they were an offshoot of the Minamoto family.
Ashikaga:
1338 / 58 Ashikaka Takaujii
1358 / 67 Ashikaga Yoshiakira
1368 / 94 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
1394 / 23 Ashikaga Yoshimochi
1423 / 5 Ashikaga Yoshikazu
1429 / 41 Ashikaga Yoshinori
1442 / 3 Ashikaga Yoshikatzu
1449 / 73 Ashikaga Yoshimasa
1473 / 89 Ashikaga Yoshihisa
1490/3 A.Yoshitane (Ist reign)
1494 / !508 Ashikaga Yoshizumi
1508 / 21 A. Yoshitane (2nd reign)
1521 / 46 Ashikaga Yoshiharu
1546 / 65 Ashikaga Toshiteru
1568 Ashikaga Yoshihide
1568 / 73 Ashikaga Yoshiaki
Under the 3rd shogun, Yoshimitzu, the imperial schism caused by Daigo II’s exile and the establishment of a rival court south of Kyoto was healed with the fusion of the two imperial families in 1392 But during the fifteenth century the increasingly powerful military governments eroded imperial authority leading to a series of blood-letting wars. As a result, the last of Ashikaga shoguns were in the not very gentle hands of their leading vassals, most of whom were themselves Samurai, with their own armies.
Japan’s third warrior government was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu when he was given the hereditary title of Shogun after his victory over rival warrior families at the great battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Thus began the Tokugawa Shogunate, with government based in Edo (now Tokyo). This third shogunate proved to be the most durable of the three, providing peace and stability until the middle of the nineteenth century, when external pressure from Western powers was applied to make radical changes in Japan’s domestic, social and economic policies. Modernity, in other words. The shogunates were doubtless a form of centralized feudalism. The Samurai elite ended by becoming indebted to the rapidly emerging commercial and industrial classes.
Tokugawa Shogunate
1603 / 5 Tokugawa Ieyasu
1605 / 23 T. Hidetada
1623 /51 T. Iemitzu
1651 / 80 T. Ietsuna
1680 / 1709 T. Tsunayoshi
1709 / 12 T. Ienobu
1713 / 16 T. Ietsugu
1716 / 45 T. Yoshimune
1745 / 60 T. Ieshige
1760 / 86 T. Ieharu
1787 – 1837 T. Ienari
1837 / 53 T. Ieoshi
1853 / 8 T. Iesada
1858 / 66 T. Iemochi
1866 / 7 T. Yoshinobu