Editing Shogun (section)

{{Short description|Military dictators of Japan, 1185–1868}}
{{other uses}}
{{Distinguish|Shotgun}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{History of Japan}}

{{nihongo|'''Shogun'''|将軍|shōgun|{{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|ʃ|oʊ|.|g|ʌ|n}} {{respell|SHOH|gun}},<ref name=longman>{{cite book|last=Wells|first=John|author-link=John C. Wells|title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary|publisher=Pearson Longman|edition=3rd|date=3 April 2008|isbn=978-1-4058-8118-0}}</ref> {{IPA|ja|ɕoː.ɡɯɴ, -ŋɯɴ|lang|Ja-将軍.oga}}<ref name=NHK>{{cite book|script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典|publisher=NHK Publishing|editor=NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute|date=24 May 2016|lang=ja}}</ref>}}, officially {{Nihongo||征夷大将軍|'''seii taishōgun'''|{{IPA|ja|seꜜi.i <nowiki>|</nowiki> tai.ɕo(ꜜ)ː.ɡɯɴ, seꜜː-, -ŋɯɴ|lang}}<ref name=NHK/> {{lit|[[Commander-in-Chief]] of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians}}}},<ref name="modern-reader"/> was the title of the [[military]] [[aristocracy|rulers]] of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868.<ref>Spafford, D. "Emperor and Shogun, Pope and King: The Development of Japan's Warrior Aristocracy." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Vol. 88, No. 1/4, (2014), pp. 10-19.</ref> Nominally appointed by the  [[Emperor of Japan|Emperor]], shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/541431/shogunate|title=Shogun|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=19 November 2014}}</ref> except during parts of the [[Kamakura period]] and [[Sengoku period]] when the shoguns themselves  were  figureheads, with real power in the hands of the {{nihongo3||執権|[[shikken]]}} of the [[Hōjō clan]] and {{nihongo3||管領|[[kanrei]]}} of the [[Hosokawa clan]]. In addition, [[Taira no Kiyomori]] and [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] were leaders of the warrior class who did not hold the position of shogun, the highest office of the warrior class, yet gained the positions of {{nihongo3|Chancellor of the Realm|太政大臣|[[daijō-daijin]]}} and {{nihongo3|Imperial Regent|関白|[[Sesshō and Kampaku|kampaku]]}}, the highest offices of the aristocratic class. As such, they ran their governments as its de facto rulers.<ref name="nhkgenpei"/><ref name="asahi240923"/><ref name="nikkei140117"/>

The office of shogun was in practice hereditary, although over the course of the history of Japan several different clans held the position. The title was originally held by military commanders during the [[Heian period]] in the eighth and ninth centuries. When [[Minamoto no Yoritomo]] gained political ascendency over Japan in 1185, the title was revived to regularize his position, making him the first shogun in the usually understood sense.

It is often said that one must be of the [[Minamoto clan|Minamoto]] lineage to become a shogun, but this is not true. While it is true that the Minamoto lineage was respected as a lineage suitable for the position of shogun, the fourth and fifth shoguns of the Kamakura shogunate were from the [[Fujiwara clan|Fujiwara]] lineage (although their mothers were from the Minamoto lineage), and the sixth through ninth shoguns were from the imperial lineage. [[Oda Nobunaga]], who claimed to be a descendant of the [[Taira clan]], was approached for the position of shogun a month before his death.<ref name="ni191123">{{cite web|url=https://www.nippon.com/ja/japan-topics/c12011/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206192620/https://www.nippon.com/ja/japan-topics/c12011/|script-title=ja:豊臣体制の解体へと家康が利用した「征夷大将軍」という権威|language=ja|publisher=nippon.com|date=19 November 2023|archive-date=6 December 2023|access-date=21 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="hon111223"/><ref name="jk190224"/>

The shogun's officials were collectively referred to as the {{Nihongo|'''''bakufu'''''|幕府||{{IPA|ja|baꜜ.kɯ̥.ɸɯ, ba.kɯ̥.ɸɯ|lang}}<ref name=NHK/>}}; they were the ones who carried out the actual duties of administration, while the imperial court retained only nominal authority.<ref name="b321">Beasley, William G. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868'', p. 321.</ref> The tent symbolized the shogun's role as the military's field commander but also denoted that such an office was meant to be temporary. Nevertheless, the institution, known in English as the '''shogunate''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|oʊ|.|g|ə|n|.|eɪ|t|,_|-|@|t|,_|-|I|t}} {{respell|SHOH|gən|ayt|,_|-ət|,_|-it}}<ref name=longman/>), persisted for nearly 700 years, ending when [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] relinquished the office to [[Emperor Meiji]] in 1867 as part of the [[Meiji Restoration]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Political Succession in The Tokugawa Bakufu: Abe Masahiro's Rise to Power, 1843–1845 |first=Conrad |last=Totman |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |volume=26 |year=1966 |pages=102–124 |doi=10.2307/2718461 |jstor=2718461}}</ref> On the other hand, the term ''bakufu'' is merely a term that began to be actively used in the 1800s to emphasize that the emperor was the legitimate ruler of the country, while during the Tokugawa shogunate the shogunate was officially called {{nihongo|'''''kōgi'''''|公儀}}.<ref name="hiroshi100722"/><ref name="asahi030722"/>