The Political Features of Shogunate Japan
The word Shogun was given to the top military leader in Japan by the Japanese government from 1185 and onwards until 1868. In 1192 the Emperor at the time gave a military leader called Minamoto Yoritomo the title of shogun. Within the Heian Period, which was from 794 to 1192, the members of military eventually became a lot more powerful than the court officials and then they took over the whole of the Japanese government and officials so they were then ruling all of Japan and made many new laws and established many more systems that the people of Japan would have to undergo. For about 700 years after that Shoguns ruled Japan, passing down their power through generations of families. The last shogunates to rule Japan were from the Tokugawa Period, which was from 1603 to 1868. Throughout this period the shoguns had strict rules for the people of Japan and had a class system starting with the lords under the shoguns, the Samurai warriors, then the farmers, artisans and merchants. The Tokugawa shoguns were very powerful and
during their rule they stayed in full command. These shoguns had firm control of the government unlike earlier shogunates whose power was much weaker. The shogunates systems and rulers were removed in 1868 because of the fifteenth Tokugawa shogun, Yoshinobu who was forced to give us his role as the ruler by the government and return his power to the Emperor’s court. After this the Emperor then moved the capital to Edo from Kyoto the next year and the government then swept away most of the systems established by the Shogunates. |