James Turnbull Jeffrey Mccune Popular Books

James Turnbull Jeffrey Mccune Biography & Facts

Shogun (English: SHOH-gun; Japanese: 将軍, romanized: shōgun, pronounced [ɕoːɡɯɴ] ), officially sei-i taishōgun (征夷大将軍, "Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians"), was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country. Although during part of the Kamakura period and Sengoku period, shoguns were figureheads themselves, with real power in the hands of the shikken (執権) of the Hōjō clan and kanrei (管領) 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 daijō-daijin (太政大臣, Chancellor of the Realm) and kampaku (関白, Imperial Regent), the highest offices of the aristocratic class. As such, they ran their governments as its de facto rulers. 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 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 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. The shogun's officials were collectively referred to as the bakufu (幕府, IPA: [baꜜkɯ̥ɸɯ]; "tent government"); they were the ones who carried out the actual duties of administration, while the imperial court retained only nominal authority. 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 ( SHOH-gə-nayt), persisted for nearly 700 years, ending when Tokugawa Yoshinobu relinquished the office to Emperor Meiji in 1867 as part of the Meiji Restoration. Etymology The term shogun (将軍, lit. 'army commander') is the abbreviation of the historical title sei-i taishōgun (征夷大将軍): 征 (sei, せい) means "conquer" or "subjugate", and 夷 (i, い) means "barbarian" or "savage"; 大 (dai, だい) means "great"; 将 (shō, しょう) means "commander", and 軍 (gun, ぐん) means "army". Thus, a literal translation of sei-i taishōgun would be 'Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians'. The term originally referred to the general who commanded the army sent to fight the tribes of northern Japan, but after the twelfth century, the term was used to designate the leader of the samurai. The term is often translated generalissimo and is also used for such military leaders of foreign nations by the Japanese. Though shogun (将軍) now predominantly refers to the historical position sei-i taishōgun (征夷大将軍) in Japanese, this term simply means "a general" in other East Asian languages, such as Chinese (simplified Chinese: 将军; traditional Chinese: 將軍; pinyin: jiāngjūn; Jyutping: zoeng1 gwan1). In fact, since sei-i taishōgun (征夷大将軍) was originally a specific type of general, this is an example of semantic narrowing. Bakufu The administration of a shogun is called bakufu (幕府) in Japanese and literally means "government from the curtain". During battles, the head of the samurai army would sit in a scissor chair inside a semi-open tent, called a maku, that exhibited its respective mon or blazon. The application of the term bakufu to the shogun government shows an extremely strong and representative symbolism. Titles Historically, similar terms to sei-i taishōgun were used with varying degrees of responsibility, although none of them had equal or more importance than sei-i taishōgun. Some of them were: Seitō Taishōgun (征東大将軍, lit. "Commander-in-chief for the pacification of the East") Seisei Taishōgun (征西大将軍, lit. "Commander-in-chief for the pacification of the West") Chinjufu Shōgun (鎮守府将軍, lit. "Commander-in-chief of the central peacekeeping headquarters") Seiteki Taishōgun (征狄大将軍, lit. "Commander-in-chief Subjugator of the barbarians") Mochisetsu Taishōgun (持節大将軍, lit. "Commander-in-chief of the Temporary Office") Sekke shōgun (摂家将軍, lit. "Great General Counselor") Miya shōgun (宮将軍, lit. "Great General of the Palace") Mutsu Chintō Tykat (陸奥鎮東将軍, lit. "Great General of Subduing Mutsu") History First shogun There is no consensus among the various authors since some sources consider Tajihi no Agatamori the first, others say Ōtomo no Otomaro, other sources assure that the first was Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, while others avoid the problem by just mentioning from the first Kamakura shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo. Originally, the title of sei-i taishōgun ("Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians") 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 Kyoto-based imperial court. Heian period (794–1185) Sakanoue no Tamuramaro Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (758–811) was a Japanese general who fought against the Emishi tribes of northern Japan (settled in the territory that today integrates the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa). Tamarumaro was the first general to bend these tribes, integrating their territory to that of the Yamato State. For his military feats he was named sei-i taishōgun and probably because he was the first to win the victory against the northern tribes he is generally recognized as the first shogun in history. (Note: according to historical sources Ōtomo no Otomaro also had the title of sei-i taishōgun). The regency political system and cloistered rule The shoguns of this period had no real political power, and the imperial court was in charge of politics. From the mid-9th century to the mid-11th century, the Fujiwara clan controlled political power. They excluded other clans from the political center and monopolized the highest positions in the court, such as sesshō (摂政, Imperial Regent for Minor Emperors), kampaku (関白, Imperial Regent fo Adult Emperors), and daijō-daijin (太政大臣, Chancellor of the Realm), reaching their peak at the end of the 10th century under Fujiwara no Michinaga and Fujiwara no Yorimichi. Later, in the mid-11th century, Emperor Go-Sanjo weakened the power of the sesshō and kampaku by presiding over politics himself, and when the next emperor, Shirakawa, abdicated an.... Discover the James Turnbull Jeffrey Mccune popular books. Find the top 100 most popular James Turnbull Jeffrey Mccune books.