shogun(Japanese; “barbarian-quelling generalissimo”)

In Japanese history, a military ruler. The h1 was first used during the Heian period, when it was occasionally bestowed on a general after a successful campaign. In 1185 Minamoto Yoritomo gained military control of Japan; seven years later he assumed the h1 of shogun and formed the first bakufu, or shogunate (see Kamakura period). Later Kamakura shoguns lost real power to the Hōjō family while remaining rulers in name. Ashikaga Takauji received the h1 of shogun in 1338 and established the Ashikaga shogunate (see Muromachi period), but his successors enjoyed even less control over Japan than had the Kamakura shoguns, and the country gradually fell into civil war (see Omacrnin War). Tokugawa Ieyasu's shogunate (see Tokugawa period) proved the most durable, but the Japanese penchant for titular rulers prevailed, and in time a council of elders from the main branches of the Tokugawa clan ruled from behind the scenes. Since the h1 of shogun ultimately came from the emperor, he became a rallying point for those who brought down the shogunate in the Meiji Restoration.

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