Emperor Go-Kōgon ( 後光厳天皇 , Go-Kōgon-tennō , 23 March 1338 – 12 March 1374) was the 4th of the Emperors of Northern Court during the Period of the Northern and Southern Courts . According to pre-Meiji scholars, his reign spanned the years from 1352 through 1371.
147-519: This Nanboku-chō "sovereign" was named after his father Emperor Kōgon and go- (後), translates literally as "later;" and thus, he may be called the "Later Emperor Kōgon", or, in some older sources, may be identified as "Emperor Kōgon, the second", or as "Emperor Kōgon II." His personal name was Iyahito (彌仁). He was the second son of the Northern Pretender Emperor Kōgon , and brother of his predecessor, Emperor Sukō . His mother
294-764: A Southern Imperial Court , established by Emperor Go-Daigo in Yoshino . Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 years, with the South giving up to the North in 1392. However, in reality the Northern court was under the power of the Ashikaga shogunate and had little real independence. The destruction of the Kamakura shogunate of 1333 and the failure of the Kenmu Restoration in 1336 opened up
441-461: A conflict arose among the shugo daimyo as to whether Yoshimi or Yoshihisa would be the next shogun. The Hatakeyama and Shiba clans were also divided into two opposing factions over succession within their own clans, and Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen , who were father-in-law and son-in-law, were politically at odds with each other. In 1467, these conflicts finally led to the Ōnin War between
588-458: 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
735-565: A hereditary group of three shugo families related to Takauji within four generations (Papinot 1972:27): the Hosokawa, the Hatakeyama and the Shiba . The three families took turns in filling the post. They were the highest ranking shugo families in the regime. In the beginning, the council was composed of the heads of these three shugo families along with four other heads of powerful shugo families:
882-501: A legitimacy crisis for the new shogunate. Institutional changes in the estate system ( shōen ) that formed the bedrock of the income of nobles and warriors altered the status of the various social groups. The establishment of the Ashikaga shogunate broadened the economic base of the warriors, while undercutting the noble proprietors. However, this trend had started already with the Kamakura bakufu . The main conflicts that contributed to
1029-523: A member of the sekkan family , as the fourth shogun. In 1232, the Goseibai Shikimoku was enacted, the first codified law by a warrior class government in Japan. In 1246, Hojo Tokiyori became the fifth shikken , and in 1252 he installed Prince Munetaka as the sixth shogun. The appointment of a member of the imperial family as shogun made the shogun more and more like a puppet. After retiring from
1176-399: A new palace and established four new administrative bodies. However, the nobles who had long been out of politics and the newly appointed samurai were unfamiliar with administrative practices, and the court was unable to handle the drastic increase in lawsuits. Emperor Go-Daigo gave high positions and rewards only to the nobles, and the warriors began to swear allegiance to Ashikaga Takauji, who
1323-514: A new warrior regime was a prime determinant in the Restoration's failure. His rebellion encouraged the warrior class who desired to see the creation of another military regime modeled after the Kamakura bakufu. The Nanboku-chō War was an ideological struggle between loyalists who wanted the Emperor back in power, and those who believed in creating another military regime modeled after Kamakura. Chikafusa
1470-496: A raid, defeating many of his enemies, but eventually ran out of strength and was killed. The Azuchi-Momoyama period refers to the period when Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were in power. They and Tokugawa Ieyasu are the three unifiers of Japan. The name "Azuchi-Momoyama" comes from the fact that Nobunaga's castle, Azuchi Castle , was located in Azuchi, Shiga , and Fushimi Castle , where Hideyoshi lived after his retirement,
1617-563: A samurai alliance (ikki) consisting of sixty-one local samurai. The contract stipulated that all disputes between alliance members would be taken to the Kyūshū deputy, while disputes between alliance members and the deputy himself would be taken to the Muromachi regime in Kyoto (Harrington 1985:87). The deputy united both the interests of the regime and of the local area. It was a precarious position because of
SECTION 10
#17328763857551764-523: A warrior regime, and in the process tied together the interests of both. The direct rule of the Muromachi regime that emerged in the 1360s was limited geographically to the western and central provinces, unlike how the previous Kamakura regime was based in the Kantō region. Outside shugo lords ( tozama ) unrelated to the Ashikaga like the Takeda , Chiba , Yuki , Satake , Oyama, Utsunomiya, Shoni , Otomo , Aso, and
1911-476: 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
2058-615: Is not traditionally listed. Nanboku-ch%C5%8D The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, Nanboku-chō jidai , "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period ), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate of Japanese history . During the early period, there existed a Northern Imperial Court , established by Ashikaga Takauji in Kyoto , and
2205-603: 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
2352-543: 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 )
2499-475: Is the abbreviation of the historical title sei-i taishōgun ( 征夷大将軍 ): 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
2646-452: Is tied to land, land became the main reason for much discontent among the warrior class. Since the Kamakura period, victory in battle would be rewarded by land grants. Due to the nature of a foreign invasion, the victory against the Mongol invasions meant that there were no lands to hand out to the victors. When the Kamakura bakufu was destroyed in 1333, the Kyoto court society emerged to confront
2793-542: The Taiheiki by poisoning. In the 1350s, the Kannō disturbance and its aftermath divided and nearly destroyed the early regime. This event divided the Muromachi regime and put a temporary hold on integration. On the surface the incident appeared as a personal struggle between Tadayoshi against the Kō brothers, backed by Takauji. However, differences in opinion regarding the estate system and
2940-512: The Era of the Northern and Southern Courts , because of the antagonism between the two competing dynasties, public order in Kyoto was disturbed. The Southern Court repeatedly recaptured Kyoto. Emperor Go-Kōgon was forced to repeatedly flee from Kyoto to Ōmi Province and other places. Around the time that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was named shōgun (1368), the Southern Courts power weakened, and order
3087-550: The Heiji rebellion and became the first samurai-born aristocratic class, eventually becoming daijō-daijin ( 太政大臣 , Chancellor of the Realm) , the highest position of the aristocratic class, and the Taira clan monopolized important positions at the imperial court and wielded power. The seizure of political power by Taira no Kiyomori was the first instance of the warrior class leading politics for
SECTION 20
#17328763857553234-598: 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
3381-421: The Kamakura , including sending envoys where land disputes occurred, law enforcement, issuing hanzei (a half-tax), and to levy taxes. They came to hold much greater authority than the samurai houseman by virtue of having a province-wide appointment. After 1372, shugo lords were given the responsibility to collect taxes ( tansen ) on landowners, nobles and samurai. As middlemen, the shugo profited by inflating
3528-557: The Kannō Incident was caused due to the separation and clash between the military vassal institutions controlled by Takauji and the bureaucratic-judicial institutions controlled by Tadayoshi. With the emergence of the kanrei council system, the shugo lords who represented the military were tied firmly to the bureaucracy. The job of the kanrei was to act as a spokesman between the Senior Vassal Council ( jushin kaigi ) and
3675-449: The Shimazu families, all of whom were concentrated in or near the Kantō and Kyūshū regions, did not participate in the kanrei council system, and were semi-independent of the regime. They were tacitly recognized and given shugo titles by the Ashikaga, because of their predominant positions in areas that were not easily controlled from Kyoto. After the Kyūshū campaign that began in 1370,
3822-631: The Southern Court , whose Emperor Go-Murakami appointed him general of his entire army. In 1351 he defeated Takauji, occupied Kyoto , and entered Kamakura . During the same year he captured and executed the Kō brothers at Mikage ( Settsu Province ). The following year his fortunes turned and he was defeated by Takauji at Sattayama. A reconciliation between the brothers proved to be brief. Tadayoshi fled to Kamakura, but Takauji pursued him there with an army. In March 1352, shortly after an ostensible second reconciliation, Tadayoshi died suddenly, according to
3969-541: The Taira clan became Kokushi ( 国司 ) , or overseers of various regions, and accumulated wealth by taking samurai from various regions as their retainers. In the struggle to succeed Emperor Toba, former Emperor Sutoku and Emperor Go-Shirakawa , each with his samurai class on his side, fought the Hōgen rebellion , which was won by Emperor Go-Shirakawa, who had Taira no Kiyomori and Minamoto no Yoshitomo on his side. Later, Taira no Kiyomori defeated Minamoto no Yoshitomo in
4116-618: The Three Sacred Treasures (Imperial regalia , 三種の神器). On the other hand, Ashikaga Takauji installed Emperor Kōmyō as the new emperor without the Three Sacred Treasures in 1336. Ashikaga Takauji tried to make peace with Emperor Go-Daigo, but the negotiations failed when Emperor Go-Daigo refused. Emperor Go-Daigo moved to Yoshino , and the country entered the Nanboku-cho period (1336-1392), in which two emperors existed at
4263-789: The Yamana , the Isshiki , the Akamatsu and the Kyōgoku . The latter two families were unrelated to the Ashikaga family. This trend of including unrelated shugo families into the council continued with the recruitment of the Ouchi, the Sasaki and the Toki families in the next few decades. This trend indicates that powerful shugo families, irrespective of kinship, were tied to the regime. Conflicts of interests between shugo lords and
4410-403: The daimyo of various regions fought to expand their own power. Daimyo who became more powerful as the shogunate's control weakened were called sengoku daimyo ( 戦国大名 ) , and they often came from shugo daimyo , shugodai ( 守護代 , deputy shugo) , and kokujin or kunibito ( 国人 , local masters) . In other words, sengoku daimyo differed from shugo daimyo in that sengoku daimyo
4557-446: The kanrei Hosokawa Yoriyuki became active in trying to legitimize the regime from the point of view of the nobles. He did this through a series of extremely conservative measures, gaining prestige among the nobles in Kyoto. He used an ancient court ranking system by having the young shōgun participate in it. He also associated the regime with the court much more closely than had any other previous warrior leader. By doing this, he tied
Emperor Go-Kōgon - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-457: The kanrei office and the senior vassal council ( jushin kaigi ) over which the kanrei presided. The system involved the most powerful shugo families as participants in directly governing central and western Japan. Along with the shōgun, the kanrei council emerged to form the heart of the Muromachi regime to such an extent that historians have come to characterize this regime as the bakufu - shugo system. The very conflict that emerged with
4851-483: The shugo could provide some form of local security. Vassalage ties between the shugo lord and kokujin was called a shugo-uke ( shugo contracts) . This was where a noble proprietor would give the responsibility of managing his estate to the shugo in exchange for a guaranteed year end ( nengu ) income delivered to the proprietor residing in the capital. The shugo lord then enfeoffed vassal samurai ( hikan ) on those estates as managers. The shugo contracts tied
4998-415: The shugo the right to judge cases of crop stealing on the estates, and to make temporary assignments of land to deserving vassals taken from the imperialist forces. This was significant, insofar as traditional areas of Kamakura jurisdiction were "given up" by the Muromachi regime. Previously, all cases of crop stealing or land assignments were strictly under Kamakura administration. Also, about this time,
5145-399: The shōen estates giving half of it to his vassals in fief or as stewardships, both of which was contested by Tadayoshi. He also opposed any sort of outright division of estate lands. All this led to conflict and resulted in the regime losing its support. Deep divisions between members of the Ashikaga family strengthened the opposition. Both Tadayoshi and Takauji enacted token submissions to
5292-457: The 13th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru , the shogun already had few direct fiefs and direct military forces, and his sphere of influence was limited to a few lands around Kyoto, losing both economic and military power. As a result, Ashikaga Yoshiteru was often chased out of Kyoto by the sengoku daimyo Miyoshi Nagayoshi and his forces, and was finally killed in an attack by the forces of Miyoshi Yoshitsugu and Matsunaga Hisahide . Ashikaga Yoshiteru
5439-478: The 5th shogun, died of illness at the age of 19, so the 6th shogun was chosen from among Yoshimochi's four brothers, and to ensure fairness, a lottery was held. The sixth shogun was Ashikaga Yoshinori . However, he was not educated to be a shogun, and his temperamental and despotic behavior caused resentment, and he was assassinated by Akamatsu Mitsusuke during the Kakitsu Rebellion . This led to instability in
5586-448: The Ashikaga regime on condition that the shōgun would not interfere with the internal affairs of their respective provinces (Grossberg 1981:25). Subsequently, the Yamana, who were related to the Ashikaga, and the Ouchi, who were not, began to play an increasingly important role in government affairs. However, within a few decades, both shugo houses became powerful enough to incur the wrath of
5733-402: The Ashikaga shogunate system. Ashikaga Yoshimasa , the 8th shogun, tried to strengthen the power of the shogun, but his close associates did not follow his instructions, leading to political chaos and increasing social unrest. Since he had no sons, he tried to install his younger brother Ashikaga Yoshimi as the ninth shogun, but when his wife Hino Tomiko gave birth to Ashikaga Yoshihisa ,
5880-416: The Ashikaga to withdraw from the capital, but like many previous attempts, the imperialists had to eventually retreat in the face of a large counterattack without having accomplished anything. The exuberance that existed during the 1350s among the imperialist armies had faded. Resistance after this date became sporadic and completely defensive. Finally, in 1369, a year after the death of Emperor Go-Murakami ,
6027-479: The Ashikaga. However, these kinship ties did little in the way of mediating between the semi-independent shugo lords and the regime. It was rather the effective participation of the shugo lords in governing through the kanrei council system which bound their interests more firmly than before to the regime. In 1362, the two most powerful shugo houses in the country, the Ouchi and the Yamana , submitted themselves to
Emperor Go-Kōgon - Misplaced Pages Continue
6174-465: 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. 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
6321-512: The Eastern Army, led by Hosokawa Katsumoto and including Hatakeyama Masanaga , Shiba Yoshitoshi, and Ashikaga Yoshimi, and the Western Army, led by Yamana Sōzen and including Hatakeyama Yoshinari, Shiba Yoshikado, and Ashikaga Yoshihisa. In 1469, the war spread to the provinces, but in 1473, Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen, the leaders of both armies, were dead, and in 1477, the war ended when
6468-478: 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, except during parts of the Kamakura period and Sengoku period when the shoguns themselves were figureheads, with real power in the hands of the shikken ( 執権 ) of
6615-585: The Fujiwara regime. Taira no Masakado , who rose to prominence in the early 10th century, was the first of the local warrior class to revolt against the imperial court. He had served Fujiwara no Tadahira as a young man, but eventually won a power struggle within the Taira clan and became a powerful figure in the Kanto region . In 939, Fujiwara no Haruaki , a powerful figure in the Hitachi province , fled to Masakado. He
6762-628: The Heian period, public lands by no means disappeared: in details, the public lands differed very little from private estates. Both were owned by absentee proprietors. They differed only in terms of administration: private estates were directly managed by noble officials, whereas, public lands were managed by the civil governors (kokuga or kokushi) on behalf of the former. By the Kamakura period, public lands were owned by different landowners as private holdings ( chigyo ). These landowners included noble houses, religious establishments and warriors. Whole areas of
6909-462: The Hōjō private family council became the most important decision making body; and direct vassals of the Hōjō were increasingly promoted to the shugo (governor) posts. This reduced the base of support to encompass Hōjō family members and their direct vassals. When a coalition against the Hōjō emerged in 1331, it took only two years to topple the regime. Since wealth in pre-industrial, agrarian societies
7056-505: The Isshiki. Shugo participation in the Senior Vassal Council and in the Board of Retainers were important because it was through the use of these intermediary instruments whereby the Ashikaga shōguns were able to centralize the state under their direction. Kinship in the form of headship ties ( soryo ), looms large as a recruiting mechanism, here too, the shugo lords were mostly branch families of
7203-505: The Kamakura period, emerged to usurp the civil governor's functions. This did not happen immediately in every province, but occurred without interruption until the shugo lords had become true governors over public lands. As they took over the oversight of private holdings within public lands, they established ties to many kinds of landowners: nobles, samurai of various kinds (kokujin, jizamurai), and to religious establishments. They enfeoffed their own followers on these lands, and reconfirmed
7350-413: The Kantō and the northeast were held by warriors not in the capacity as estate managers, but as private holdings. Kantō provinces were granted to the Kamakura regime as private lands ( chigyokoku ). The Ashikaga regime inherited these lands, and decided, fatefully, to place shugo lords over them. One of the main functions of the civil governor's office (kokushi) was the oversight of criminal justice in
7497-463: The Kyūshū deputy ( tandai ) became the representative of the Muromachi regime on that island. Imagawa Sadayo (Ryoshun) effectively prosecuted the campaign against the Southern Court forces and on Shimazu Ujihisa. Deputies like Sadayo were Muromachi representatives, even when they arrogated the full powers of vassalage to local samurai. For example, in 1377, a contract was signed between Sadayo and
SECTION 50
#17328763857557644-553: The Meiji Restoration in the 19th century. However, the Kenmu Restoration failed due to Go-Daigo's desire to restore not only imperial power, but also its culture. He wrote a treatise ( Kenmu Nenchū Gyōji ) to revive court ceremonies that had fallen out of use. In 1336 Takauji rebelled against the imperial court and proclaimed the beginning of a new shogunate. After his proclamation, he was forced to retreat to Kyūshū after
7791-434: The Muromachi period, and the role of the shugo lords in their encroachment on them. Public lands (kokugaryo) during the Heian period were distinguished from private lands of the estates ( shōen ), because the latter were immune from state taxation. Before the rise of private estates, the only kind of lands were public lands maintained under the old civil administration. With the rise of private estates called shōen , during
7938-408: The Muromachi regime that consistently upheld the estate system in the face of warrior incursions. As described earlier, Ashikaga Takauji tried to make sure that the limits set on the warriors by the half-tax measure was not exceeded, but he failed to circumvent arrangements like the shugo contract that really denuded the noble of his estate and its income. The half-tax measure itself did not protect
8085-467: The Office of Rewards which heard claims of and to enfeoff deserving vassals. It was used to enroll new warriors who were potential adversaries of the regime. Tadayoshi meanwhile led the Board of Inquiry which had control over the judicial functions of the regime. The major judicial organ, the Board of Coadjutors, decided on all land dispute cases and quarrels involving inheritance. Bureaucrats ( bugyōnin ) for
8232-480: 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 and became a cloistered emperor and began a cloistered rule , the sesshō and kampaku lost their real political authority and became nominal, effectively ending
8379-474: The Southern Court abducted Retired (Northern) Emperors Emperor Kōgon and Emperor Kōmyō as well as Emperor Sukō and the Crown Prince Tadahito from Kyoto to Anau, the location of the Southern Court. This produced a state of affairs in which there was no Emperor in Kyoto. Because of this, Imperial Prince Iyahito became emperor in 1352 with the support of Ashikaga Yoshiakira . During this period,
8526-473: The Southern Court to push their own agendas: Tadayoshi desired to destroy the Kō brothers, and Takauji wanted to defeat Tadayoshi. The incident led reinvigorations on the war effort of the Southern Court. To a large extent this renewed offensive was made possible by turncoats from the Muromachi regime. The imperialist offensive of 1352 directed against Takauji in Kamakura was made possible by the vast numbers of former adherents of Tadayoshi who became supporters of
8673-484: The Southern court, ending the 58-year Nanboku-cho period. Yoshimitsu continued to hold power after passing the shogunate to his son Ashikaga Yoshimochi in 1395, becoming daijō-daijin ( 太政大臣 , Chancellor of the Realm) , the highest rank of the nobility, and remaining in power until his death in 1408. In 1428, Ashikaga Yoshimochi , the fourth shogun, was ill and the question of his succession arose. Ashikaga Yoshikazu ,
8820-485: The Taira clan from Kyoto, and although initially welcomed by the hermit Emperor Go-Shirakawa, he became estranged and isolated due to the disorderly military discipline and lack of political power under his command. He staged a coup, overthrew the emperor's entourage, and became the first of the Minamoto clan to assume the office of Sei-i Taishōgun (shogun) . In response, Minamoto no Yoritomo sent Minamoto no Noriyori and Minamoto no Yoshitsune to defeat Yoshinaka, who
8967-516: The Yamana, Sasaki, Yoshimi and the Toki shugo lords to attack the Shiba in the province of Echizen . The Shiba were defeated, and their territory in Echizen was redistributed. In 1367, following the ouster of the Shiba family, Hosokawa Yoriyuki was named as the successor to the post of kanrei : after the shōgun Yoshiakira's death, Yoriyuki managed during the minority of the young shōgun Yoshimitsu to place
SECTION 60
#17328763857559114-516: The absentee nobles and religious establishments ( jisha honjo ) in Kyoto and in Yamashiro province. His oversight did not include the private holdings of warriors, most usually concentrated in the Kantō and further north. With the outbreak of the Nanboku-chō War, the civil administration ( ritsuryo ) began to break down rapidly, and shugo lords, who had a minor role in provincial governance during
9261-408: The areas they controlled. The shugo shared their newfound wealth with the local samurai, creating a hierarchical relationship between the shugo and the samurai, and the first early daimyo ( 大名 , feudal lords) , called shugo daimyo ( 守護大名 ) , appeared. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu , the third shogun, negotiated peace with the Southern court, and in 1392 he reunited the two courts by absorbing
9408-460: The brothers during the Kannō disturbance . This started when Takauji made Kō no Moronao his shitsuji (deputy), which led Tadayoshi to unsuccessfully have him assassinated. His plot was discovered, so Tadayoshi in 1349 was forced by Moronao to leave the government, shave his head and become a Buddhist monk under the name Keishin. In 1350 he rebelled and joined his brother's enemies, the supporters of
9555-453: The defeat of the Kikuchi clan in 1381; and with the death of Shimazu Ujihisa in 1385, the last Kyūshū provincial domain declared its allegiance to the regime. With the fall of Kyūshū the whole of western Japan came under the rule of the Ashikaga regime. However, campaigns alone were inadequate to legitimize Ashikaga rule over the nobles. After 1367, during the minority of the shōgun Yoshimitsu,
9702-406: The different provinces of western and central Japan. Ashikaga branch families appointed to shugo posts included the Hosokawa , Yamana , Imagawa , Hatakeyama , Niki , Kira , Shiba , Ishido , and the Isshiki families. While some warriors were appointed to shugo posts. Successful generals, who were at the same time branch family heads who had cast in their lot with Takauji's rebellion, were
9849-513: The execution of criminal justice in Kyoto. The office holder automatically became the shugo over Yamashiro province, the wealthiest and most densely populated in Japan, and had the responsibility of protecting the regime headquarters and Kyoto. By the beginning of the 15th century, the head of the Board of Retainers was chosen from among four shugo families: the Yamana, the Akamatsu, the Kyogoku, and
9996-438: The first shikken ( 執権 , Regent) and assuming actual control of the shogunate. Hojo Yoshitoki later assassinated Minamoto no Yoriie. However, Hojo Tokimasa lost influence in 1204 when he killed Hatakeyama Shigetada , believing false information that his son-in-law Shigetada was about to rebel, and lost his position in 1205 when he tried to install his son-in-law Hiraga Tomomasa as the fourth shogun. Hojo Yoshitoki became
10143-492: The forces of Emperor Go-Daigo, turned to the emperor's side and attacked Rokuhara Tandai . Then, in 1333, Nitta Yoshisada invaded Kamakura and the Kamakura shogunate fell, and the Hōjō clan was destroyed. Around 1334–1336, Ashikaga Takauji helped Emperor Go-Daigo regain his throne in the Kenmu Restoration . Emperor Go-Daigo rejected cloistered rule and the shogunate and abolished the sesshō and kampaku in favour of an emperor-led government. He also began building
10290-407: The fragmentation, it was the intermediary ties of shugo vassalage, and the shugo role as provincial governor, that helped to integrate the disparate forces to some degree. It becomes a wonder how the estate system survived at all given the depredations it suffered at the hands of the warriors. There were two reasons why it survived in the attenuated form described above: one, was the existence of
10437-423: The framework of the estate structure, even though this structure had been totally altered. A case can be made that the estate system, outside of Yamashiro province, had become eroded to such an extent that the nobles had little if any influence left in the provinces. In 1358 after the death of Takauji, the shogunate passed to his son Yoshiakira. Under his leadership, and that of the kanrei Hosokawa Yoriyuki 's,
10584-434: The glory of the imperial court. Emperor Daigo (AD 901–923), who lived at a time when the court had no strong rivals and effective rule was exercised directly from the throne, became Go-Daigo's adopted name and model. The Kenmu Restoration was a conscious movement to restore the imperial power vis-a-vis the warrior class. Two of the movement's greatest spokesmen were Prince Morinaga and Kitabatake Chikafusa . Prince Morinaga
10731-399: The growing fame of Ashikaga Takauji and ordered Nitta Yoshisada and others to defeat Ashikaga Takauji. In response, Takauji led a group of samurai against the new government and defeated the imperial court forces. This ended Emperor Go-Daigo's new regime in 1336 after only two years. After the failure of the Kenmu Restoration, Emperor Go-Daigo fled to Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei with
10878-414: The half-tax decree of 1368; the court ranking system which tied the shogunate closer to the imperial court; and limitations to Muromachi authority in the Kyūshū and Kantō regions all served to push the consolidation of Muromachi power. To mend relations after the Kannō Incident , Yoshiakira reorganized the regime by establishing the kanrei council system in 1362. This system was made up of two components,
11025-422: The help of samurai called gokenin ( 御家人 ) , lords in the service of the shogunate. However, since the war was a war of national defense and no new territory was gained, the shogunate was unable to adequately reward the gokenin , and their dissatisfaction with the shogunate grew. In 1285, during the reign of Hojo Sadatoki , the ninth shikken and eighth tokusō , Adachi Yasumori and his clan, who had been
11172-423: 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
11319-478: The imperialist forces of Kitabatake Akiie attacked and defeated him near Kyoto. This betrayal of the Kenmu Restoration by Takauji blackened his name in later periods of Japanese history, and officially started the Nanboku-chō War. Earlier historiography taught the Restoration failed due to the ineffectiveness in rewarding lands to the samurai. However, it is now clear that the Restoration was effective in this respect. Therefore, Takauji's rebellion and desire to create
11466-428: The imperialist forces were suffering their worst defeats, opening up enemy land for confiscation and reassignment. By giving these new jurisdictions to the shugo lords, it further augmented their position as governors over their assigned provinces. In this dual capacity, the shugo lords had to compete with other landed samurai in the provinces for land they administered as governors, but did not personally own. Like
11613-424: The imperialist leader Nitta Yoshimune . The imperialist offensive against Kyoto in 1353 was made possible through the defection of the shugo lord Yamana Tokiuji; Tadayoshi's adopted son, Ashikaga Tadafuyu, became the leader of the western armies of the Southern Court during the imperialist offensives against Kyoto in 1353 and 1354. The shōgun Ashikaga Takauji appointed branch family members as shugo lords in
11760-415: The interests of the shugo lord, the samurai kokujin and the noble together, but were not based on equality of interests. The contract was most favorable to the shugo lord who used this instrument to expand ties of vassalage with the local samurai ( kokujin ), and expand his land base at the expense of the nobles. Shugo contracts emerged in the 1340s and gradually became widespread. S hugo lords gave
11907-400: The lands around them: as owners they could dispense with the land as they saw fit, getting rid of recalcitrant vassals without much ado. In the fourteenth century, the shugo lords could not claim province wide ownership of territory: first, the concept of personal provincial ownership was as yet undeveloped; second, they never amassed large amounts of personal property, relying rather on using
12054-434: The lands of existing samurai in exchange for military service, and established shugo contracts with the nobles with predictable results. Along with vassalage ties to local samurai (kokujin) on the estates, vassalage ties on public lands became a key resource that augmented the power of the shugo lords. Furthermore, in 1346, ten years after the emergence of the Muromachi regime, the shōgun decentralized authority by giving
12201-419: The last half-tax decree ( hanzei ) in 1368. This decree tied noble interests to the regime: it outlawed the halving of lands owned by the imperial family (lands under the control of major temples) and those that were owned by the imperial regents (the Fujiwara ). Exceptions included noble lands that were given full title by the previous shōgun, and estates managed by the samurai stewards ( jitō ). This decree
12348-424: The main vassals of the Kamakura shogunate, were destroyed by Taira no Yoritsuna, further strengthening the ruling system of the tokusō , which emphasized blood relations. As tokusō's ruling system was strengthened, the power of the title of naikanrei ( 内管領 ) , tokusō' s chief retainer, increased, and when tokusō was young or incapacitated, naikanrei took control of the shogunate. Taira no Yoritsuna during
12495-416: The management of the estate to samurai in exchange for military service, but the noble was stripped of all powers on the estate, and was reduced to waiting for his portion of the year end ( nengu ) income. The noble hired tax overseers ( nengu daikan ) at an exorbitant amount to guarantee his own portion of the income. Noble income (already reduced by the kokujin and the shugo lord) was further reduced once
12642-552: 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 ( / ˈ ʃ oʊ ɡ ə n eɪ t / 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 . The term shogun ( 将軍 , lit. ' army commander ' )
12789-435: The new regime were recruited from the ranks of those who served the Hōjō regime before its fall. They were valuable because they knew how to read and write, a task beyond the reach of most warriors. Takauji encouraged innovation, while Tadayoshi was a conservative who wanted to preserve the policies of the past. As a military leader, Takauji appointed vassals to shugo posts as a reward for battlefield heroics, and he divided
12936-547: The next 700 years. However, when Taira no Kiyomori used his power to have the child of his daughter Taira no Tokuko and Emperor Takakura installed as Emperor Antoku , there was widespread opposition. Prince Mochihito , no longer able to assume the imperial throne, called upon the Minamoto clan to raise an army to defeat the Taira clan, and the Genpei War began. In the midst of the Genpei War, Minamoto no Yoshinaka expelled
13083-414: The noble from the outright takeover of the estate at the hands of the samurai, even if the latter were required to hand over a portion to fulfill the half-tax law. In the end, it was the Muromachi administration that made sure that the samurai paid their portion of income to the nobles. The other reason behind the survival of the estate system was connected to the legitimacy of the noble class. The rise of
13230-463: The noble proprietors, a single shugo lord owned lands in widely dispersed areas in several provinces. His power was not built upon personal ownership of land like the territorial lords (daimyō) of the sixteenth century, but upon the loyalties of the local samurai through ties of vassalage. There was much greater coercive potential exercised by the territorial lords of the sixteenth century, because their ties of vassalage were based on their ownership of
13377-423: The ones often rewarded with the post. The cost of not tying them to the regime was to lose their support, and to encourage their independence from the regime. The shugo acted as governors, and served the function of mediating between the regime center and periphery. As lords in their own right, they represented the authority of the regime in the provinces. The shugo of this period had greater power than that of
13524-519: The outbreak of the civil war between the courts were the growing conflict between the Hōjō clan and other warrior groups in the wake of the Mongol invasions of Japan of 1274 and 1281 and the failure of the Kenmu Restoration, which triggered the struggle between the supporters of the imperial loyalists and supporters of the Ashikaga clan. Disaffection towards the Hōjō-led Kamakura regime appeared among
13671-475: The political system he developed with a succession of shoguns as the head became known as a shogunate. Hojo Masako 's (Yoritomo's wife) family, the Hōjō , seized power from the Kamakura shoguns. In 1199, Yoritomo died suddenly at the age of 53, and the 18-year-old Minamoto no Yoriie took over as second shogun. To support the young Yoriie, the decisions of the shogunate were made by a 13-man council, including Hojo Tokimasa and his son Hojo Yoshitoki , but this
13818-405: The prevailing theory was that the year was 1185, when Yoritomo established the shugo ( 守護 ) , which controlled military and police power in various regions, and the jitō ( 地頭 ) , which was in charge of tax collection and land administration. Japanese history textbooks as of 2016 do not specify a specific year for the beginning of the Kamakura period, as there are various theories about
13965-407: The primacy of the imperial line over everyone, including the warriors, who had to receive titles from the emperor. By participating in this court ranking ritual, the Ashikaga regime was sending a strong message to the entire society: that the legitimacy conferred by the court was still valid and still important. This participation bridged the tensions between the warrior regime and the court, and had
14112-456: The provinces, and the maintenance of the private holdings within the public lands (kokugaryo), but his function began to change with the advent of the Kamakura regime. With the appointment of shugo constables by Kamakura, all criminal jurisdiction within the provinces passed into his hands. But the civil governor ( kokushi ) remained as the key officer in the civil administration ( ritsuryo ), who made sure that rent from private holdings reached
14259-484: The regime and on their shugo titles. There was the defection of local samurai families like the Mori , and shugo lords continued to act in a dangerously independent manner until the latter half of the 14th century. In the central and western provinces roughly half were new appointees. During the Kannō Incident , Ashikaga headship ( soryo ) ties to the new appointees did not prevent these shugo from outright rebellion towards
14406-419: The regime at all. In fact, the coercive institutions of the regime were woefully lacking in this time period vis-a-vis the shugo lords. However, some weaker shugo lords who had not yet built up their power in the provinces had a vested interest in maintaining their links to the regime. The office of civil governor was gradually usurped by the shugo, he was able to make his provincial power effective through
14553-460: The regime closer to the imperial court, thereby erasing the stigma of the ideology that fueled the Nanboku-chō conflict: Ashikaga Takauji was seen as a traitor fighting against the restoration of imperial power. The court society survived such a long time because of its popularity among the different classes in Japanese society. On the estate level, farmers felt much closer to the nobles than towards
14700-434: The regime on a firmer foundation. The use of shugo lords to attack one of their own colleagues in the 1366 points to the growing authority of the shōgun, compared to the shugo lords. Up until then, there was no true punitive mechanisms that the shōgun could use against his shugo lords. Pitting one shugo lord against another strengthened the shōgun's hand. In 1362, the last Southern Court offensive against Kyoto forced
14847-409: The regime succeeded in integrating the shugo lords in the 1360s and 1370s. Shugo branch families of the Ashikaga were now employed within the government bureaucracy. This happened due to the emergence of the kanrei council system which tied shugo lords firmly to the regime. Shogunal hegemony was now also stronger and this allowed them to discipline errant shugo lords. Furthermore, the effects of
14994-701: The region to advance their own interests. In 1368, the Utsunomiya family revolted against the Kamakura headquarters of the Muromachi regime, because they had lost their shugo posts to the Uesugi. The Uesugi was able to extend their influence by amassing shugo posts and by enfeoffing vassals at the expense of other families. Shogun#Shogunate Shogun ( English: / ˈ ʃ oʊ ɡ ʌ n / SHOH -gun ; Japanese : 将軍 , romanized : shōgun , pronounced [ɕoːɡɯɴ] ), officially sei-i taishōgun ( 征夷大将軍 , " Commander-in-Chief of
15141-450: The reign of Hojo Sadatoki, and Nagasaki Takatsuna and Nagasaki Takasuke during the reign of Hojo Takatoki , the fourteenth shikken and ninth tokusō , were naikanrei who took control of the Kamakura shogunate. In other words, Japanese politics was a multiple puppet structure: Emperor, shogun, shikken, tokusō, and naikanrei. In response to gokenin' s dissatisfaction with the shogunate, Emperor Go-Daigo planned to raise an army against
15288-583: The same time in two different imperial courts, the Southern Court in Yoshino and the Northern Court in Kyoto. In 1338, Ashikaga Takauji , like Minamoto no Yoritomo, a descendant of the Minamoto princes, was awarded the title of sei-i taishōgun by Emperor Kōmyō and established the Ashikaga shogunate , which nominally lasted until 1573. The Ashikaga had their headquarters in the Muromachi district of Kyoto, and
15435-531: The second shikken , and the shogunate was administered under the leadership of Hojo Masako . In 1219, the third shogun, Minamoto no Sanetomo, was assassinated for unknown reasons. In 1221, war broke out for the first time in Japan between the warrior class government and the imperial court, and in this battle, known as the Jōkyū War , the shogunate defeated former Emperor Go-Toba . The shogunate exiled former Emperor Go-Toba to Oki Island for waging war against
15582-431: The separation of bureaucracies controlled by Takauji and Tadayoshi played a larger part in the conflict. Since the bureaucracy were under separate jurisdictions between Takauji and Tadayoshi, this created a disunited administration. Takauji was the leader of the house vassals, and thus controlled the Board of Retainers where disciplinary actions towards house vassals: brigandage and other crimes were prosecuted. He also led
15729-502: The shikkens, he used his position as head of the Hojo clan's main family, tokusō ( 得宗 ) , to dominate politics, thus shifting the source of power in the shogunate from the shikken to tokusō . During the reign of Hojo Tokimune , the eighth shikken and seventh tokusō , the shogunate twice defeated the Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274 and 1281. The shogunate defeated the Mongols with
15876-457: The shogun a puppet of the Hosokawa clan . Hosokawa Takakuni , who came to power later, installed Ashikaga Yoshiharu as the 12th shogun in 1521. In 1549, Miyoshi Nagayoshi banished the 12th shogun and his son Ashikaga Yoshiteru from Kyoto and seized power. From this point on, the Miyoshi clan continued to hold power in and around Kyoto until Oda Nobunaga entered Kyoto in 1568. By the time of
16023-413: The shogunate, but his plan was leaked and he was exiled to Oki Island in 1331. In 1333, Emperor Go-Daigo escaped from Oki Island and again called on gokenin and samurai to raise an army against the shogunate. Kusunoki Masashige was the first to respond to the call, sparking a series of rebellions against the shogunate in various places. Ashikaga Takauji , who had been ordered by the shogunate to suppress
16170-502: The shogunate. The shogunate learned its lesson and set up an administrative body in Kyoto called the Rokuhara Tandai ( 六波羅探題 ) to oversee the imperial court and western Japan. After the sudden death of Hojo Yoshitoki in 1224, Hojo Yasutoki became the third shikken , and after the death of Hojo Masako in 1225, the administration of the shogunate returned to a council system. In 1226, Hojo Yasutoki installed Kujo Yoritsune ,
16317-538: The shōgun was institutionalized by letting the shugo lords voice their opinions in discussions within the council. The Board of Retainers ( samuraidokoro ) was also headed by a Senior Vassal Council member selected in the 14th century from among the Imagawa (who became a council member a little later), the Hosokawa, the Hatakeyama, the Shiba, and the Toki. The Board of Retainers had the responsibility over police functions and
16464-455: The shōgun. In 1366, the first kanrei office holder's father, Shiba Takatsune who held real power over his thirteen-year-old son, and who engineered the placement of Shiba family members in key government offices was declared a traitor, because of his growing power and arrogance (he felt demeaned by accepting the kanrei post, so he had his son appointed instead). In the first show of force against an important shugo family, Yoshiakira ordered
16611-403: The shōgun. The kanrei also had the responsibility of looking over the bureaucratic elements of the regime on a daily basis, consulting and transmitting shogunal orders to the council and to the bureaucracy. In this system, regime policy was formulated in consultations between the council and the shōgun, though final decisions were made by the latter. The kanrei was consistently selected from
16758-403: The stalwart imperialist general Kusunoki Masanori submitted to the regime. His capitulation ended the imperialist threat to the central provinces. In 1370, Imagawa Sadayo (Ryoshun) was appointed by the kanrei Yoriyuki and the Senior Vassal Council to bring down the last bastion of Southern Court resistance in Kyūshū. After a grueling twelve-year campaign, imperialist resistance collapsed with
16905-429: The tax overseer took his half. This reduction in noble income was the result of gradual non-payment by the shugo and samurai. Therefore, the nobles hired moneylenders ( doso ) and bureaucrats ( bugyōnin ) as a way to put pressure on the warriors. But even this was ineffective as the hired hands had to negotiate with the warriors. A largely missing picture until recently, was the fate of public lands ( kokugaryo ) during
17052-466: The taxes. On the 1370s onwards the shugo were given the added responsibility of overseeing a new regime centered tax. Warrior families since the Kamakura period were characterized by the use of headship rights ( soryo ) where leadership over branch families was accorded to the leader of the main family. However, headship rights were extremely unstable as branch families often asserted their own independence, particularly as new generations emerged to dilute
17199-489: The temptation to independence it presented. However, the Muromachi regime did not extend their direct control over the entirety of their domain, and so came to rely on appointees to influence the shugo lords and samurai. In the late 14th century, the Kantō region was dominated by powerful warrior families. Of these, the Uesugi were the most powerful. They were able to take advantage of the fighting that erupted between families in
17346-409: The term bakufu to the shogunate government was therefore heavy with symbolism, connoting both the explicitly military character of the shogunal regime and its (at least theoretically) ephemeral nature. 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: There
17493-619: The ties of kinship. In some provinces, the Ashikaga failed to displace the original shugo families: the Sasaki , Togashi (of the famed Togashi Masachika ), Takeda and the Ogasawara in the central provinces, and the Shimazu , Otomo and Shoni in Kyūshū . Those provincial families who had accumulated power throughout the Kamakura period, like the Ouchi of Nagato and the Shimazu of Satsuma , were lords in their own right and thus less dependent on
17640-456: The ties of vassalage with the samurai who had taken over the estate lands during the Nanboku-chō War, and with the samurai residing on public lands ( kokugaryo ). The shugo lords have certain legitimate duties given to them by the Muromachi regime, and feudal lords attempting to enfeoff vassals. During the Nanboku-chō War, samurai stewards frequently took the lands of nobles and converted them into private holdings ( chigyo ) illegally. This led to
17787-406: The time during which they ruled is also known as the Muromachi period . Between 1346 and 1358, the Ashikaga shogunate gradually expanded the authority of the shugo ( 守護 ) , the local military and police officials established by the Kamakura shogunate, giving the shugo jurisdiction over land disputes between gokenin ( 御家人 ) and allowing the shugo to receive half of all taxes from
17934-403: The total liquidation of the estate system. The shugo lords also participated in this wholesale land grab by accumulating former estates under their control by enfeoffing samurai on them. This encroachment on land caused security problems for all landed interests from petty samurai to the kokujin , and led local samurai to seek intermediary ties to the shugo lords in the form of vassalage as
18081-445: The traditional framework of estate lands and public lands to enfeoff their vassals. This is the central enigma of the fourteenth century: the fragmentation and dissolution of the estate system, and the disappearance of the civil administration coincided with the proliferation of private lands, but the external framework of the estate system ( shōen ) and the public lands system (kokugaryo), though devoid of content, still remained. Given
18228-437: The unintended effect of disseminating court culture among the warrior class. The warriors themselves were attracted to the culture of the nobles, and emulated the latter's tastes such as being involved with constructing Zen rock gardens. The connection effected between the shōgun and the imperial court during the late 14th century, had the effect of broadening the legitimacy of the shōgun's power. The kanrei Yoriyuki promulgated
18375-523: The warrior class. In the transition from the Heian to the Kamakura period , the warriors were free from the domination of court patrimonialism. With the demise of the Kamakura, the imperial court attempted to restore its power in the Kenmu Restoration. Not until the Meiji Restoration of the 19th century did this occur again. In the spring of 1333, the Emperor Go-Daigo and his supporters planned to restore
18522-406: The warriors towards the end of the 13th century. This resentment was caused by the growing influence of the Hōjō over other warrior families within the regime. The Mongol invasions were the main cause behind this centralization of power that took place during the regency of Hōjō Tokimune (1268–1284). During the crisis, three things occurred: Hōjō family appointments to the council of state increased;
18669-417: The warriors was not popular among the farmers living on the estates. The more gentle hand of the nobles was also the hand the people came to respect. To prevent outright disobedience and rebellion among the populace was one reason why both shugo lords and kokujin came to respect the outward form of the estate structure. To make their rulership legitimate in the eyes of the farmers, the warriors worked within
18816-441: The warriors. The waning power of the nobles notwithstanding, their influence went far beyond their actual power, because they possessed a legitimacy of tradition and the charisma of culture that the warriors did not possess. This was why Yoriyuki had the young shōgun participate in court ceremonies: the participation involved the highest military leader in a court ranking system that dated back several centuries, and had as its premise
18963-453: The western lords, including Hatakeyama Yoshinari and Ōuchi Masahiro , withdrew their armies from Kyoto. The war devastated Kyoto, destroying many aristocratic and samurai residences, Shinto shrines , and Buddhist temples, and undermining the authority of the Ashikaga shoguns, greatly reducing their control over the various regions. Thus began the Sengoku period , a period of civil war in which
19110-431: The year the Kamakura shogunate was established. Minamoto no Yoritomo seized power from the central government and aristocracy and by 1192 established a feudal system based in Kamakura in which the private military, the samurai , gained some political powers while the Emperor and the aristocracy remained the de jure rulers. In 1192, Yoritomo was awarded the title of sei-i taishōgun by Emperor Go-Toba and
19257-558: Was Go-Daigo's son, and archrival to Ashikaga Takauji since he advocated the militarization of the nobles as a necessary step towards effective rule. Morinaga epitomized Chikafusa as the latter was a Kyoto noble who was also military general. During the long siege in Hitachi (1338–1343), Chikafusa wrote the Jinnō Shōtōki , an influential work on the legitimacy of the Japanese imperial system. This text would later become an ideological base of
19404-648: Was Hideko (秀子), Sanjō Kinhide's daughter In his own lifetime, Go-Kōgon and those around him believed that he occupied the Chrysanthemum Throne from 25 September 1352 to 9 April 1371. In 1351, Ashikaga Takauji briefly returned to the allegiance of the Southern Dynasty, causing the Southern Court to briefly consolidate control of the Imperial Line. However, this peace fell apart in April 1352. On this occasion,
19551-405: Was able to rule the region on his own, without being appointed by the shogun. In 1492, Hosokawa Masamoto , the kanrei ( 管領 ) , second in rank to the shogun in the Ashikaga shogunate, and the equivalent of Shikken ( 執権 ) in the Kamakura shogunate, staged a coup, banished the 10th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshitane , from Kyoto, and installed Ashikaga Yoshizumi as the 11th shogun, making
19698-419: Was applicable to all estates nationwide, and led to deter further samurai incursions onto the estates, and to defend the interests of the nobles in the face of samurai incursions. Unlike the earlier half-tax decrees, this one was conservative, and its aim was to protect noble lands from division rather than to justify it. The realities of samurai incursions that had already taken place could not be reversed. What
19845-510: Was effectively dismantled shortly afterwards when one of the key members lost his political position and two others died of illness. When Minamoto no Yoriie fell ill in 1203, a power struggle broke out between the Hojo clan and Hiki Yoshikazu , and Hojo Tokimasa destroyed the Hiki clan . Tokimasa then installed the 12-year-old Minamoto no Sanetomo as the third shogun, puppeting him while himself becoming
19992-455: Was ideologically stated openly departed from what was actually taking place in the provinces. The incursions of the samurai and the shugo lords on the estates were severe despite the 1368 decree. And with the 15th century, this trend of land-grabbing became ever more pronounced. The Ashikaga shōguns were not able to stop the incursions on the estates. However ineffective, the 1368 decree recognized noble interests and were defended ideologically by
20139-425: 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
20286-507: Was independent of the imperial court and called himself the Shinnō ( 新皇 , New Emperor) . In response, the imperial court sent a large army led by Taira no Sadamori to kill Masakado. As a result, Masakado was killed in battle in February 940. He is still revered as one of the three great onryō ( 怨霊 , vengeful spirits) of Japan. During the reigns of Emperor Shirakawa and Emperor Toba ,
20433-456: Was killed within a year of becoming shogun. In 1185, the Taira clan was finally defeated in the Battle of Dan-no-ura , and the Minamoto clan came to power. There are various theories as to the year in which the Kamakura period and Kamakura shogunate began. In the past, the most popular theory was that the year was 1192, when Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed sei-i taishōgun ( 征夷大将軍 ) . Later,
20580-473: Was known as a great swordsman and was a student of Tsukahara Bokuden , who was known as one of the strongest swordsmen. According to Yagyū Munenori , a swordsmanship instructor in the Tokugawa Shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshiteru was one of the five best swordsmen of his time. According to several historical books, including Luís Fróis ' Historia de Japam , he fought hard with naginata and tachi during
20727-567: Was located in Momoyama. Although the two leaders of the warrior class during this period were not given the title of sei-i taishōgun ( 征夷大将軍 , shogun) , Oda Nobunaga was given a title almost equal to it, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi a higher one. This era began when Oda Nobunaga expelled Ashikaga Yoshiaki from Kyoto and destroyed the Ashikaga shogunate. Adopting an innovative military strategy using tanegashima ( 種子島 , matchlock gun) and an economic policy that encouraged economic activity by
20874-459: Was originally a specific type of general, this is an example of semantic widening . The shogunate's administration was known as the bakufu ( 幕府 ) , literally meaning "government from the curtain ". In this context, "curtain" is a synecdoche for a type of semi-open tent called a maku , a temporary battlefield headquarters from which a samurai general would direct his forces, and whose sides would be decorated with his mon . The application of
21021-435: Was pragmatic on the need for warriors to participate in the Restoration but a severe divergence between Chikafusa and Takauji polarized the leaders for many years. The failure of the Restoration led to the emergence of the Ashikaga shogunate. Takauji was nominally shōgun but, having proved not to be up to the task of ruling the country, for more than ten years Ashikaga Tadayoshi governed in his stead. Relations soured between
21168-727: Was restored to Kyoto. Also around this time, the Emperor's authority began to show its weakness. On 9 April 1371, he abdicated in favor of his son, who became Emperor Go-En'yū . He continued to rule as Cloistered Emperor until he died of illness on 12 March 1374. He is enshrined with other emperors at the imperial tomb called Fukakusa no kita no misasagi (深草北陵) in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto . The years of Go-Kōgon's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō . Unless otherwise noted (as BC), years are in CE / AD Imperial Consort and Regent Empress Jingū
21315-515: 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 shoguns of this period had no real political power, and
21462-467: Was wanted for tyranny by Fujiwara no Korechika , a Kokushi ( 国司 , imperial court official) who oversaw the province of Hitachi province, and Fujiwara no Korechika demanded that Masakado hand over Fujiwara no Haruaki. Masakado refused, and war broke out between Masakado and Fujiwara no Korechika, with Masakado becoming an enemy of the imperial court. Masakado proclaimed that the Kanto region under his rule
21609-418: Was willing to give up his personal fortune to give them such rewards. During the Kenmu Restoration, after the fall of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333, another short-lived shogun arose. Prince Moriyoshi (Morinaga), son of Go-Daigo, was awarded the title of sei-i taishōgun . However, Prince Moriyoshi was later put under house arrest and, in 1335, killed by Ashikaga Tadayoshi . Emperor Go-daigo did not like
#754245