Shogun - what is this? The rule of the shoguns in Japan

Japanese civilization is considered quite young. Despite the fact that the Japanese islands began to be inhabited not one millennium ago, the unification of people in the conglomeration of tribes there occurred only in the second century BC. The similarity of statehood appeared here only in the third century of our era, when the alliance of the Yamato tribes could subjugate the other nationalities and become the largest. Gradually, the power of the Yamato clan became like the king, and their rulers began to call themselves emperors ("tenno"). Another term, the "shogun" (it is rather the ruler - the supreme commander), came into use a century later.

The ancient origin of the samurai

In Japan in the 6th-7th centuries, the bulk of the population was represented by peasants, there were also slaves and unqualified citizens of Japanese society, often consisting of Chinese and Koreans. The peasants were taxed with quite impressive taxes in the form of food and money annuity, were sent for work and were actually attached to the land. To fight peasant protests, the feudal lords created detachments of specially trained soldiers - the samurai, and the administrative power in the country belonged to the nobility, who mainly belonged to the same clan as the supreme ruler.

The first shogunate in the history of Japan

Japanese shoguns officially appeared in the 11th century AD. On the territory of the Land of the Rising Sun, groups of military feudal lords began to form, among which were Tyra and Minamoto. They unleashed a civil war of 1180-1185, battles that took place throughout the island of Honshu. On both sides of the front here were hundreds of thousands of military groups, civilians died, monasteries were ruined. The winner was the Minamoto clan, whose representative, Yoritomo, appropriated in 1192 the title "seiyi tai shogun" - this meant "commander-in-chief, conquering the barbarians". So in the history of Japan appeared the shogunate.

It is noteworthy that the civil war in Japan of that period was actually won not by Yoritomo, but by his brother - Yoshitsune, who was thrown out of the palace due to the suspicion of the ruler. According to some legends, Yoshitsune fled from Japan to the mainland, where he took the name "Chinggis Khan", on the other - committed suicide. Also interesting is the legend that the death of Yoritomo after the fall from the horse occurred due to the fact that the horse stood on its hind legs after seeing the ghost of Yoshitsune.

The term came from China

If the Japanese ask: "Explain the terms" shogun "," taysegun ", etc.," the answers can be quite diverse. The fact is that the concept itself came to Japan from China, where it was distributed in the form of "secret shogun", which can be translated as a "general of a big tree". According to the legend, the outstanding Chinese commander Hye-I was so modest that when he was publicly told about his victories, he ran off under a big tree to not listen to praise.

In the Japanese chronicles the word "shogun" with various prefixes is mentioned in the 7-8 centuries of our era, including:

• Fukusegun - "deputy commander";
• Taysegun - "great commander" (with two prefixes the bearers of posts were divided into higher and lower in rank);
• Tinteki shogun - this commander, who conquered the barbarians of the West;
• Just shogun - the winner of the barbarians of the East;
• Tinju shogun is the commander-reconciler.

The title was first subject to return

In those days, the bearer of such a title was simply a high-ranking official, who headed the army or a part of it, or was a messenger. The title was given for the time of the military campaign, and then returned to the emperor. The ancient ceremony of "dedication" was supposed to be the announcement of a normative act on this matter (edict) and the handing of a ceremonial sword in the imperial palace. Later the procedure was slightly modified. For example, for elderly representatives it was allowed not to appear in the palace in Kyoto for an audience, and in the 14-19th centuries the edict brought a shogun "to the house." In response, he filled the box from under the edict with golden sand, returned it to the imperial ambassador and promised to follow the "light example" of the ruler Yoritomo Minamoto.

Shogun was able to become a two-year-old child

The rule of the shoguns in Japan lasted from 1192 before the Meiji revolution. During this period, the supreme commander-in-chief handed over his power by inheritance and combined the highest state posts, while the emperor's power was, rather, ceremonially-nominal. From the deceased Yoritomo Minamoto, the power passed to the regents of his son - the Hojo clan.

After the termination of the Minamoto line in the male line, the Japanese shoguns, perhaps the only time in history, included in their number a child from the Fujiwara clan, who was appointed to the highest state post of that time at the age of two.

Kamakura shogunate brought Japan national flag

The first shogunate in Japan had as its capital the city of Kamakura, therefore it was called the Kamakura shogunate. This historical period was characterized by civil strife and the domination of representatives of samurai - "servicemen", who constituted a military feudal estate of small nobles who guarded and served their "daimyo". At the same time, Japan managed to repel two invasions of the Mongols (1281 and 1274 years) through the intervention of natural forces and gain a national flag, which, according to legend, was passed on to the shogunate by the Buddhist patriarch Nichiren.

Feudal differences

Minamoto Yoritomo, the shogun (photo of the picture depicting him, is presented above), after the war ended he appointed military governors to each province, who over time accumulated considerable military forces and concentrated land plots in their hands. At the same time, Japan established favorable trade relations with China and Korea, which led to the enrichment of feudal lords in the southeast.

Such processes were not liked by the feudal lords at the Kamakura headquarters, which led to conflicts and the transfer of power to the Ashikaga clan. Representatives of the latter moved from the ruined Kamakura to Kyoto, closer to the imperial palace, where they spent too much money to compete with the pomp of the court nobility. State affairs were in a state of neglect, which led to the intensification of military governors in other parts of the country and a new stage in the civil war.

The rule of the shoguns in Japan in 1478-1577 was again accompanied by military conflicts almost between all provinces, which led the empire to the brink of complete collapse in the middle of the 16th century. However, there was a "daimyo" - a representative of the elite among the samurai (Nobunaga), who subjugated the center of the country with the capital of Kyoto, defeated the major feudal lords and fostered a talented general - Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Shogun could become a peasant

This uneducated, but enterprising and intelligent descendant of a peasant family after the death of representatives of the clan Nobunaga completed the unification of Japan (in 1588). Thus, a representative of the non-aristocratic class actually received the title of "shogun". This at first glance blurred the boundaries between classes, but Hideyoshi himself edict confirmed all the privileges of the samurai and even conducted a campaign to seize weapons (swords) from the peasantry.

The subsequent Japanese shoguns, but already from the Tokugawa clan, ruled in Japan for almost a quarter of a millennium. The fact is that Hideyoshi transferred power to his son, who was underage and was to be custodian. It was precisely from the guardians that Tokugawa Ieyasu stood out, who by force eliminated the legitimate heir and began to rule by choosing Tokyo as the capital.

In the beginning, the samurai were the elite

During the reign of Tokugawa's house, the system of governing the country was regulated: the emperor was deprived of power, city councils of elders were introduced, and society was divided into classes. The paramount position was occupied here by soldiers - samurai. In addition, there were peasants, artisans, merchants, strolling artists, pariahs and beggars, who were also separated into a separate class. During the reign of Tokugawa itself, the samurai were an elite of society, which constituted a tenth of the population and enjoyed great privileges. However, afterwards such a number of soldiers turned out to be unnecessary, and some samurai became ninjas, ronin (hired assassins), others went into the trading class or began to teach military science and the philosophy of "Bushido" - the samurai code. Rioters who were rioting had to be suppressed by government troops.

The reasons for the elimination of the regime of the shogunate

Why did the regime under the control of the shogun decay? The testimonies of historians testify to the fact that in the country in connection with the growth of trade relations a class of petty bourgeoisie appeared which the officials from the shogunate strongly suppressed, and this caused protests. In the urban layer, representatives of the intelligentsia were born, which they also sought to crush, in particular, because of its desire for Shinto, which proclaimed the kinship of all Japanese regardless of class, etc.

The government banned other religions (Christianity), limited contacts with other countries, which led to protests and, ultimately, the transfer of state power Tokugawa shogunate back to the emperor in 1867. Today, the "shogun" in Japan is a historical term, since such a post was abolished during the Meiji revolution, which took place in 1868-1889.