Japan is currently a parliamentary constitutional monarchy since 1868, after the Meiji Restoration, following the Boshin War, which ended the shogunate and returned the main power to the Emperor.
At that time, the samurai class lost its prestige and its reputation declined to the point of being persecuted and extinguished, the shogun had his lands and power taken by the Emperor, and finally, after six centuries, a civil government was reestablished.
Before that, Japan was a feudal military government directly ruled by the shogun, who was a kind of military dictator controlling all of Japan and was the de facto governor of the entire country while the Emperor was the de jure ruler.
The shogunate emerged after the power takeover of the Kamakura clan. Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147 – 1199) became the first regent shogun and initiated the period now known as the Kamakura Period, establishing a feudal system where the samurai, who were previously simple soldiers belonging to a low position in the military hierarchy, rose to power and were placed above the aristocracy to serve directly under the shogun.
However, there were times when the shogunate was overthrown by a coup d’état perpetrated by another clan to take power from the clan that ruled Japan, leading to another shogunate, causing the shogunate to be divided into three periods: Kamakura Period (1185 – 1333), Ashikaga Period (1336 – 1573), and Tokugawa Period (1603 – 1868).
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Kamakura Shogunate
The first shogunate, Kamakura Shogunate, began after Minamoto no Yoritomo usurped the Emperor’s power and became the military governor of Japan.
During this time, there were power disputes between the Kamakura clan and the Houjou clan, which were the clans that had influence over the shogun.
The Kamakura Shogunate ended with its fall caused by Emperor Go-Daigo (1288 – 1339), who unsuccessfully tried to overthrow the shogunate through a coup d’état with the purpose of establishing a civil government.
As a result, Go-Daigo lost the throne, was banished from the aristocracy, and exiled. Despite Go-Daigo’s failure, the shogunate weakened and fell in 1333.
Ashikaga Shogunate
The military Ashikaga Takauji (1305 – 1358) tried to help Go-Daigo regain his throne only to later betray him and, after being appointed the new shogun, initiated the Ashikaga Shogunate, the second shogunate.
During the Ashikaga Period, Japan maintained political and commercial relations with Korea and China.
Due to tensions among daimyos, the feudal lords of Japan, who competed for power during the Onin War (a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477), loyalty to the shogun severely weakened and resulted in the Sengoku Period, marked by political and social instability, conflicts, and riots among the military.
The Sengoku Period was the cause of the fall of the Ashikaga Shogunate, which ended with the expulsion of Ashikaga Yoshiaki (1537 – 1597) by the daimyo Oda Nobunaga (1534 – 1582) in 1573.
As a result, Nobunaga gained control of power and all of Japan.
Tokugawa Shogunate
Nobunaga managed to rule all of Japan until 1582, when he was betrayed and killed by the samurai Akechi Mitsuhide (1528 – 1582).
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537 – 1598), Nobunaga’s apprentice, sought to avenge his master’s death at the Battle of Yamazaki. Defeating Mitsuhide, who had become shogun after assassinating Nobunaga, Toyotomi became the new shogun.
However, Toyotomi’s shogunate weakened when Japan’s invasions of Korea were a fiasco. As a consequence, his clan lost power and influence in Japan. Thus, the shogunate fell in 1598, after Toyotomi’s death.
After his death, no one was appointed as shogun, leaving a power vacuum in the Japanese government.
In 1600, at the Battle of Sekigahara, the military Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543 – 1616) defeated the Western Army along with his army, the Eastern Army. And thus, he took power, becoming the new shogun, thus initiating the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603 – 1868).
The Tokugawa Period was marked by Japan’s isolationist policy. Avoiding any type of political and economic relationship with foreigners, Japan became a closed country to the rest of the world.
End of the Shogunate and the Meiji Restoration
With the country being pressured by foreign trade and remittance, Japan opened up to foreigners.
However, the shogunate took measures to prevent the country from having any type of relationship with foreign forces. The Ikokusen Muninen Uchiharairei, also known as the “no second thoughts policy”, was implemented to isolate Japan.
However, to keep foreigners away, the Japanese would have to learn about foreign sciences. Thus, they began to acquire firearms through the Dutch. And then, they studied the manufacturing of these firearms to produce them of the same type and quality.
After conflict with foreign forces, Japan had to negotiate treaties to prevent the country from being attacked again. Thus, the “no second thoughts policy” came to an end.
Subsequently, through these treaties, foreigners were allowed to establish trade relations with the Japanese. This made the shogun feel aggrieved and used the samurai to stop these trade relations.
In 1868, samurai from the Satsuma clan gathered in favor of the Emperor to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate. And they did so, resulting in the resignation of Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837 – 1913), the last shogun.
And then, the shogunate was abolished, returning power to the Emperor, opening Japan to the world, abolishing the samurai class, and establishing a parliamentary constitutional monarchy based on Western monarchies.
Modernization of Japan
Subsequently, with the abolition of the shogunate, Japan quickly industrialized and militarized. Thus, it became a power that conquered territories throughout Asia.
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