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 this time, the samurai class lost their prestige and their reputation declined to the point where they were persecuted and extinct, the shogun had their lands and power taken by the Emperor and finally, after six centuries, a civil government was re-established.
Before that, Japan was a feudal military government directly ruled by the xogum, who was a kind of military dictator that controlled all of Japan and was the governor de facto of the whole country while the Emperor was the ruler de jure.
The Shogunate emerged after the takeover of power by the clã Kamakura. 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 once simple soldiers belonging to a low position in the military hierarchy, rose to power and were placed above the aristocracy to serve directly the shogun.
However, there were times when the xogunato was overthrown by a coup d'état perpetrated by another clan to take power from the clan that ruled Japan, leading to another xogunato, causing the xogunato 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 Yorimoto usurped the power of the Emperor and became the military governor of Japan.
During this time, there were power struggles between the Kamakura clan and the Houjou clan, which were the clans that had influence under the shogun.
The Kamakura Shogunate ended with its downfall 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 his 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 recover his throne only to later betray him and, after being appointed the new shogun, initiate the Ashikaga Shogunate, the second shogunate.
During the Ashikaga Period, Japan maintained political and commercial relations with Korea and China.
Thanks to the tension between daimyos, the feudal lords of Japan, who competed for power during the Onin War (civil war that lasted between 1467 and 1477), loyalty to the shogun weakened severely 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, resolved to avenge his master's death at the Battle of Yamazaki. Defeating Mitsuhide who had become a shogun after murdering Nobunaga, Toyotomi became the new shogun.
However, the Toyotomi shogunate weakened when Japan's invasions of Korea failed. 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 a shogun and this left a vacuum in the Japanese government's power.
In 1600, at the Battle of Sekigahara, the soldier Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543 – 1616) defeated the Western Army along with his army, the Eastern Army. And so, he took power becoming the new shogun, thus starting the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603 – 1868).
The Tokugawa Period was marked by Japan's policy of isolation. Avoiding any kind of political and economic relationship with foreigners, Japan has become 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 has opened up to foreigners.
However, the xogunato took measures to prevent the country from having any kind of relationship with foreign forces. The Ikokusen Muninen Uchiharairei was implemented, also known as the "two not think twice policy", to isolate Japan.
However, to keep foreigners away, the Japanese would have to learn about the sciences of foreigners. Thus, they began to acquire firearms through the Dutch. And then, the manufacturing of these armas de fogo was studied 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. In this way, the end of the "二度と考えない政策." was reached.
Later, through these treaties, foreigners were allowed to establish trade relations with the Japanese. This made the shogun feel annoyed and use the samurai to stop these trade relations.
In 1868, samurai of the Satsuma clan rallied on behalf of the Emperor to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate. And so they did, resulting in the resignation of Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837 – 1913), the last shogun.
And so, the shogunate was abolished, returning power to the Emperor, opening up Japan to the world, abolishing the samurai class, and installing a parliamentary constitutional monarchy government based on Western monarchies.
Japan's modernization
Later, with the abolition of the shogunate, Japan rapidly industrialized and militarized. Thus, it became a power whose conquered territories throughout Asia.
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