A Guide to Samurai Governments, 1185-1868
1185-1333
— Kamakura Government
The most important feature of the medieval period is that the samurai
(warrior-administrators) replaced the court government in managing local
government.
Because the court government had no police force, bands of samurai
gained power when the Heian government neglected the administration
of the provinces. Samurai strength rested on strong group loyalty
and discipline. These bands managed large areas of rice land in eastern
Japan, around modern Tôkyô.
In 1185 a new government was founded by the Minamoto family in Kamakura,
south of modern Tôkyô. In 1192 Minamoto Yoritomo was given
the title 'shôgun' to signify his military control over the country.
While it followed the laws of the Heian government, the Kamakura government
was run by a network of samurai throughout the country, pledged to keep
the peace. Since they exercised real power on the spot, they were able
to take over land from rich aristocratic land proprietors and thus caused
the Heian government in Kyôto to become even weaker. Gradually
the samurai took the lead in developing the law of the nation.
The Mongol invasions, the only military invasion of Japan before
World War II, occurred during this period. Khubilai, Great Khan of
the Mongols, invaded China and in 1263 became Emperor of China. He
pressed his conquest on to Japan. In 1274 and 1281 Mongols and Chinese
led great expeditions across the seas to southwest Japan. Samurai
in Kyûshû were
greatly outnumbered and technically disadvantaged. In 1274, a great
storm arose that destroyed or set to sea the whole invasion fleet.
In 1281, after 50 days of fierce struggle, the Japanese were again
saved by a great storm. These storms became known as kamikaze, divine
winds. (More than 650 years later, during the second invasion of
Japan, by America, the suicide pilots protecting the islands were
called kamikaze, too). The Mongolian attempts to invade Japan united
the Japanese against an outside force for the first time in history.
Shintô priests,
involving the country's deities for protection, were richly rewarded.
1336-1573 — Ashikaga Government
In 1333, the Kamakura shogunate lost control of the country to a
rival samurai family, the Ashikaga family. The Ashikaga shogunate
moved the capital back to Kyôto, but was not able to assert as much control
over the various provinces as the Kamakura government had. In the surrounding
countryside, daimyô (provincial barons) ruled the people, and often
fought against one other over territorial claims. The daimyô built
bureaucratic governments in each province and attempted to bring all
elements of society under their military rule. Local rule was more developed
that before, but the central government represented by the shôgun
was weak.
1600-1868 — Tokugawa Government
In 1600, one of the powerful military families, the Tokugawa, was
able to gain military control over all the local daimyô. The
Tokugawa created a much stronger bureaucratic military government
in Edo, now named Tôkyô. It controlled — either
directly or indirectly — all elements of society, such as the
agrarian and commercial sectors.
The government legally differentiated four classes of society — samurai,
farmers, artisans, and merchants. Since it was concerned with a possible
samurai rebellion (it had taken away the weapons of all other classes),
the Tokugawa government made the daimyô live part of the time
in Edo, the new military capital, and leave their families in Edo
as hostages whenever they returned to their domains. Edo became a
giant urban center because so many people came to make a living by
supplying the huge samurai population. By 1700 there were about one
million people living in Edo. In time, the Edo merchants supplying
the military became richer than the samurai, many of whom lived in
poverty. When Commodore Perry came to Japan from the United States
in 1853 seeking commercial relations, many groups in society were
ready for changes in the old legal and economic systems. Japan's
feudal period ended shortly thereafter with the Meiji Restoration
in 1868.
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