What was the Bakufu in Japan

The bakufu was the military government led by the Shogun, who was in power in Japan between 1192 and 1868, basically 7 centuries. Before the year 1192, the bakufu, commonly called the shogunate, was responsible for matters of war and security under the direct command of the Imperial Court. Over the centuries, the power of the bakufu extended to become the de facto ruler of Japan for nearly 700 years.

Kamakura period

From the Kamakura period in 1192, the shoguns ruled Japan while the emperors served as “head of state”. The most renowned person of this period, which lasted until 1333, was Minamoto Yoritomo, who ruled from 1192 to 1199 from his family’s leadership in Kamakura, about 50 kilometers south of Tokyo.

During this time, military leaders in Japan rose to power through the imperial hereditary power and its court, giving the former absolute control of the country’s armed affairs. This radically shaped society, leading to the birth of a feudal system.

Ashikaga Shogunate

After years of social conflict, precipitated by the Mongol invasion in the late 13th century, Ashikaga Takauji abolished the Kamakura bakufu to establish his own Shogunate in Kyoto in 1336. The Ashikaga bakufu ruled Japan until 1573.

However, his power and control over the country was not strong, so during the Ashikaga bakufu various daimyo, or feudal lords, grew in power throughout Japan. These feudal lords ruled their domains with very little interference from the bakufu in Kyoto.

Tokugawa Shogunate

Towards the end of the Ashikaga bakufu, and for several years thereafter, Japan suffered a civil war that lasted almost 100 years, in which various daimyo feudal lords fought for control of the country. This civil war began when the ruling bakufu tried to “order” and control various daimyo who were growing in power.

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu completed the unification of Japan by establishing the Tokugawa Shogunate (bakufu), which would rule in the name of the emperor for 265 years. Life in Tokugawa Japan was peaceful but tightly controlled by the shogun’s central government, but was received positively by the general population as 100 years of civil war had been a very bad experience for everyone.

The fall of the Bakufu

When United States Army ships under the command of Matthew Perry arrived in Edo Bay in 1853, and demanded that Tokugawa Japan allow Western powers access to the country, he unwittingly set off a chain of events that led to the fall of the bakufu and the birth of Japan as an Imperial Power.

Political elites in Japan soon realized that other countries had superior military technology to Japan and felt threatened by Western imperialism. After all, mighty Qing China failed to hold off the English invasion 14 years earlier during the First Opium War, and was poised to lose the Second Opium War.

Meiji Restoration

Before suffering a fate similar to that of China, the Japanese elites sought to close the doors even more to foreign influence, but the most provient began to devise a plan to modernize the country. They considered it very important to have the image of a strong Emperor at the center of Japan’s political power and to keep Western imperialism out.

As a result, in 1868, the Meiji Restoration extinguished the authority of the bakufu and gave political power to the Emperor, bringing 700 years of bakufu rule to an end.