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daimyo
daimyo [Jap.,=great name], the great feudal landholders of Japan, the territorial barons as distinguished from the kuge, or court nobles. Great tax-free estates were built up from the 8th cent. onward by the alienation of lands to members of the imperial family who could not be supported at court. ...
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bushido
bushido [Jap.,=way of the warrior], code of honor and conduct of the Japanese nobility. Of ancient origin, it grew out of the old feudal bond that required unwavering loyalty on the part of the vassal. It borrowed heavily from Zen Buddhism and Confucianism. In its fullest expression the code emphas...
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Chiba
Chiba , city (1990 pop. 829,455), capital of Chiba prefecture, central Honshu, Japan, on Tokyo Bay. It is a manufacturing center noted for the production of steel, textiles, paper products, and plastics. It was the residence of the Chiba daimyo from the 12th to the 16th cent. The city retains an 8th...
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Tokugawa
Tokugawa , family that held the shogunate (see shogun ) and controlled Japan from 1603 to 1867. Founded by Ieyasu, the Tokugawa regime was a centralized feudalism. The Tokugawa themselves held approximately one fourth of the country in strategically located parcels, which they governed directly thr...
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Ieyasu
Ieyasu (Ieyasu Tokugawa) , 1542-1616, Japanese warrior and dictator. A gifted leader and brilliant general, he founded the Tokugawa shogunate. Early in his career he helped Nobunaga and Hideyoshi unify Japan. In 1590 he received the area surrounding Edo (Tokyo) in fief, and he later made Edo...
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Nobunaga
Nobunaga (Nobunaga Oda) , 1534-82, Japanese military commander. The son of a daimyo , Nobunaga greatly expanded his father's holdings, becoming master of three provinces near present-day Nagoya. The emperor secretly appealed to him for help, and Nobunaga, acting in the emperor's name, became (156...
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Nobunaga
Nobunaga (Nobunaga Oda) , 1534-82, Japanese military commander. The son of a daimyo , Nobunaga greatly expanded his father's holdings, becoming master of three provinces near present-day Nagoya. The emperor secretly appealed to him for help, and Nobunaga, acting in the emperor's name, became (156...
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samurai
samurai , knights of feudal Japan, retainers of the daimyo . This aristocratic warrior class arose during the 12th-century wars between the Taira and Minamoto clans and was consolidated in the Tokugawa period. Samurai were privileged to wear two swords, and at one time had the right to cut down any...
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shogun
shogun , title of the feudal military administrator who from the 12th cent. to the 19th cent. was, as the emperor's military deputy, the actual ruler of Japan. The title itself, Sei-i-tai Shogun [barbarian-subduing generalissimo], dates back to 794 and originally meant commander of the imperial armi...
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Yoritomo
Yoritomo (Yoritomo Minamoto) , 1148-99, Japanese warrior and dictator, founder of the Kamakura shogunate. After a prolonged struggle he led his clan, the Minamoto, to victory over the Taira in 1185. He became (1192) the first shogun , established his bakufu (headquarters) at Kamakura, and rewarde...
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