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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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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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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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Will Adams
Will Adams (William Adams), 1564?-1620, first Englishman to visit Japan. As pilot of a Dutch ship searching for gold and trade, he reached Japan in 1600. At first imprisoned and sentenced to death, Adams was released by the shogun Ieyasu , and soon became one of his favorites, advising him on navi...
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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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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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Ashikaga
Ashikaga , city (1990 pop. 167,686), Tochigi prefecture, central Honshu, Japan. An old silk-weaving center, it is famous for its spinning and nylon textile industries. The city is also the ancestral home of the Ashikaga shoguns (1338-1597). It has an ancient school (probably founded 9th cent.), whic...
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Hakodate
Hakodate , city (1990 pop. 307,249), extreme SW Hokkaido, Japan, on the Tsugaru Strait. Opened (1854) to U.S. ships and a little later (1857) to general foreign trade, it was the chief port of the island until recently replaced by Sapporo . It is linked with Aomori on Honshu by the Seikan Tunnel. A...
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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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Meiji restoration
Meiji restoration The term refers to both the events of 1868 that led to the "restoration" of power to the emperor and the entire period of revolutionary changes that coincided with the Meiji emperor's reign (1868-1912). The power of the Tokugawa shogunate, weakened by debt and internal div...
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