Shogun (English: /ˈʃoʊɡʌn/ SHOH-gun;[1] Japanese: 将軍, romanized: shōgun,

pronounced [ɕoːɡɯɴ] ⓘ), officially sei-i taishōgun (征夷大将軍, "Commander-in-Chief

of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians"),[2] was the title of the
military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868.[3]
Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the
country,[4] although during part of the Kamakura period and Sengoku period, shoguns
were themselves figureheads, with real power in the hands of the shikken (執権) of
the Hōjō clan and kanrei (管領) of the Hosokawa clan. In addition, Taira no
Kiyomori and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were leaders of the warrior class who did not hold
the position of shogun, the highest office of the warrior class, but who gained the
positions of daijō-daijin (太政大臣, Chancellor of the Realm) and kampaku (関白,
Imperial Regent), the highest offices of the aristocratic class, and ran their
governments as de facto rulers.[5][6][7]

The office of shogun was in practice hereditary, although over the course of the
history of Japan several different clans held the position. The title was
originally held by military commanders during the Heian period in the eighth and
ninth centuries. When Minamoto no Yoritomo gained political ascendency over Japan
in 1185, the title was revived to regularize his position, making him the first
shogun in the usually understood sense.

It is often said that one must be of the Minamoto lineage to become a shogun, but
this is not true. While it is true that the Minamoto lineage was respected as a
lineage suitable for the position of shogun, the fourth and fifth shoguns of the
Kamakura shogunate were from the Fujiwara lineage (although their mothers were from
the Minamoto lineage), and the sixth through ninth shoguns were from the imperial
lineage. Oda Nobunaga, who claimed to be a descendant of the Taira clan, was
approached for the position of shogun a month before his death.[8][9][10]

The shogun's officials were collectively referred to as the bakufu (幕府, IPA:
[baꜜkɯ̥ɸɯ]; "tent government"); they were the ones who carried out the actual duties
of administration, while the imperial court retained only nominal authority.[11]
The tent symbolized the shogun's role as the military's field commander but also
denoted that such an office was meant to be temporary. Nevertheless, the
institution, known in English as the shogunate (/ˈʃoʊɡəneɪt/ SHOH-gə-nayt),
persisted for nearly 700 years, ending when Tokugawa Yoshinobu relinquished the
office to Emperor Meiji in 1867 as part of the Meiji Restoration.[12]