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''Seiitaishôgun'' (征夷大将軍), "Supreme Commander Against the Barbarians", often shortened simply as ''shôgun'' (将軍), was originally a temporary Court commission assigned to courtier military commanders in the 8th century frontier campaigns against the [[Emishi]] in northern [[Honshu]]. It later became a hereditary distinction acknowledging the recipient as the ''[[buke no toryo|buke no tôryô]]'', "Head of the Warrior Houses", and titular head of the three [[Bakufu|bakufu]] warrior governments.

'''Zaichôkanjin''' (在庁官人), or "resident public officials", were provincial elites in the eleventh and twelfth-centuries. They generally had origins as either courtiers who had settled in the provinces, or as descendants of former indigenous elites, and came to dominate local government. As merely provincial powers they lacked autonomy within the ''[[shoen|shôen]]'' system and fell under the jurisdiction of the ''[[kokushi]]'' (provincial governors), or alternatively could commend their lands to a shoen proprietor.

==[[Heian Period]] ''Seiitaishôgun''==

Houses with ''zaichôkanjin'' origins include the [[Chiba clan|Chiba]], the [[Ashikaga clan|Ashikaga]], and the [[Miura clan|Miura]]. Following the [[Gempei War]], it was ''zaichôkanjin'' houses such as these that would adopt the [[bakufu]] as their patron rather than the traditional ''kokushi'' or ''shôen'' proprietors.  

 

In the late 8th century, the [[Yamato]] court embarked on a series of military campaigns into northern [[Honshu]] in an attempt to bring the region and its [[Emishi]] population under its sphere of influence. The title ''seiitaishôgun'' was first awarded to [[Sakanoue no Tamuramaro]] in [[797]] as commander of one such campaign. He was reappointed in [[804]] due to his successes, and a friend and protégé of Tamuramaro's, one [[Fumiya no Watamaro]], succeeded him as ''seiitaishôgun'' in [[811]].

 

During the 12th century [[Gempei War]], [[Minamoto Yoshinaka]] rebelled against [[Minamoto Yoritomo]], and in [[1183]] persuaded [[Emperor Go-Shirakawa|Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa]] to appoint him ''seiitaishôgun'', with an ill-fated commission to punish Yoritomo, who would himself be awarded the title less than a decade later.

 

 

In 1192 the Court invested Minamoto Yoritomo, head of the newly-established [[Kamakura Bakufu]], with the ''seiitaishôgun'' title. Yoritomo returned the title in [[1193]], prefering the more prestigious title of ''[[utaisho|utaishô]]'', "Commander of the Inner Palace Guards".

 

Following his death in [[1199]], the bakufu had the Court appoint Yoritomo's son [[Minamoto Yoriie|Yoriie]] as ''shôgun'', beginning the link of the title with the titular head of the bakufu. Neither Yoriie (r. [[1199]]-[[1203]]) nor his brother [[Minamoto Sanetomo|Sanetomo]] (r. [[1203]]-[[1219]]) held any real power as ''shôgun'', with actual authority alternating between members of the [[Hojo clan|Hôjô family]] and the various bakufu judicial organs. Both brothers became involved in schemes involving bakufu officials and were assassinated, Yoriie in [[1204]], and Sanetomo in [[1219]], ending Yoritomo's bloodline.

 

In need of an appropriate candidate for ''shôgun'' to follow the heir-less Sanetomo, the bakufu had arranged for [[Emperor Go-Toba|Retired Emperor Go-Toba's]] son to succeed, but following the assassination of Sanetomo, Go-Toba withdrew his offer. After a show of force in the capital, the bakufu secured an infant from the prestigious [[Fujiwara clan|Fujiwara family]] and brought him to [[Kamakura]]. By this time the Hôjô family were dominant within the bakufu as regents, or ''[[shikken]]'', to the successive noble-born ''shôgun'', who were head of the bakufu in name only.

==References==

==References==

*''A History of Japan: To 1333'', by George Sansom, Stanford University Press, reprinted 1991.

*[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0095-6848(199324)19%3A1%3C121%3ATMMITT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z "The Missing Minamoto in the Twelfth-Century Kanto"], by Jeffrey P. Mass. ''[[Monumenta Nipponica]]'', Vol. 19, No. 1. (Winter, 1993), pp. 121-145.

*''Warrior Rule in Japan'', edited by Marius Jansen, Cambridge University Press, 1995.

*''Heavenly Warriors'', by William Wayne Farris, Harvard University Asia Center, reprint edition 1996.

*''"Pushing beyond the Pale: The Yamato Conquest of the Emish and Northern Japan"'', by Karl F. Friday. ''Monumenta Nipponica'', vol. 23, No. 1. (Winter, 1997), pp. 1-24.

[[Category:Political Institutions]]

[[Category:Political Institutions]]

[[Category:Ranks and Titles]]

[[Category:Ranks and Titles]]

[[Category:Terminology]]

[[Category:Terminology]]