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The Tokugawa shogunate governed Japan from [[1603]] until [[1867]]. It was founded by [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], and came to an end when the last shogun, [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]], stepped down on Keiô 3/12/9 (Jan 3 [[1868]]). Tokugawa control extended over more of the archipelago, and was stronger and firmer in its control, than previous shogunates.
The Tokugawa shogunate governed Japan from [[1603]] until [[1867]]. It was founded by [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], and came to an end when the last shogun, [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]], stepped down on Keiô 3/12/9 (Jan 3 [[1868]]). Tokugawa control extended over more of the archipelago, and was stronger and firmer in its control, than previous shogunates.
Insofar as the shogunate was built upon a feudal structure, and ruled by a class of warrior elites, the shogunate could be described as a "military government," or even "military dictatorship." However, it is important to remember that pre-modern or early modern societies were of a very different character from modern ones, and in that respect, terms such as "military" and "military dictatorship," with their rather modern connotations and associations, are not particularly useful phrases to use for understanding the shogunate. Further, as historian William Wray points out, Tokugawa Japan was perhaps one of the least militarized societies in the world at the time.<ref>William Wray, “The Seventeenth-century Japanese Diaspora: Questions of Boundary and Policy,” in Ina Baghdiantz McCabe et al (eds.), ''Diaspora Entrepreneurial Networks'', Oxford: Berg (2005), 89.</ref> Members of the warrior class did claim and maintain an elite status, practice martial arts & perform a "warrior" identity, and retain power largely through a monopoly on violence. But, Tokugawa Japan also enjoyed near-complete peace for over two hundred years, from the 1630s to the 1850s, both domestically and in terms of its interactions with other polities.
==Administrative Organization==
==Administrative Organization==
