shogun
n.n. a powerful military leader in Japan who controlled the country for hundreds of years. The word is often used in history books to describe the highest military ruler.
n. a military general or supreme commander who held de facto power in Japan during the feudal period. When capitalised, it refers specifically to the title of the highest military authority in the shogunate.
The shogun ruled Japan for over seven hundred years.
Historians study the shogunate to understand how military power shaped Japanese society during the Edo period.
The transition from imperial rule to shogunate authority marked a significant shift in Japanese governance, centralising military power under a single general while the emperor remained a symbolic figure.
From Japanese 将軍 (shōgun), itself the short form of 征夷大将軍 (seii taishōgun, literally “general who overcomes the barbarians”), ultimately from Middle Chinese. Doublet of jiangjun.