Japan: shogunate and restoration history 1192–1869

For the earlier history of Japan, see Japan: prehistoric and ancient history to AD 400 and Japan: early feudal history 400–1192.

The period 1192 to 1869 began with the establishment of the shogunate system, a form of government that would last until 1868, and in which effective control over Japan lay with the hands of the hereditary shoguns. The major shogunates included the Kamakura (1192–1333), the Ashikaga (1338–1573), and the Tokugawa (1603–1868). In 1869, following internal conflict over the reopening of Japan to the outside world, the emperor Mutsuhito Meiji (reigned 1867–1912) recovered the full powers of the emperors and took control of the government.

Relations with Europe had been open in the early Tokugawa period, when Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English traders rivalled each other for trade, and Catholic missionaries were sent to convert the Japanese. However, from the mid-17th to the mid-19th centuries, the Tokugawa shoguns adopted a policy that severely restricted relations between Japan and the outside world.