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Shugo (守護) were military commanders/administrative officers placed at the provincial level under the military organizations established by the Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates. The shugo originated in the non-ritsuryō position of tsuibushi (追捕使) and was incorporated into the shogunal organization after Emperor Go-Shirakawa acknowledged the authority of Minamoto no Yoritomo to appoint and dismiss shugo and jitō. Appointed by the shogun, their primary responsibility at the time of the position's creation was the supervision of their province's jitō. This role was known as shugonin bugyō (守護人奉行) in the Kamakura period and as shugo-shiki in the Muromachi.

The shugo system continued in various forms until the fall of the Muromachi shogunate; it disappeared when the suceeding Shokuhō regime (織豊政権) did not appoint anyone to the positions.

Kamakura Period
It is believed that the kokushi (国司) of the late Heian period appointed powerful local samurai to serve as kunishugonin ("provincial protectors"; 国守護人) and charged them with maintaining order within the provinces. This is one potential origin for the shugo of the Kamakura period.

The earliest reference to a shugo is in the 21 October 1180 entry of the Azuma Kagami, in which Minamoto no Yoritomo appoints Takeda Nobuyoshi as shugo of Suruga and Yasuda Yoshisada as shugo of Tōtōmi following the Battle of Fujikawa. This is believed to be a falsification on the part of the editor, as Yoritomo's authority did not actually extend to these provinces at that time. It is clear that Yoritomo appointed shugo to his power base in southern Kantō early on, however. Later, as Yoritomo's authority spread west, the appointment of shugo there followed. Shugo were also known as sōtsuibushi (惣追捕使) at this time and their primary responsibilities were requisitioning provisions and mobilizing troops. Kajiwara Kagetoki and Dohi Sanehira were appointed shugo of Harima, Mimasaka, Bizen, Bitchū, and Bingō and participated in the pursuit of the Taira by Yoritomo's army (Azuma Kagami, 18 February 1184). After the destruction of the Taira in 1185, Yoritomo reported to Emperor Go-Shirakawa that he would stop appointing shugo.

Hōjō Tokimasa petitioned the emperor in November 1185 for the establishment of a "provincial jitō" (国地頭) in each province for the purpose of pursuing Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Yukiie. The emperor complied. These were given the power to mobilize warriors, requisition five shō of rice per tan from all private and public lands, and authority over fields. The position was abolished the following March after a backlash from shōen proprietors. Tokimasa maintained sōtsuibushi with military and policing responsibilities instead.

Yoshitsune and Yukiie's forces were soon defeated and the position of sōtsuibushi was abolished in the Kinai provinces. The imperial court stated that the sōtsuibushi were only for "while the world is unresolved" and required the positions to be vacant, suggesting that at this time the position of shugo was considered a temporary military command position for the purpose of wartime or emergencies that would eliminated when peace returned.

The Kenkyū Shinsei, issued by the emperor on 22 March 1191, formally acknowledged Yoritomo's right to appoint shugo, however, thereby making the position a permanent one. Shugo were appointed to each province and clearly differentiated from the jitō appointed to public and private lands, thus beginning the Kamakura period's system of shugo and jitō in earnest.

Yoritomo's effective control was initially limited to the eastern half of Japan; the imperial court (most notably retired Emperor Go-Toba) and temples were powerful in the areas west of Kinai. Go-Toba continually interfered, such as by ordering the position of shugo to be abolished, or appointing Ouchi Koreyoshi shugo of seven provinces near Kinai. It wasn't until after the 1221 Jōkyū War between the shogunate and Go-Toba that this interference ceased.

The duties of a shugo gradually became established in the following years. In the 1232 Goseibai Shikimoku (御成敗式目) legal code, the official duties of the shugo were limited to the military and police duties delineated in the "Three Regulations for Great Crimes" (大犯三ヶ条): service in the Ōbanyaku (大番役), the arrest of rebels, and the arrest of murderers. They were forbidden from interfering with the kokushi's administration of the province and from assuming control of public lands (国衙領). The shugo endeavors to make jitō and public land administrators (在庁官人) into their vassals to get around this restriction, however; this vassalization of local warriors would become even more prominent in the following Muromachi period.

The Hōjō Clan and its offshoots came to monopolize shugo positions from the mid-Kamakura period on. This development accompanied the Hōjō Regency and the clan's assumption of actual control over the government. Hōjō control of shugoships expanded from 2 provinces in 1200 to 17 in 1250, 33 in 1285, and 38 in 1333. This monopolization of posts caused resentment from other gokenin and is thought to have been one of the underlying reasons for the fall of the Kamakura shogunate.

Muromachi Period
When Emperor Go-Daigo established his government following the destruction of the Kamakura shogunate (the Kenmu Restoration), he retained the position of shugo. Little is known about these shugo, however, as Go-Daigo's rule ended after only a few years.

Shugo remained in the governmental apparatus of the Muromachi shogunate that succeeded Go-Daigo. Shugoships were initially given to powerful local figures, but there were gradually replaced by those related to the Ashikaga; only a few, like the Akamatsu clan of Harima, managed to hold on to their positions. This was a continuation of the Hōjō practice during the Kamakura period.

Under the Ashikaga, shugo initially had the same powers that they had had during the Kamakura period. They were granted the additional powers of karita rōzeki (刈田狼藉) and shisetsu jungyō (使節遵行) in 1346, however. Karita rōzeki was the right to use force during territorial disputes between warriors, and shisetsu jungyō was the authority to enforce shogunal judgments. Shugo thus gained the right to intervene in disputes between warriors within their province and to enforce judicial decrees.

In 1352, shugo were given the right of hanzei (半済), collecting half of the annual tax from public and private lands within their province, for the purpose of supplying military provisions. Initially, the shogunate only temporarily authorized hanzei in three provinces in the midst of military conflict (Ōmi, Mino, and Owari), but the right eventually became permanent as the shugo incessantly petitioned for it. A 1368 hanzei order (Jisha Honjōryō no Koto) authorized the receipt of not just tax but half of the land itself; infringement by the shugo on public and private lands had already become considerable. The shugo also formed contracts with shōen proprietors to collect their taxes, a practice known as shugo-uke (守護請), further solidifying their de facto control over the shōen. They also collected tansen and munebetsuzen, two types of tax, strengthening their economic power.

As the shugo thus strengthened their authority, absorbing the public lands that had been under the control of the kokushi, they used their increased economic power to convert the jitō, kokujin, and powerful land owners in their provinces into their vassals. In this way, shugo gradually expanded their influence throughout their provinces in terms of both land and personnel. As this behavior distinguishes them from their Kamakura predecessors (who only had military and police powers), the Muromachi shugo are often referred to as "shugo daimyo" so as to differentiate them. The shugo daimyo's control framework for their provinces is referred to as the shugo ryokoku-sei (守護領国制). Their control over their provinces was far from absolute, however; there are many examples of those at the kokujin level refusing vassalization, especially in Kinai.

The powers of the shugo daimyo in the shogunate had greatly expanded by the middle of the Muromachi period, and the shogunate had become a de facto coalition government between the shogun and the shugo daimyo. Powerful shugo clans of the time included the Shiba, Hatakeyama, and Hosokawa (all originally branches of the Ashikaga), and the non-related Yamana, Ōuchi, and Akamatasu clans; all of these clans controlled multiple provinces. Many of these powerful shugo were continuously in the capital so as to participate in the running of the government; they would designate a deputy from their direct vassals when they were away from their territory or if they controlled multiple provinces. These "shugo-dai" would often have a deputy of his own, creating a two or three-level structure in each province.

Appearance of the Sengoku Daimyo and the Shugo of the Sengoku Period
Around the time of the Ōnin War, disputes broke out between regional powers (shugo and kokujin) and within the shugo clans. This was accompanied by an increased tendency towards independence by local kokujin (such as in kokujin ikki). Some independent kokujin sought to gain independent control over territory as the shugo had. This invited a reduction in the authority of the shugo, but was also linked to the strengthening of the shugo clan's control over the kokujin. Following the opportunity provided by the weakening of the shogunate with the 1493 Meiō Coup, those shugo who had failed to recover their declining authority had their places usurped by shugo-dai and kokujin, while those who had succeeded in strengthening their control over the kokujin were able to assume greater control over their territory.

There were thus two groups who became what are known as sengoku daimyo: first, those shugo clans from the Kamakura and Muromachi periods who managed to consolidate their control over their territory; and second, the shugo-dai and kokujin who rose up and controlled territory in the shugo's stead. There is no consensus on the exact definition of a sengoku daimyo, but common elements include territorial control at the district or provincial scale, a lack of submissive relationships (except with traditional authorities such as the court and shogun), and the ability to conduct diplomatic and military actions independently.

Research regarding "sengoku daimyo" based on postwar positivism is ongoing, causing the place of the shugo within the Sengoku period to be re-examined; the creation of house codes by the daimyo and the existence of the public authority of the shugo have been pointed to as the background to the power of the sengoku daimyo, and there have been attempts, such as by Katsumata Shizuo, to interpret the territorial control of the sengoku daimyo as a type of "regional state".

Meanwhile, others like Yada Toshifumi, Imaoka Norikazu, and Kawaoka Tsutomu reject the "sengoku daimyo's territory = regional state" theory, arguing that the Muromachi shogunal organization and the authority of the shugo remained during the Sengoku period. They link the concept of the "Sengoku period" with the dissolution of the Muromachi shogunate from the mid-15th century on and believe that although the "sengoku daimyo" appeared due to changes in the power of the shugo in the early 16th century, they merely existed within the framework of the Muromachi shogunate; the shugo of the Sengoku period were thus "sengoku shugo".

Research into sengoku daimyo has largely been done in the east of the country. As the "sengoku shugo" theory developed from research into Kinai and western Japan, gaps exist in the heretofore perception of sengoku daimyo/sengoku shugo. There are arguments concerning the position of the shugo in the sengoku period, but it is generally pointed out that, while the Muromachi shogunate still wielded a certain amount of influence, the sengoku daimyo did not necessarily need the public authority of the shugo title and possessed independent power.

Edo Period
Following the destruction of the Ashikaga shogunate, central authorities such as the Shokuho governments and the Tokugawa shogunate forced the sengoku daimyo and regional powers to submit and established lord-vassal relationships with them. The Tokugawa clan inherited the title of seii taishogun as the Ashikaga shogunal house had but granted their vassal daimyo territory without the title of shugo and ruled via the bakuhan system. During the Bakumatsu Period, Matsudaira Katamori, the lord of Aizu domain, was named Kyoto Shugoshoku (Military Commissioner of Kyoto) by the imperial court at the shogunate's request.