"Holding the Son of Heaven hostage to order the princes"
It is an allusion that we are familiar with in history, and in that era of imperial power swing, new forces always appeared on the stage of history. There have been similar stories in Japan, and some of them belong to them
In the past, this was the shogunate era in Japan.
During this period, the shogunate became a symbol of social stability, while the emperor was hidden far behind and disappeared into people's vision, becoming a symbol. But the emperor always existed in the shogunate era, in the Edo period, when the power of the shogunate was most concentrated.
Will the shogun be able to surpass the emperor in legal terms? Let's answer this question as the relationship between the Dynasty and the Curtain evolves.
1. Shoguns became symbols of the emperor's power
Why did shoguns become symbols of power in that era? How the general stood out among the officials of the imperial court, in that complex and changeable historical period, all the accidents will become inevitable for future development.
The general became the dominant force under the development of history.
Because in the historical period when civilization had not yet covered the entire society, barbarism was always everywhere, and the story of killing due to profit was always the theme of that era.
Even though the emperor wielded supreme power, he did not have enough power to intimidate the people. What role will power play at this time to exert its power?
At this time, the shogun became a symbol of the emperor's strength, and this position was about to represent the emperor's authority to conquer the four sides.
1. The Emperor remained in a supreme position of dominance but power began to be delegated to shoguns
The power of the emperor spread in all directions during the general's conquest, and the general's status rose rapidly in the conquest. During the Kamakura period, the prestige of the shogun gradually gained recognition.
During this period, shoguns began to have their own shogunate, which meant that the shogunate era in Japan had begun.
The Kamakura shogunate became the first shogunate in Japanese history, and so on
Shoguns became the role models of central conquests
。 At this time, the number of Japanese samurai who could fight a good war increased dramatically, and the background of the times gave birth to these brave and good warriors, who were excited to see the cool and heroic posture of the shogun, and were willing to follow the back of their hearts.
So the samurai clique sprang up from all directions, but this also meant that the position of the Kamakura shogunate was threatened.
Because some samurai groups want to take their place.
2. The shogun's struggle for power suggests a desire to gain the emperor's dominance
During the shogunate era, the status of shoguns was extremely high, the emperor handed over the power of execution, and the shogun maintained social stability on behalf of the emperor. However, shoguns were not always recognized, especially the samurai clique.
So we saw the Warring States era, which was full of wars and lives, unfold.
This era is a struggle for the status and power of shoguns, and we see each tyrant unfolding their extraordinary willpower and commanding ability in the face of this era.
This era is very similar to the Three Kingdoms era we know, and we may be unfamiliar with the name Oda Nobunaga, but we will not be unfamiliar with the name Cao Cao. Oda Nobunaga's position in that era was equivalent to that of Cao Cao in the Three Kingdoms era.
In front of these tyrants, a shogunate fell, and another shogunate rose, and this is how they took turns on the stage of history. Finally, the Tokugawa Ieyasu clan defeated the Toyotomi clan at the Battle of Sekigahara, and the Warring States Period came to an end. The Tokugawa shogunate took the stage, becoming the last shogunate in Japanese history.
The Tokugawa shogunate broke through the emperor's shackles and was a veritable ruler, so how did the Tokugawa shogunate do different from its predecessors and completely get rid of the emperor's shackles?
Why was the Emperor still not replaced during the Edo period, and did the Tokugawa shogunate surpass the Emperor in legal terms and replace him completely?
Through the gathering of power of the Tokugawa clan in the Edo period, we can see the contradictory relationship between him and the emperor who depended on and divided.
Second, the contradictions in the relations between the imperial court and the shogunate deepened, and the Tokugawa shogunate broke free from the shackles of the imperial court system to obtain a real dominant position
How the Tokugawa shogunate gathered the power of the emperor into its own hands step by step was obtained by Tokugawa Ieyasu's mentality of thinking of danger in peace and planning step by step. The Tokugawa shogunate was established in the Edo area, so this era was called the Edo period, and the Tokugawa clan became the symbol of the rulers of this era.
It was also during this period that the contradictions between the shogunate and the imperial court gradually deepened. In the shogunate era before Tokugawa, tensions between the imperial court and the shogunate persisted, and the emperor gradually became a fixture in front of the shoguns.
Of course, the emperor was naturally not willing to succumb to this pattern, so the power struggle was a more obvious theme in the early Edo period.
The tug-of-war between the two sides continued throughout the Edo period. However, under these two forces, the shogunate has always occupied a dominant position. During the previous shogunate period, the shoguns had not yet transcended the imperial court system and were under the control of the imperial court, and the demise of the subsequent generations of shogunates was related to this system of being subject to the imperial court.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was aware of this, so he was always wary of the imperial court's constraints on the shogunate system.
As a result, the Tokugawa shogunate expanded its influence and became independent of the imperial court.
1. The Expansion of the Tokugawa Shogunate's power shocked the four sides, and its power had surpassed that of the Emperor
Even after the Sengoku period passed, some of the remnants of the Sengoku period were not completely wiped out in the early Edo period. Some of the samurai groups that had previously followed Toyotomi Hideyoshi had been waiting for an opportunity to annihilate the Tokugawa clan.
However, the Tokugawa shogunate was a shogunate that always remained in a state of peace and danger, so after the status of the shogunate was established, it conquered the four sides in the name of legitimacy and eliminated the remaining Toyotomi forces.
Over time, the samurai group realized the strength of the Tokugawa shogunate and turned to the Tokugawa shogunate. As soon as the Tokugawa shogunate expanded, the emperor's status was bound to decline, and the more difficult it would be for the emperor to control the shogunate.
The Tokugawa shogunate did not slow down the expansion of its power, uniting the daimyo of the various domains to submit to the administration of the Tokugawa shogunate, and setting up a bunch of clauses that were beneficial to the stabilization of Tokugawa's position, and the daimyō signed these clauses to show their legitimacy.
The power of the Tokugawa shoguns reached its peak, far exceeding that of the emperor at the time.
2. The establishment of the Imperial Palace to maintain shogunate rule was the key to getting rid of the shackles of the emperor's imperial court system
However, what enabled the Tokugawa shogunate to rule for more than two hundred years was not entirely dependent on the power of the Tokugawa clan, but rather the Tokugawa shogunate's departure from the imperial court's control system during this period. During the previous shogunate period, both Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were in the official system of the imperial court.
Therefore, the vitality of the shogunate was affected by the shackles of the imperial court.
After Tokugawa Ieyasu understood this, he stepped down as shogun for two years and set up the Daimyo to retreat behind the scenes, but he was still behind the shogunate, which was completely independent of the imperial court.
This indicates that the Tokugawa shogunate began to separate itself from the politics of the imperial court and create its own operating mechanism.
This is why the Edo period lasted so long, because the power of the Tokugawa shogunate was no longer concentrated in the hands of the shogun alone, but in the entire post-shogunate's operating institutions.
This is what makes the Tokugawa shogunate unique, and it is also because people are beginning to think about the orthodox status of Tokugawa power at this moment, whether it can surpass the status of the emperor.
Or is it legally possible to recognize the Tokugawa shogunate as the emperor of that era? This is the answer to this question from the emperor's spiritual position in Japan.
3. The insurmountable spiritual status was the reason why the Tokugawa shogunate failed to surpass the emperor in legal terms
With the Tokugawa shogunate so powerful, everyone will ask the question, that is, if the Tokugawa shogunate is so capable, why not directly replace the emperor?
Why put the emperor in a nominally awkward situation?
But this relationship is not so simple that it can be replaced, because the relationship between the Dynasty and the Curtain is complex and contradictory, and this has its deep historical reasons and the influence of the ideology of the Japanese people, and it is not appropriate for our thinking today to be placed in the history in which they live.
We can look a little further afield and have a broader view of these issues. So what was the reason why the Tokugawa shogunate failed to surpass the emperor in terms of law? Let's use this broad vision to see a more three-dimensional side of it.
1. The general acquires power but does not acquire legitimacy in the spiritual realm
It has been said before that the shogun began to show his head under the power of the emperor, the position of shogun already represents the power of the emperor, and the shogun is regarded as the "shogun of the shogunate", that is, he fought for the emperor, and without the emperor, then he would lose the legitimacy of the conquest. Therefore, the shogun was always able to play his role in obtaining legitimacy under the premise of the emperor's existence.
It can be seen how important the legitimacy of the emperor is to the Japanese. Because the Japanese have believed since ancient times that the emperor is the descendant of the god Amaterasu, his arrival is the will of god, and he is appointed by heaven to rule Japan.
The Emperor was the spiritual leader of the Japanese, and the Tokugawa shogunate simply ensured that this spiritual leader could penetrate his will.
In this spiritual realm, no matter how much the shogun controls power, he cannot surpass the emperor's spiritual position in the hearts of the Japanese, and naturally the Tokugawa shogunate cannot gain legitimacy in the spiritual realm.
2. The dynastic relations dominated by the shogunate eventually collapsed
In fact, the contradiction between the relationship between the shogunate and the imperial court is very similar to the relationship between imperial power and the scholar clan during the Wei and Jin dynasties of our Chinese history. The status and power of the family clan in that period was no less than that of the imperial power, but it has not been able to replace the position of the imperial power in legal terms.
Because imperial power was also equivalent to legitimacy for the ancients, the warriors were also attached to the imperial power.
Therefore, no matter how powerful the power of the warriors, they must recognize the legal legitimacy of the imperial power. General Tokugawa was able to constantly argue with the emperor over power under this inseparable relationship, but the relationship between the dynasty and the shogunate eventually collapsed during the Meiji Restoration.
Orthodoxy was ultimately the aspiration of the people, and the Tokugawa shogunate withdrew from the stage of history in the more than two hundred years of imperial relations.
IV. Conclusion
The Tokugawa shogunate has ruled for more than two hundred years and has left behind many cultures that have not been extinguished even after the shogunate era has passed.
Samurai culture still influences Japanese ideology.
Perhaps the legal status of the Tokugawa shogunate was under the emperor and did not replace the spiritual position of the emperor, but he also shouldered the responsibility of maintaining social stability in Japan as a whole, and the Edo period was an era of peace in Japan, for those who were in the midst of war.
Peace is the greatest consolation, a precious gift given to people during the Tokugawa shogunate era.