Shōgun 将軍
Title given to the military rulers of Japan between from the 1192 century to 1867. The full title was Sei-i-tai Shōgun (征夷大将軍 or "barbarian-subduing great general".
The term itself first appeared in 794 and originally meant commander of the imperial armies who led the campaigns against the Ainu.
Hereditary shōguns effectively controlled Japan - although always receiving formal authority from the emperor - during six and a half centuries.
Japan's shogunates were the Kamakura Shogunate (1192-1333), established by Minamoto no Yoritomo, but ruled by the Hojo clan after his death, the Ashikaga Shogunate (1338-1597), based in Kyōto and ruled by the family of the same name, and the Tokugawa Shogunate (1600-1867), based in Edo and ruled by Tokugawa Ieyasu and his descendant.
The Tokugawa Shogunate was called bakufu ("tent government" 幕府), and the late Tokugawa era, just before the Meiji Restoration, was known as bakumatsu.
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