Political Features
The Political Features of Shogunate Japan relate to how the country was run. The political system was ran by the government, which were the Shoguns. This political system was a feudal system that was developed in 710CE. It was a very complex and complicated feudal system. This system is similar to most feudal system structures, as it has a figurehead (Emperor) at the top of the system. The Emperor was a monarch leader, their job was to run the empire, but didn’t have much authority. As the Hierarchy feudal system pyramid shows us the structure of the empire, it was clear that the Emperor was at the top followed by Shogun, which were the political leaders. The Shogun were military commanders, when the Shogun were in power the time period they ruled was referred as the ‘Japanese Feudal Period’. During the Shogunate period the Emperor of Japan was a figurehead, while the shogun had actual power over the country. The Shoguns lost power after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 but during their time in power (12th Century – 1868AD) they did some extraordinary things, they supervised private estates, put provinces (a division of a empire) under military control, and created legal and financial government posts. As well as being political leaders, Shogunates were the head of the warrior class called samurai. The Samurai were people who fought to promote justice and security. Therefore, the Political features of Shogunate Japan were the Emperor and the Shoguns. Both of these two figureheads were high ranked people of society that had the power over the Empire, but it was the Shoguns that had the authority over the Emperor.