A glossary with essential terms relating to the history of Japan. This list will be continually expanded.
TERM | KANJI | DESCRIPTION |
---|---|---|
bakufu | 幕府 | Government of the shogunate, also referring to the seat of the government and administration |
bakuhan taisei | 幕藩体制 | Edo-era system of government, characterised by the central authority of the bakufu and local autonomy of the han |
be | 部 | Hereditary professions assigned to uji |
bunmei kaika | 文明開化 | "Civilization and enlightenment", an early Meiji-era movement aiming at re-organising Japan according to Western ciliization |
buke, bushi | 武家・武士 | Warrior class |
chōnin | 町人 | Edo-era townspeople, merchants, craftsmen and labourers |
daimyō | 大名 | feudal lord, warlord |
daiō | 大王 | Great king |
dajōkan | 太政官 | Grand Council of State, the highest organ of the Meiji government until 1885 |
dajō daijin | 太政大臣 | Chancellor or Chief Minister, head of the dajōkan |
fudai-daimyō | 譜代大名 | Hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa |
fukoku kyōhei | 富国強兵 | "Enrich the state, strengthen the military", a national slogan during the Meiji era |
genrō | 元老 | Elder statesmen during the Meiji Period, a powerful informal and extraconstitutional institution |
gokenin | 御家人 | Direct vassals of the shogun |
han | 藩 | Feudal domain of a daimyō |
haniwa | 埴輪 | Unglazed tomb figures made of earthenware |
hatamoto | 旗本 | "Bannermen", direct vassals of the Tokugawa of higher rank than the gokenin |
heimin | 平民 | Citizens |
heinō bunri | 兵農分離 | Social segregation of samurai and peasants at the end of the 16th/beginning of the 17th century |
insei | 院政 | Cloistered rule, rule of an emperor abdicated |
jingikan | 神祇官 | Department of Divinities, a Japanese Imperial bureaucracy established in the 8th century |
jitō | 地頭 | land stewards appointed by the shogun, especially in the Kamakura and Muromachi Shogunates |
jisha bugyō | 寺社奉行 | "Commissioner" or "overseer" of temples and shrines during the Tokugawa shogunate |
jōdai karō | 城代家老 | Karō in charge of a castle |
kabane | 姓 | Hereditary titles used with clan name in pre-modern Japan to denote rank and political standing |
kaikoku | 開国 | The opening the Japanese nation for foreign countries and trade in 1853 |
kanpaku | 関白 | Chief advisor and regent of an emperor |
katanagari | 刀狩 | Sword hunt, the confiscation of weapons at the end of the 16th century |
karō | 家老 | senior samurai officials and advisors in service to the daimyō |
kōbu gattai | 公武合体 | "Union of the Imperial Court and the Shogunate", a policy aiming at a political coordination between the bakufu and the emperor |
kofun | 古墳 | Burial mounds |
koku | 石 | Japanese unit of volume, especially for rice (180l) |
kokudaka | 石高 | Estimate of the annual yield of farmland measured in koku of unpolished rice and the basis of and taxes throughout the Edo Period |
kokushi | 国司 | Provincial governor |
kokutai | 国体 | The Japanese national entity: system of government, sovereignty, national identity, essence, and character, etc. |
kuge | 公家 | Court nobility |
kunigarō | 国家老 | Karō based in a domain |
Kyōto shoshidai | 京都所司代 | Governor of Kyōto and highest-ranking representative of the Tokugawa shogunate in the city |
mandokoro | 政所 | Chief governing body of the Kamakura bakufu |
monchūjo | 問注所 | Court of justice of the Kamakura bakufu |
Ōsaka jōdai | 大坂城代 | Commissioners or governors, high-ranking officials of the Tokugawa shogunate |
ōsei fukko | 王政復古 | Imperial restoration |
ritsuryō-sei | 律令制 | The centralised imperial system of government of the Nara Period |
rōjū | 老中 | One of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate |
Rokuhara tandai | 六波羅探題 | High-ranking position in the Kamakura shogunate |
rōnin | 浪人 | Masterless samurai in feudal Japan |
sadaijin | 左大臣 | Minister of the Left, a government position in the late Nara and Heian periods |
sakoku | 鎖国 | Policy of national isolation during the Tokugawa shogunate |
samurai-dokoro | 侍所 | Board of Retainers, an office of the Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates |
sankin kōtai | 参勤交代 | "Alternate attendance", a Tokugawa policy under which daimyō had to spend every other year in Edo |
seii tai shōgun | 征夷大将軍 | "Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians", the official title of shogun |
sekke | 摂家 | The five regent houses of the Fujiwara clan and the kuge |
sesshō | 摂政 | Title of a regent acting on behalf of a child emperor or an empress regnant |
shikken | 執権 | Regent acting on behalf of a Kamakura shogun |
shi nō kō shō | 士農工商 | A hierarchic social class structure based on four professions or castes: samurai, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants. |
shinpan-daimyō | 親藩大名 | Branch or cadet families of the Tokugawa |
shōen | 荘園 | Privately-owned and often autonomous estates or manors |
shugo | 守護 | Military governor or "constable" appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces |
sonnō jōi | 尊王攘夷 | "Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians", political slogan of the bakumatsu to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate |
sūmitsuin | 枢密院 | Privy Council, an advisory council to the emperor |
taikō | 太閤 | Title of a retired kanpaku |
tairō | 大老 | Highest-ranking official in the Tokugawa shogunate and chief policy maker; regent in the absence of a shogun, or in the event that the shogun was incapacitated |
tenryō | 天領 | Land under the direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate |
tozama-daimyō | 外様大名 | "Outside daimyō", nonhereditary feudal lords that submitted to the Tokugawa after the Battle of Sekigahara and were usually excluded from participation in the government. |
udaijin | 右大臣 | Minister of the Right, the Junior Minister of State, overseeing all branches of the daijōkan and deputy of the sadaijin. |
uji | 氏 | Kin groups during the Kofun Period and traditional Japanese clans |
uji no kami | 氏上 | Head of an uji |
ujigami | 氏神 | Guardian god or spirit of an uji |
wakadoshiyori | 若年寄 | "Junior Elders", high-ranking government officials in 17th-century Tokugawa shogunate |
zaibatsu | 財閥 | Industrial and financial combines of a conglomerate type that dominated the Japanese economy between the Meiji Period and World War I |