Military ruler of
Japan; a shortening of Sei to shogun, or "Barbarian-quelling general/marshal".
The rank of shogun was originally given on a temporary basis to those leading campaigns against the Ainu, the first such commission being given to Otomo Yakemochi in 784.
Following the Minamoto’s triumph in the Genpei war (1180-1185), Minamoto Yoritomo received the title shogun in 1192 and made it a hereditary position.
The Minamoto were in time followed by the Ashikaga (founded by Ashikaga Takauji in 1338) and the Tokugawa (founded by Ieyasu in 1603). The rank of shogun was finally dispensed with when Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from that post in 1867.