Editing Shogun (section)

==Relationship with the emperor==
{{Main|Emperor of Japan}}
[[File:Imperial Seal of Japan.svg|thumb|upright=0.4|The [[Imperial Seal of Japan]]]]
Since [[Minamoto no Yoritomo]] turned the figure of the shogun into a permanent and hereditary position and until the [[Meiji Restoration]], there were two ruling classes in Japan:
*The emperor or {{nihongo|''[[tennō]]''|天皇|extra=lit. "Heavenly Sovereign"}},<ref name="Mitchelhill">Mitchelhill & Green, 2003:59.</ref> who acted as "chief priest" of the official religion of the country, [[Shinto]].
*The shogun, head of the army who also enjoyed civil, military, diplomatic and judicial authority.<ref name="Kuno245">Kuno, 2007:245.</ref> Although in theory the shogun was an emperor's servant, it became the true power behind the throne.<ref>Davis, 2001:205.</ref>

No shogun tried to usurp the throne, even when they had at their disposal the military power of the territory. There were two reasons primarily:<ref>Roth, 2007:103.</ref>

*Theoretically the shogun received the power of the emperor, so this was his symbol of authority.
*There was a sentimentalist tradition created by priests and religious who traced the imperial line from the "age of the gods" into an "eternal line unbroken by the times". According to Japanese mythology, the emperor was a direct descendant of [[Amaterasu]], goddess of the [[sun]].

Unable to usurp the throne, the shoguns sought throughout history to keep the emperor away from the country's political activity, relegating them from the sphere of influence. One of the few powers that the imperial house could retain was that of being able to "control time" through the designation of the Japanese [[Nengō]] or Eras and the issuance of calendars.<ref>Fiévé & Waley, 2003:235.</ref>

Emperors twice tried to recover the power they enjoyed before the establishment of the shogunate. In 1219 the [[Emperor Go-Toba]] accused the Hōjō as outlaws. Imperial troops mobilized, leading to the [[Jōkyū War]] (1219–1221), which would culminate in the third [[Battle of Uji (1221)]]. During this, the imperial troops were defeated and the emperor Go-Toba was exiled.<ref name="Pag41">Turnbull, 2006a:41.</ref> With the defeat of Go-Toba, the samurai government over the country was confirmed.<ref name="Pag41" /> At the beginning of the fourteenth century the [[Emperor Go-Daigo]] decided to rebel, but the Hōjō, who were then regents, sent an army from Kamakura. The emperor fled before the troops arrived and took the imperial insignia.<ref name="Pag43">Turnbull, 2006a:43.</ref> The shogun named his own emperor, giving rise to the era {{nihongo|[[Nanboku-chō period]]|南北朝|extra=lit. "Southern and Northern Courts"}}.

During the 1850s and 1860s, the shogunate was severely pressured both abroad and by foreign powers. It was then that various groups angry with the shogunate for the concessions made to the various European countries found in the figure of the emperor an ally through which they could expel the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] from power. The motto of this movement was {{nihongo|''[[Sonnō jōi]]''|尊王攘夷|extra="Revere the Emperor, Eject the Barbarians"}} and they finally succeeded in 1868, when imperial power was restored after centuries of being in the shadow of the country's political life.<ref>Fiévé & Waley, 2003:236.</ref>