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What was the shogunate?

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The shogunate was the hereditary military dictatorship of Japan (1192–1867). Legally, the shogun answered to the emperor, but, as Japan evolved into a feudal society, control of the military became tantamount to control of the country. The emperor remained in his palace in Kyōto chiefly as a symbol of power behind the shogun.