Shugo

:This article is about the Japanese post. For the character in Legend of the Twilight please see Shugo Kunisaki.

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Shugo (守護) was the title given to certain officals in fuedal Japan. They were each appointed by the Shogun to oversee a province (kuni).

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The post was initially created by Minamoto no Yoritomo, in order to aid the capture Yoshitsune but an additional motivation was to extend the rule of the Shogunate government throughout Japan. The Shugo supplanted the existing Kokushi, who were appointed by the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Offically, the gokenin in each kuni were supposed to serve its shugo, but in practice, the relationship between them was fragile, as the gokenin were vassals of the Shogun as well.

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Japan: For other uses, see Japan (disambiguation)....

Shogun: :This page is about the Japanese ruler and military rank. For other meanings of shogun, see Shogun (disambiguation)....

Kuni: Kuni (Japanese: 国) were provinces in Japan ruled by daimyos. The division of Japanese land into political kuni continued until the establishment of the modern prefecture system. In modern times, each of the existing political circuits covers an area once occupied by about a dozen kuni. The nu...