The Edo period , when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, and stable population. Shogun was the military dictator of Japan from to with exceptions. In most of this period, the shoguns were the de facto rulers of the country, although nominally they were appointed by the Emperor as a ceremonial formality.
The shogun held almost absolute power over territories through military means. In this context, the office of the shogun had a status equivalent to that of a viceroy or governor-general, but in reality shoguns dictated orders to everyone including the reigning Emperor.
During the second half of the 16th century, Japan gradually reunified under two powerful warlords, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In the hope of founding a new dynasty, Hideyoshi asked his most trusted subordinates to pledge loyalty to his infant son Toyotomi Hideyori.
Ieyasu abdicated two years later to groom his son as the second shogun of what became a long dynasty. The Emperor in Kyoto was funded lavishly by the government but had no political power. He was both careful and boldβat the right times, and in the right places. Calculating and subtle, Ieyasu switched alliances when he thought he would benefit from the change. The period of the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, known as the Edo period, brought years of stability to Japan.
The political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan , a combination of the terms bakufu and han domains. This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities.
