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The Japanese Castles And Power During The Nineteenth Century

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To understand the Japanese castles, one must immerse in history of the country. Japan despite a very different culture, like the old continent, also had a medieval time. Different regions were then divided into small entities over which ruled a local lord. The equivalence would be Dukes or Counts. The Emperor of divine ancestry, could be seen as the Pope while the Shogun was in charge of the power of the reigning emperor. This feudal system then required to have stronghold, but it is only with the unification of the country that the real castles were built in the very short period of a few decades, at the end the sixteenth century. Those castles experienced a very rapid peak with stabilization over several decades to finally be nearly all destroyed before being rebuilt in the twentieth century.
Before the nineteenth century, two clans battle for the seizure of power during the Heian period (794-1185): the Minamoto clan and the Taira clan. Between 1180 and 1185, Japan went through a great civil war with the final victory of the Minamoto clan. During this period, the power of the emperor was still strong.
Japan then enters its feudal phase called the Kamakura period, from 1185 to 1333. The emperor was not playing much than a passive role in the management of the country, mainly present for ceremonies. Civilian and military functions were in the hands of the samurai. The most powerful of these is the samurai shogun... It was the first military government called Bakufu.
Until

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