Glossary: bakufu

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bakufu (幕府)

Lit.: "tent government", the government of the shogun, who is the 'supreme general of the samurai'. Starting from Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, until the Meiji Restoration, shoguns and their bakufu held the pratical power in Japan and relegated the emperor to the position of figurehead.