For decades, the samurai carved out new lands and fortunes for themselves on Japan’s northern frontier, fighting under a “commander in chief to suppress the barbarians” (Sei-i Tai Shōgun). Ultimately, these kings in the north became more powerful than the nobles that appointed them, and coveted a return to the peaceful capital, Kyoto.

In 1192, Minamoto no Yoritomo revived the title as a means of holding power in the Emperor’s name. In doing so, he initiated seven centuries of military government, relegating the Emperors to the sidelines. The height of Shōgunal power was the rule of the Tokugawa clan, which held an iron grip on Japan for two centuries, until it was brought crashing down by the Black Ships of the United States.

The Shōguns examines the rise and fall of Japan’s samurai warlords, and the many oddities among them. One was defeated by a mosquito bite; another valued dogs more than humans; still another kept busy with 900 concubines thanks to a cocktail of bizarre aphrodisiacs. All these, and more, appear in this illuminating chronicle of Japan’s true rulers.

• 1 Raising Tigers: The Wars with the Emishi
• 2 Anointed Through Victory: The Japanese Turn on Each Other
• 3 The Latter Days of the Law: The Rise of the Kamakura Bakufu (to 1199)
• 4 The Brood of the Nun Shogun: The Early Hojo Regency (to 1244)
• 5 A World Full of Rats: The Decline of the Kamakura Bakufu (to 1333)
• 6 Martial Establishment: The Kenmu Restoration (1333–1336)
• 7 Like Fire and Water: The Rise of the Ashikaga Shogunate (to 1449)
• 8 Warring States: The Decline of the Ashikaga Shogunate (to 1597)
• 9 Peace Prevails: The Early Tokugawa Shogunate (to 1651)
• 10 The Locked Country: Life in a Time Warp (to 1716)
• 11 Tidings from the West: Ships on the Horizon (to 1853)
• 12 The Meiji Restoration: The Last of the Shoguns (to 1868)
• 13 The Edo Inheritance