THE CHRYSALIS
tates, over which the Kioto court exercised no active control. The real authority thus came into the hands of the strongest baronial power, whose representative, vested by the Mikado with the title of shogun, or commander-in-chief, ruled the country as regent, the Mikado retaining but a nominal sovereignty over the empire.
The first, or Kamakura, shogunate, so called from the city which its representatives made their capital, exercised the powers of government from 1186 to 1883. This was followed by a temporary restitution of power to the Mikado; but the reins of government soon fell into the hands of another line of shoguns, the Ashikaga, who from 1836 to 1578 ruled the country from Kioto itself. The fall of the Ashikaga shogunate was followed by a long period
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