What is the difference between the emperor and the shogun in Tokugawa Japan?
The Emperor was the ruler of all Japan. The shoguns were warlord who ruled over their own estates, but were answerable to the Emperor as the supreme authority. In much the same way as members of the nobility of European countries might rule their own personal estates, but would still be subject to the kings of their respective countries. P.S. The emperor of Japan was considered to be semi-divine by virtue of his descent from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu.
In Tokugawa japan the emperor was more of a figure head than anything else, he had no real power but the people still respected him as a deity, the shogun had the real power, he had the largest holding of land and controlled the daimyo (smaller lords) and therefore the people. The shogun supposedly acted in the emperor’s name, but really he just acted on his own and the emperor was rarely consulted for anything, the people listened to the shogun because his power came from the emperor who’s power came from the “sun god” (sort of, sun god isn’t really a good translation but that’s a separate issue, it’ll do for this point).
