Earliest Possible "Meiji" Restoration

Basically what is the earliest time that the Imperial Court can regain control of Japan from the Shogunate? Was it only possible when the Meiji Restoration occurred? Could the Kenmu restoration, the last time the Emperor held any power before the Meiji Restoration, be successful? What about during the Sengoku or Azuchi–Momoyama periods? Or could the Imperial Court somehow manage to remain in control of Japan, keeping any Shogunate from being formed in the first place?
 
What do you mean by "regain control?" Are you referring to a type of Chinese-style imperial system, or do you just mean the Emperors simply becoming the dominant political player in Japan, in the same way the Shoguns were? Because I would argue that even the Shoguns didn't fully control Japan at times, based on their feudal system. If you want the former, I think that even a successful Kenmu Restoration wouldn't be enough, because feudal lords still held a lot of power in its early days. You might have to go back to the Nara and very early Heian period, avoiding the Fujiwara Regency, to prevent the Japanese Emperors from losing control of the country. The first Fujiwara Regent came to power in 848 with the accession of Emperor Seiwa, so to weaken the Fujiwara you might have to go even earlier than that.
 
Well, Japan could be considered unified during the parts of the Asuka/Nara/Heian period, so I think the question would be "How early could Japan be reunified?"

If we're stretching out the definition of imperial court, maybe a continuation of the insei system might count? You'd get the Emperors in a ceremonial role still, but power would be held by the imperial family.
 
Unified isn't really the right word you're looking for. Modern, perhaps? Open? Centralized? I lean most towards the last one, but it's certainly not exclusive to the imperial court, but it's definitely probably one of the defining achievements of the Meiji Restoration.

With regards to the OP; you actually have political currents during the Shogunate running towards the reverence of the Emperor. Towards the end of the Shogunate (but long before the opening up), the development of Japanese political philosophy was in a marked trend that was beginning to move away from the dominant Sino-centric world-view, emphasizing emulation of meritocratic China, towards a Japan-centric model, one which glorified the purity of the Imperial line, and by extension, Japan; and a large part of that was derived from the perceived divinity of the Emperor, and the (actually fairly accurate) claim that his was the longest-reigning unbroken dynasty in the world (with certain allowances made), the concentration of which on was by the early 19th century gaining much traction among educated Japanese. The ideas behind the Restoration of the Emperor did not simply pull themselves out of thin air, after all.
 
Well, Japan could be considered unified during the parts of the Asuka/Nara/Heian period, so I think the question would be "How early could Japan be reunified?"

If we're stretching out the definition of imperial court, maybe a continuation of the insei system might count? You'd get the Emperors in a ceremonial role still, but power would be held by the imperial family.

Yes, but I heard the control was soon recending to the central provinces gradually - hence the rise of the samurai local nobles...
 
Idea; what if someone decided NOT to use this China-inspired model anymore, seeing it - with reason perhaps - as it was not fitted much to japan, and went for another form, variation of unitary 'kingdom' so to speak. Something like Shogunate before shogunate, but empowered from lessons off Heian-Nara eras and all.
 
Yes, but I heard the control was soon recending to the central provinces gradually - hence the rise of the samurai local nobles...
Yeah, I think that was a Heian phenomenon though. I think the Asuka and Nara periods avoided that.

But that seems a bit too late, in my opinion. Even if the Ashikaga brothers are defeated, what long-lasting reforms are in place to prevent some other general, maybe Nitta Yoshisada, from taking place and ending the restoration anyways?
 
I should have clarified what I meant, my bad:eek:. I meant what is the earliest point in which the Imperial Court in Kyoto can regain their former political power. It can be either with the Emperor as a figurehead, like during the Fujiwara Regency or actual power, like the Meiji Restoration. Bonus points for actual power.
 
If you're okay with figurehead monarchs, you could have Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his alternate successors continue to rule as kampaku, since they never held the title of shogun. And Toyotomi was nominally adopted into the Fujiwara family (I say nominally because the man who adopted him was the same age as him), so if the Toyotomi rule as regents, you have a nominal resurrection of the Fujiwara regency.

In my opinion, the warrior class in Japan was very entrenched after the Heian period. The only way you could have even nominal imperial control is to get rid of the post of shogun while having a military man rule over the court.
 
If you're okay with figurehead monarchs, you could have Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his alternate successors continue to rule as kampaku, since they never held the title of shogun. And Toyotomi was nominally adopted into the Fujiwara family (I say nominally because the man who adopted him was the same age as him), so if the Toyotomi rule as regents, you have a nominal resurrection of the Fujiwara regency.

In my opinion, the warrior class in Japan was very entrenched after the Heian period. The only way you could have even nominal imperial control is to get rid of the post of shogun while having a military man rule over the court.

What about a military/Warrior Emperor? Who identifies more with the warrior class than the Court Nobility? Could that work? Or is that even possible?
 
What about a military/Warrior Emperor? Who identifies more with the warrior class than the Court Nobility? Could that work? Or is that even possible?
I don't think so. I don't even think that there have been any warrior monarchs in Japan ever since the development of Japanese historical records, but I might be wrong about that.

I know that the Empress Saimei had wanted to lead an army, to invade Korea, but she died before she could follow up on that. I think there are reports of other early Japanese warrior emperors (e.g. Emperor Jimmu), but I think those are mostly or entirely mythical, so I don't consider them reliable. So if you wanted a long line of Japanese military emperors, you'd need a point of divergence that predates Japanese written records. If that's the case, I don't know how to help since I'm not one to separate the myth from reality.
 
After doing more reading to try to boost my (admittedly) poor knowledge of Japanese history, I came across the Nanboku-chō period. Now could the Southern Court, the opposition to the Ashikaga Shogunate and the Northern Court during the Nanboku-chō period, win and regain power over the country? It seems to me that the best time for this to happen was after the Kannō disturbance, a civil war between the Shogun and his brother, which ended up reinvigorating the Southern Court's war efforts with the supporters of the Shoguns brother, who was supposedly poisoned, transferring their allegiance to the South. If the Southern Court could hold Kyoto for a long length of time, instead of short intervals, could this be the definitive move to formally swing power back to the Court?
 
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