Shogun and Emperor's Guard

[D.Sebastian]

Did the Shogun or the Emperor have any special guard unit during the Tokugawa Shogunate? The emperor is frequently depicted around some warriors with weird tall hats, were those guardsman of any kind?

[rekishiotaku]

The sagging hat, eboshi, dates to around the Heian period (794–1185). Its basically court attire and still worn in Shinto functions today. There was a guard set up by the Kamakura shogunate called the Ouban 大番, literally Great Guard to protect the capital. Think of them as the Praetorian Guard of Roman history. The Guard Guard unit in Shogun 2 wears a helmet which is based off the eboshi, the eboshi kabuto probably to symbolize their court and martial status. I believe the Ouban guarded both the Imperial capital and the Shogun's capital(s) but they were under the control of the Shogun rather than Emperor, who at various times wielded little to no power.
During the Heian Period when the Imperial court had more authority palace guards looked more like this:



Now they look like this:


Hope that helps

[D.Sebastian]

Interesting! Was their dress the same during the tokugawa shogunate?
Also, was there any other guard unit, such as some kind of "imperial samurai"?

[rekishiotaku]

The Palace Guards or the Great Guards? I believe that during the Edo period the Palace Guards either did not exist, were incorporated into the Great Guards or were just Great Guards.
Basically I'd assume they did not dress in Heian attire during the 16th century, aside from possible specific religious or cultural events.

As for Imperial Samurai, on paper the Shogun and everyone in Japan is loyal to the emperor and beneath him, so there was no need for one to see himself as an imperialist. However there were times throughout Japanese history in which the Imperial court attempted to restore its power and dissolve the shogunate. In these instances samurai loyal to the Imperial court rather than the Shogun may see themselves as imperial samurai. The most recent case being the Boshin War, but it wasn't the only time. And Actually the Boshin war was more a group of angry daimyo trying to topple the Shogun with the excuse of restoring imperial power.
A better example would be emperor Go-Daigo's Genkou War.