Taikun

Taikun (大君) was the title of the feudal dictators of Hinomoto during the period spanning from 1112 to 1854. acting as a de facto absolute monarch, though the Taikun arguably never styled themselves as monarchs.

In contrast to other Escaric monarchs, the Taikun did not mainly rule through a mandate of heaven, but rather through military strength and sometimes Siddhist. Initially a hereditary office, the position of Taikun was transformed into an following the Tsutsuji Reformation (つつじ) in 1824. The position was ultimately left vacant in 1854, four years after Hinomoto's merger with Yamatai in 1850, and was replaced by the position of Governor-General of Hinomoto.

During the First Escar-Varunan War, the position of Taikun was briefly resurrected under the Chisei-created Second Taikunate of Hinomoto, but was again abolished after Hinomoto was recaptured by Yamatai in the latter stages of the war. This Second Taikunate was never recognized as legitimate by any state other than Chisei.

History
The first Taikun was Matsunaga no Moritomo, who unified Hinomoto's warring clans by force and declared himself Taikun. The Matsunaga clan would rule Hinomoto for 300 years before being overthrown by the Nakanoin clan, which overthrew the Matsunaga and installed Nakanoin no Sukehiko as the Taikun in 1430. The Nakanoin themselves were overthrown by the Sakuma clan during the Kichū Wars in the 1510s, and under Sakuma rule the Taikun would eventually even become the de facto ruler of Yamatai for a period in the 17th century. However, this was short-lived and in the late 17th century and early 18th century the Fukumura clan challenged the Sakuma for dominance in Hinomoto, coinciding with the Yamataian Civil War in 1715 that sealed the end of the Taikun's authority over Yamatai.

Elected Taikunate
In 1824, fearing the effects of the Taihei Revolution in Chisei, Taikun Sumiyoshi no Yoriichi promulgated the Tsutsuji Reformation, which aimed to introduce limited liberalising reforms while simultaneously taking a hardline stance against republicanism. Part of the reforms was the conversion of the Taikunate into an elected position, with the Taikun to be elected by the seven daimyo from among their numbers every five years, with the daimyo ostensibly representing the people within their territories. The first Taikun to be elected in this manner was Fukumura no Kagaya in 1829.

However, the Tsutsuji Reformation failed to placate the Hinoan public due to their limited scope, and feudalism was still the official policy. The rise of democracy in Chisei and the increasingly draconian measures used to deal with republicanism in nearby Yamatai fuelled revolutionary movements across the country. Growing ties between the new Yamataian military dictatorship and the Taikunate bred fears among republicans in Hinomoto that the Taikunate would adopt similarly harsh measures against the populace, and in 1845 the Mikawa Revolution was launched by republicans in an attempt to bring down the Taikunate as quickly as possible.

The Mikawa Revolution was a six-month-long major uprising by working-class citizens throughout the capital city, culminating in a massacre of hundreds of nobility and Taikunate officials. However, the Taikun at the time Ubuyashiki no Sanemi was able to flee to Akakiri along with most of the Council of Elders, and survived the Revolution. Eventually, the Revolution failed to establish a credible government and devolved into infighting, and Mikawa was rapidly reclaimed by the combined clan armies of the Ubuyashiki and Fukumura clans in December 1845.

End of the Taikunate
Concerned that they would lose their power or be wiped out by a second republican revolution, a group of Hinoan elites began secret talks with Yamatai to enact a national merger that would enable them to secure their positions of nobility and wealth within the Yamataian regime. These elites, popularly known as the Self-Preservation Committee, included various Hinoan nobles and industrialists, and counted at least four of the daimyo among their ranks, including Kinoshita no Noritsune. In 1849, Kinoshita no Noritsune was elected as the Taikun by the daimyo and finalised the plans for a national merger with Yamatai, signing the Treaty of Fujishima in 1850.

Following the national merger, the Taikun and Hinoan elites were provided with high-ranking positions in the Yamataian government and nobility as promised, and largely retained their land holdings as newly-appointed district governors; the former clan holdings thus became the present-day administrative Regions of Hinomoto. Kinoshita no Noritsune remained Taikun, but was additionally granted the rank of Governor-General of Hinomoto by the Yamataian Imperial Grand Marshal Samejima Masayuki.

In 1854, Kinoshita no Noritsune's term as Taikun ended. Under pressure from the Yamataian military government, the former daimyo did not elect a new Taikun, and the position was vacated. Kinoshita no Noritsune remained the Governor-General of Hinomoto for another five years before resigning in 1859. The position of Taikun was never officially abolished.

Second Taikunate
During the First Escar-Varunan War, Chisei invaded Hinomoto in an attempt to forcibly create an independent buffer state between itself and Yamatai, as well as to break the increasing Yamataian monopoly over the Sea of Yashima. Following their invasion in 1920, the Chiseian government supported the establishment of the Second Taikunate of Hinomoto, claimed to be the legitimate successor government of Hinomoto and headed by Kinoshita no Toshitake IV, who unilaterally appointed himself Taikun. The Second Taikunate was not recognized by any state other than Chisei, and was quickly crushed once Yamatai recaptured Hinomoto in late 1922.

Kinoshita no Toshitake IV fled Hinomoto and lived in exile in Chisei until his death in 1942 during the Second Escar-Varunan War.