How to Use shogun in a Sentence

shogun

noun
  • The shogun demands Sakura for himself, but Akane refuses to give her up.
    — Scott Meslow, GQ, 21 May 2018
  • The shogun’s dunzo, but what about that leaking cortical fluid, is that detail important?
    — William Lee, chicagotribune.com, 20 May 2018
  • For those who find bloodthirsty Old West bandits too tame, behold a glitchy, malfunctioning shogun.
    — William Lee, chicagotribune.com, 20 May 2018
  • But given that Tokugawa ushered in two centuries of peace after becoming shogun, where will the conflict come from?
    — Julian Sancton, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Aug. 2024
  • With this edge, Toranaga rises to become shogun, the country’s top military leader.
    — Constantine Nomikos Vaporis, The Conversation, 21 Mar. 2024
  • One summer, the story goes, a group of men went into the shogun’s woods and stole some timber to rebuild a local temple, a capital offense.
    — Ben Dooley, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2020
  • After lunch, head to Nijo Castle, the former seat of the Tokugawa shoguns in Kyoto.
    — National Geographic, 12 June 2019
  • When the ruling shogun was overthrown, Japan began a crash program in economic modernization.
    — Chip Bayers, WIRED, 1 Jan. 2002
  • For travelers, following the remains of the shogun age provides a tantalizing doorway into a world rarely seen by outsiders.
    — Hiroshi Okamoto, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 July 2020
  • For Thunberg’s delegation, there was none of the court jester humiliation that had befallen early trips to Edo—no need to sing and dance for the shogun.
    — Rob Goss, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 May 2022
  • Katsuo-ji has long been associated with success and victory for over a thousand years, with many emperors and shoguns visiting the temple for blessings.
    — Rebecca Cairns, CNN Money, 8 Apr. 2025
  • The opening and the third act deal with the political power struggle, which ties in with the local shogun’s increasingly hostile stance toward the story-songs performed by the lead characters.
    — Kyle Smith, WSJ, 11 Aug. 2022
  • One of the shrines, Toshogu, is traditionally held to house the remains of the all-conquering shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, who founded the dynasty.
    — Hiroshi Okamoto, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 July 2020
  • Its original purpose was to help the new shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, consolidate his power in the largely provincial region.
    — CNN, 19 Jan. 2022
  • Serving as tea master to military leaders, or shoguns, who supported his activities, Rikyū transformed the tea ceremony to reflect ideals of wabi.
    — The Conversation, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Finally, in 1868, after the last shogun had resigned, Edo Castle was surrendered to the emperor to avoid a civil war.
    — Lidija Haas, Harper's Magazine, 23 June 2020
  • As the population swelled, the Uji was joined with the Yodo and Katsura Rivers to create a network of canals for the transport of goods, expanding the shogun’s economic reach and power.
    — Jessica Kozuka, Travel + Leisure, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Ieyasu’s victory—cemented by his appointment as shogun in 1603—ushered in the Tokugawa shogunate, an era of prosperity that endured for more than two and a half centuries.
    — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Feb. 2024
  • Ishido, under the belief that the young heir to the shogun title and his mother, Ochiba-no-kata (Fumi Nikaido), are on his side, thinks his win will be quick and easy so long as the heir’s banners fly alongside his own.
    — Yasmeen Hamadeh, Peoplemag, 9 Sep. 2024
  • In 1733, the ruling shogun placated his people by supplying gunpowder for a show above the Sumida River in modern Tokyo.
    — Laura Mallonee, WIRED, 4 July 2018
  • After watching the shogun murder her beloved Sakura in front of her (after Sakura had been used as a kind of canvas for the Shogun’s grisly art experiments), Akane danced, as she was instructed to do.
    — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 May 2018
  • The stories of the Edo period and specifically Tokugawa — the real-life shogun who inspired the character of Toranaga — are a frequent subject of Kabuki theater.
    — Julian Sancton, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Aug. 2024
  • The new season follows Mizu, the titular sword fighter, on her journey to London while characters Akemi, Taigen and Ringo pursue separate paths in Japan under a new shogun.
    — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 23 June 2026
  • The underlying goal of the museum is to let visitors experience how daily life has changed over the 420-plus years since Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed shogun by emperor Go-Yōzei, establishing Edo as the new seat of government.
    — Jonathan Delise, Travel + Leisure, 31 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shogun.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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