The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Edo shogunate, was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868.

The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars of the Sengoku period following the collapse of the Ashikaga shogunate. Ieyasu became the shōgun, and the Tokugawa clan governed Japan from Edo Castle in the eastern city of Edo (Tokyo) along with the daimyō lords of the samurai class.

The Tokugawa shogunate organized Japanese society under the strict Tokugawa class system and banned the entry of most foreigners under the isolationist policies of Sakoku to promote political stability. Japanese subjects were also barred from leaving the country. The Tokugawa shoguns governed Japan in a feudal system, with each daimyō administering a han (feudal domain), although the country was still nominally organized as imperial provinces. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan experienced rapid economic growth and urbanization, which led to the rise of the merchant class and Ukiyo culture.

The Tokugawa shogunate declined during the Bakumatsu period from 1853 and was overthrown by supporters of the Imperial Court in the Meiji Restoration in 1868. The Empire of Japan was established under the Meiji government, and Tokugawa loyalists continued to fight in the Boshin War until the defeat of the Republic of Ezo at the Battle of Hakodate in June 1869.

Following the Sengoku period ("Warring States period"), the central government had been largely re-established by Oda Nobunaga during the Azuchi–Momoyama period. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, central authority fell to Tokugawa Ieyasu. While many daimyos who fought against him were extinguished or had their holdings reduced, Ieyasu was committed to retaining the daimyos and the han (domains) as components under his new shogunate. Daimyos who sided with Ieyasu were rewarded, and some of Ieyasu's former vassals were made daimyos and were located strategically throughout the country. The sankin-kotai policy, in an effort to constrain rebellions by the daimyos, mandated the housing of wives and children of the daimyos in the capital as hostages.

Shortly after news of the Toyotomi loyalists defeat at Sekigahara was received by the Joseon Court, a process of re-establishing diplomatic relations which initiated by Ieyasu in 1600. As an initial gesture and as an earnest of future progress, some Joseon prisoners were released at Tsushima Island. In response, a small group of messengers under the leadership of Yujeong were sent to Kyoto to investigate further. With the assistance of Sō Yoshitomo, an audience with Ieyasu was arranged at Fushimi Castle in Kyoto.

In November of 1603, the Rokugō rebellion of over 1,000 rōnin who had been in service of Onodera Yoshimichi until his defeat and exile in 1601 broke out.. Ieyasu redistributed the han of the noble families all over Japan, with the Onodera clan's old lands given to the Satake clan as Kubota Domain.. Refusing to submit to the new ruler of Yoshimichi's former lands, Satake Yoshinobu, the rōnin launched an unsuccessful rebellion at Rokugō in a final suicide attack before defeated.

In 1616, there was a failed attempt of the invasion of Taiwan by a Shogunate subject named Murayama Tōan.