What were the characteristics of the Tokugawa shogunate?
A shogunate, or bakufu, is a military dictatorship. The Shogun is the head of the government. How this government actually governed really depends on which period of the Tokugawa Bakufu you are referring to. Towards the end of the period, there was a Bakuhan system established. This basically meant that the national government (the bakufu) shared power with the individuals provinces (hans).