theory of uniting the court and the shogunate
A political idea from the late Edo period advocating cooperation between the imperial court and the Tokugawa shogunate to strengthen the country against foreign threats.
The theory of uniting the court and the shogunate played an important role in the political situation at the end of the Edo period.
While 公武合体論 sought cooperation between the court and the shogunate, 尊王攘夷 was a more radical ideology that emphasized reverence for the emperor and expulsion of foreigners, often opposing the shogunate.
Compound of 公 (court), 武 (military/shogunate), 合体 (union), and 論 (theory). The term emerged in the late Edo period as a political slogan.