The was a senior government post held by members of the Hà Âjà  clan, officially a regent of the shogunate. From 1199 to 1333, during the Kamakura period, the shikken served as the head of the bakufu (shogun's government). This era was referred to as .
During roughly the first half of that period, the shikken was the de facto military dictator of Japan (excluding the independent Northern Fujiwara). In 1256 the title of shikken was relegated to the second in command of the Tokusà  (a separate rank also monopolized by the Hojà  clan). By the Muromachi period (1333âÂÂ1573) the position, though not abolished, had lost much of its power and was no longer considered as one of the top ranks. The position was abolished after the Muromachi period.
The word shikken is the on'yomi reading of the combination of the two kanji characters and , meaning "to hold (something in the hand, or a service or ceremony); to administer" and "power, authority" respectively. Therefore, the word literally means "to hold power/authority".
Though officially a regent for the shà Âgun in the Kamakura shogunate in Japan, on paper deriving power from the shà Âgun, in reality the shà Âgun had been reduced to a figurehead in a similar marginalizing manner to how the emperor and imperial court had been reduced to figureheads by the first shà Âgun Minamoto no Yoritomo. Both the posts of shikken and tokusà  were monopolized by the Hà Âjà  clan.
Hà Âjà  Tokimasa was the father-in-law of Yoritomo through his wife Hà Âjà  Masako and became the first shikken in 1203, after Yoritomo's death. The shikken was the chief of the mandokoro at that time. Tokimasa became the de facto ruler of the shà Âgunate by monopolizing decisions for the young shà Âguns Yoriie and Sanetomo who were the sons of Yoritomo and Masako and thus Tokimasa's maternal grandchildren, executing whoever got in his way, family or not. Yoriie and his son Ichiman were murdered on Tokimasa's orders after he replaced the strong minded Yoriie with his weak minded younger brother Sanetomo as shà Âgun.
Tokimasa's son Yoshitoki strengthened the position of shikken by integrating it with the post of Samurai-dokoro, after annihilating the powerful Wada clan, who had dominated the latter position. The shikken became the highest post, controlling puppet shà Âguns in practice. In 1224, Yoshitoki's son Hà Âjà  Yasutoki set up the position of rensho (cosigner), or assistant regent.
Hà Âjà  Tokiyori separated the two posts of tokusà  (initially head of the Hà Âjà  clan) and shikken in 1256. He installed Hà Âjà  Nagatoki as shikken while designating his son Tokimune to succeed as tokusà Â. Effective power was moved from shikken to tokusà Â. Tokimune, contemporaneous with Mongol invasions of Japan, at one point personally occupied all 3 most powerful posts of the shogunate, and thus Japan: tokusà Â, shikken, and rensho.