Tokugawa Japan The Unification of Japan

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Tokugawa JapanThe Unification of Japan

• 1600-1867

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Background

• 12th 16th Century
• A shogun (military governor) ruled Japan through
  retainers who received political rights and large
  estates in return for military services.
• After the 14th century, the ambitions of shoguns
  and retainers led to a series of civil wars in
  the 16th century.
• Japanese historians refer to the 16th century as
  the era of sengoku, the country at war.

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Tokugawa Japan

• Toward the end of the 16th century, powerful
  states emerged in several regions of Japan.
• A series of military leaders brought about the
  unification of the land.
• In 1600 the last of the leaders, Tokugawa Ieyasu,
  established a military government, the Tokugawa
  bakufu (tent government).
• Ieyasu and his descendants ruled the bakufu as
  shoguns from 1600 until the end of the Tokugawa
  dynasty in 1867.

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Shoguns

• The purpose of the Tokugawa shoguns was to keep
  their regions calm and prevent the return of
  civil war.
• The shoguns controlled the daimyo (great names)
  who were powerful territorial lords who ruled
  most of Japan from their vast landholdings.
• The 260 or so daimyo functioned as near absolute
  rulers within their domains.

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The Country at War

• Each daimyo maintained a government staff by
  military subordinates that were supported by
  judiciary, schools, and paper money.
• Many daimyo established relationships with
  European mariners from whom they learned how to
  manufacture and use gunpowder weapons.
• During the last decades of the sengoku era,
  cannons and personal firearms were significant in
  Japanese conflicts.

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Controlling the Daimyo

• From the castle of Edo, modern-day Tokyo, the
  shogun governed his own domain and tried to
  control the daimyo in their territories.
• The shoguns instituted alternate attendance,
  which required daimyo to spend every other year
  in Edo at the Tokugawa court.
• This was intended to keep an eye on the daimyo
  and encourage them to spend their money and
  lavish homes and lives in Edo rather than
  building armies.

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Control of Foreign Relations

• The shogun closely controlled relations between
  Japan and the outside world.
• They knew that Spanish forces had conquered the
  Philippine Islands in the 16th century.
• They feared that Europeans might cause serious
  problems by making alliances with daimyo and
  supplying them with weapons.

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Control of Foreign Relations

• During the 1630s, the shoguns
• forbade Japanese from going abroad,
• prohibited the construction of large ships,
• expelled Europeans from Japan,
• prohibited foreign merchants from trading in
  Japanese ports,
• controlled trade with Asian lands,
• permitted small numbers of Chinese and Dutch
  merchants to trade in Nagasaki.

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Control of Foreign Relations

• During the Tokugawa period, Japan carried on a
  flourishing trade with China, Korea, Taiwan, and
  the Ryukyu Islands.
• Dutch merchants brought news of European and
  larger world affairs.

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Social and Economic Change

• Increased agricultural production
• New crop strains
• New methods of water control and irrigation
• Use of fertilize increased rice yields
• Production of cotton, silk, indigo, and sake
  increased.
• Move from subsistence farming to market
  production.

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Social Changes

• During the 17th century, Japan witnessed dramatic
  population growth.
• However, in order to raise their standard of
  living, many families between 1700 and 1850,
  practiced contraception, late marriage, abortion,
  and infanticide (thinning out the rice shoots).
• This practice, which occurred mostly in rural
  communities with strained resources, resulted in
  moderate population gains.

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Confucian Social Hierarchy

• Ruling Elites
• Shogun
• Daimyo
• Samurai
• Peasants and Artisans
• Merchants

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Social Changes

• Once Japan was stable, Tokugawa authorities
  pushed daimyo and samurai to become bureaucrats
  and government officials.
• As they lost their place in society, many of the
  ruling elite fell into financial difficulty.
• Their principal income came from rice collected
  from peasant cultivators.
• Many of them fell into poverty.
• Merchants in Japan became increasingly wealthy
  and prominent.
• Japanese cities flourished.
• Rice dealers, pawnbrokers and merchants soon
  controlled more wealth than the ruling elites.

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Cultural Influences of China

• The influence of China continued.
• Formal education began with the study of Chinese
  language and literature.
• In the late 19th century, Japanese scholars wrote
  philosophical, religious, and legal works in
  Chinese.
• The common people embraced Buddhism.
• Confucianism was the most influential
  philosophical system.

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Neo-Confucianism

• Traditional Confucian values such as filial piety
  and loyalty to superiors was emphasized.
• All those who had formal education (sons of
  merchants and government officials) received
  constant exposure to neo-Confucian values.
• By the early 18th century, neo-Confucianism had
  become the official ideology of the Tokugawa
  bakufu.

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Native Japanese Tradition

• During the 18th century, scholars of native
  learning scorned neo-Confucianism and even
  Buddhism.
• They emphasized folk traditions, Japanese
  literature, and the indigenous Shinto religion.
• Many scholars viewed Japanese people as superior
  to others (xenophobic).

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Popular Culture

• During the 17th and 18th centuries, a lively
  middle class emerged out of the merchant class.
• Floating Worlds, entertainment quarters with
  teahouses, theaters, brothels and public baths
  offered escape from social responsibilities.
• Prose fiction, kabuki theater (bawdy skits), and
  bunraku (puppet theater) attracted many
  audiences.

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Christian Missions

• In 1549, the Jesuit Francis Xavier traveled to
  Japan and opened a mission.
• Several powerful daimyo adopted Christianity and
  ordered their subjects to do so.
• By the 1580s about 150,000 Japanese had
  converted to Christianity.
• Tokugawa shoguns restricted European access to
  Japan for fear Christianity might allow for
  alliances between daimyo and Europeans.
• Buddhist and Confucian scholars resented
  Christian conviction that their faith was the
  only true faith.
• Christian converts became frustrated that they
  could not become priests or play leadership roles
  in the missions.

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Anti-Christian Campaign

• In 1612, shoguns began rigorous enforcement of
  decrees putting a halt to Christian missions.
• They tortured and executed European missionaries
  who refused to leave as well as Japanese
  Christians who refused to abandon their faith.
• They often executed victims by crucifixion or
  burning at the stake.
• By the late 17th century, the anti-Christian
  campaign had claimed tens of thousands of lives.

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Dutch Learning

• After 1639, Dutch merchants became the principal
  source of information about Europe and the world
  beyond the east.
• A small number of Japanese scholars learned Dutch
  in order to communicate with the foreigners.
• After 1720, Tokugawa authorities lifted the ban
  on foreign books and Dutch learning began to play
  a significant role in Japanese life.
• European art influenced Japanese scholars
  interested in anatomy, astronomy, and botany.