The Tokugawa Era in Japan, also known as the Edo Period, took place after the Era of Warring States, which in Japanese is called the Sengoku Jidai. Events that occurred during this era were essential to the start of the Tokugawa Shogunate¹. The Sengoku Jidai started in the 1500s with the Ashikaga Shogunate, when General Ashikaga Takauji crushed a samurai rebellion. The current emperor at the time, Go-Daigo, "—a man of 30 determined to put an end to cloister rule..." (Swann 147) refused to make him shogun. Takauji seized Kyoto in revolt and established a new emperor who would.
In Japan’s early history, its official ruler was the emperor, a hereditary monarch who was revered as a god, in its capital, Kyoto. By 1192, the shogun, the main military commander, was executing power in the name of the emperor. The shoguns would have regents to take care of their dirty work.
The unification of Japan was a large task, one which Oda Nobunaga tried to undertake in the 1560s. He built a large army and conquered almost half of Japan’s provinces. Oda ended the shogunate and expelled the Ashikagas. The man leading his army was Hideyoshi, who later took on the family name of Toyotomi. Hideyoshi was the son of a peasant soldier who had no particular social status. The only thing Hideyoshi had going for himself were his remarkable military tactical skills. When Oda commits seppuku² to avoid enemy capture, Hideyoshi took over his goal, but went even further; he intended to conquer China. When his goal ultimately ended with his death, his son Hideyori was still too young to take over, at the meager age of 5. In his stead, a regency council governed Japan. Tokugawa Ieyasu, a prominent council member and adroit warlord, soon rose above the rest....
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...the role of women as subordinates and homemakers, unless taking a job serving men. In the end, the overall effects of the time period were beneficial Japan and were a crucial part of what is now there today.
Notes
1. The office or rule of a shogun
2. ceremonial suicide by ripping open the abdomen with a dagger or knife, formerly practiced in Japan by members of the warrior class when disgraced or sentenced to death.
3. around 1573 between the Uesugi, Tokugawa, and Oda clans
Works Cited
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/601338/Toyotomi-Hideyori
http://www.historytoday.com/historical-dictionary/t/toyotomi-hideyori
http://www.samurai-archives.com/ieyasu.html
http://koei.wikia.com/wiki/Mikatagahara
http://eternalwarfare.blogspot.com/2011/06/battle-of-mikatagahara.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/533058/Battle-of-Sekigahara
To many Japanese and in particular the samurai and daimyo, the Tokugawa appeared weak in how it had responded to the Western pressure to sign the ‘required’ treaties. “In 1867, Tosa, Mito, Choshu and satsuma daimyo allied with each other against the Tokugawa house.” (Woods, SW. (2004). Japan an Illustrated History (1st Edition). Hippocrene books pg. 111). The citizens of Japan wanted the Emperor to restore power over the Shogun, resulting in the sonno joi (revere the sovereign (Emperor), expel the barbarian.) The influence of Western ideas on some samurai caused some to question Tokugawa’s ideas of how to rule Japan, which is how the sonno joi movement began in 1858. Sonno joi was the movement that satsuma and choshu went through to aim to restore the power of the Emperor and bring down the
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The samurai were the hereditary warrior class of feudal Japan who trace their creation to the “Heian period in around 794 when the capital was moved to Heian-Kyo” . The warriors were hired by wealthy landow...
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From most of the historical references about ancient Japan, people tend to draw the impression that males were dominant rulers. However, women were actually very important figures in pre-historic time, as they fulfilled their role as independent leaders, especially in times of succession crises. This is why the study of female sovereignty is vital to understand the formation of the Japanese state, based on gender complimentary rulers. The political significance of the existence of these female emperors in ancient Japan is that they provided a place of legitimacy for women leaders, and they played a substantial part in identifying and creating the Japanese society.
The post of shogun was, in theory at least, purely military, so Yoritomo's administration and those of later military rulers came to be known as the shogunate, bakufu, or "tent government," to distinguish it from the civil government in Heian-kyo. As the samurai clans under the Minamoto began building political power, Japan's political center shifted away from Heian-kyo toward the Kamakura bakufu, leaving Heian-kyo as the symbolic, religious and cultural center of Japan. The Kamakura Shogunate set down a pattern of rule in Japan that would last for some seven centuries.
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The Japanese warrior, known as the samurai, has played a significant role in Japan's history and culture throughout the centuries. Their ancestors can be traced back to as far as can be remembered. Some stories have become mysterious legends handed down over the centuries. In this report you will learn who the samurai were, their origins as we know them, how they lived and fought and their evolution to today. It will be clear why the samurai stand out as one of the most famous group of warriors of all times.
The Kamakura period started in about 1185 to 1333. It was under the rule of the family of Minamoto with the head of that family being Minamoto Yoritomo. Yoritomo declared himself to be the first supreme samurai or Shogun as it was known and the government was formalized and called a shogunate. The Shogun was essentially the military leader of all of Japan who even has more power than the emperor. The Minamoto family set up the new government in Kamakura, which gave this period its name. They were able to set up this new form of government and replace the former one due to the fact that they exercised power quickly thanks to their samurai which roamed the land, exercising their shoguns orders.
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