Japan Tokugawa Period

This book explains the historic of Japan in a different era. Beginning from the Japan’s early developmental years what it is today; Japan in the 21st century. There are breakdowns in this book that tells the story of the different periods in Japan too. Tokugawa Era was considered a critical period in Japan’s history as it helped Japan evolved to pre-war period and Japan’s 21st century. The main highlight of the book was in regards to Tokugawa Era as the author mainly focused on this critical period and there was elaborate research on this topic. Tokugawa Era was brought about by Tokugawa Ieyasu who was a military dictatorship and he helped achieve hegemony and stability over the entire country after the control and ruling of Japan for over 200 years since the 1600. The author was an Asian history professor and knows what he is writing and many years of research and effort have been placed in this book which is apparent. In conclusion, this book does provide relevant and sufficient research on this topic of interest.

Sadler, A. L., & Sadler, A. L. (2009).Shogun: the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu : the dramatic story of the man who united feudal Japan and established the traditional Japanese way of life. Tokyo: Tuttle Pub.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was quoted as “one of the greatest men the world have seen yet” in the book and he is already very well known as one of the legendary leaders in Japanese history who is also the founder and the leader who starts off the Tokugawa Era. The life of Tokugawa Ieyasu is spilled over in this book. From the day that he was born till the day he died and also all the legendary deeds that he left behind such as a big empire of great soldiers that led Japan to two centuries of stability and peace from 1600-1868. A...

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...KUGAWA PERIOD 5 was inclusive of 250 lords whom had annual outputs of 50,000 or more bushels of rice. These upper strata people took part in expensive rituals, elegant architecture and landscaped gardens, noh drama, patronage of the arts and tea ceremonies. Below these lords, there were three other social groups. Peasants were next as the rice crop that they grew for a living was taxed to support the needs of the class on the upper strata. Artisans and craftworkers were beneath the peasant on the social hierarchy as they produced non-agricultural goods. Lastly, the merchants were placed as they are not involved in production. These strata were inconsistent with social realities as many merchants benefitted and became extremely rich even though the strict social hierarchy prevented them from using their reaping to improve their power position or status.