The Tokugawa period, also known as Edo period (1603-1867), was the final period of traditional Japan that lasted for more than 250 years (britannica.com,2013). The period was a time of internal peace, political stability, and economic growth under the Shogunate founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Tokugawa Shoguns maintained strict control over the structure of society by keeping a firm control over what they were allowed to do and what they were not allowed to do. The top structure of the society includes the Shoguns, Daimyos and Samurais. ‘Shogun’ was the title granted by the Emperor to Japan’s top military commander (Web-japan.org, 2013). Initially Emperors controlled the country but over time Shoguns became more powerful than the Emperor and took over the whole government, the Shogun was generally the real ruler of the country until 1867 when feudalism was abolished (Web-japan.org, 2013). Daimyos were the lords and their roles were to manage and maintain the law, collect taxes and aiding in armed forces for the Shogun (Ask.com, 2013). Samurais were the members of the military class, they were the warriors of traditional Japan. The roles of the Samurais were to protect and serve their daimyos or lords usually in wars (Answers.yahoo.com, 2013). The bottom part of the society included the peasants which made up 85% of the population, the peasants was divided into sub-classes, and these sub-classes involved the farmers, craftsmen or artisans and merchants (Hackney, 2013). The highest ranking of the peasants were the farmers, farmers who owned their own lands were ranked higher than those who did not. After the farmers, there were the craftsmen or artisans. The craftsmen or artisans worked word and metal and some of them became well-k... ... middle of paper ... ...un could interrogate anyone by any methods he wish and also make false accusation, no one would dare to question the Shogun’s decision in fear for their own life. These two reasons combined together is more than enough for the feudal system to be considered unfair. Overall, the Tokugawa Shogunate achieved more than 250 years under the Tokugawa family, 250 years of ruling under the same family was hard to come by as daimyos constantly fought each other for the ruling position (britannica.com,2013). The Tokugawa Shogunate also achieved peace within Japan where war rarely existed under their ruling except for the Christian revolt. Eventually all things comes to an end, the period that replaced the Tokugawa Shogunate was the Meiji Restoration (Pondkoi.com, 2013). The Meiji Restoration saw the Emperor coming back to power and effectively ending the Tokugawa Shougunate.
The importance and job of each class fail to function optimally. The castles were rooted economically in the countryside which was intimately connected with the villagers. These villagers were the “social and economic units of rural Europe” (147) which illustrates the importance of the various classes in medieval Europe. Undermining the lower social classes will cause political and social upheaval as they collectively dominate the economic force in the feudal system. Few individual commoners mask the
The establishment of the Japanese archipelago assumed its present shape around 10,000 years ago. Soon after the era known as the Jomon period began and continued for about 8,000 years. Gradually they formed small communities and began to organize their lives communally. Japan can be said to have taken its first steps to nationhood in the Yamato period, which began at the end of the third century AD. During this period, the ancestors of the present Emperor began to bring a number of small estates under unified rule from their bases around what are now Nara and Osaka Prefectures. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Tokugawa Ieyasu set up a government in Edo (now Tokyo) and the Edo period began. The Tokugawa regime adopted an isolationist policy that lasted for more than 200 years, cutting off exchange with all countries except China and the Netherlands. The age of the Samurai came to and end with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, and a new system of government centered on the Emperor was set up. The new government promoted modernization, adopted Western political, social and economic systems, and stimulated industrial activity. The Diet was inaugurated, and the people began to enjoy limited participation in politics.
“Its politics remained unstable. Internal wars and power shifts were very frequent, especially during the late 15th century to the end of the 16th century, which was called the Sengoku (warring) period.” (Ohno, 22). After all the disaster that was happening, it was finally remedied when Ieyasu Tokugawa came into play after the Battle of Sekigahara. He created a new government in Edo (modern day Tokyo) and became the first Shogun of the Edo Bakufu. His family, The Tokugawa family, ruled the country for the next 264 years. (Ohno,
With the gradual decline of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the restoration of the Imperial title, Japan began its second phase of foreign borrowing by entering ‘secondary civilization,’ or industrial society (Suzuki, 1995 p.773). Beginning in the late Tokugawa period, the power of the shogun and the damiyos progressively began diminishing under political pressure and the deteriorating financial condition of the nation. Dissatisfied with the conditions, the people began leaning towards the restoration of the nation as an Empire, which occurred in 1867-68 with the resignation of Tokugawa Yoshinobu (15th Tokugawa Shogun), marking the beginning of the Meiji Restoration. The transfer of power to the Emperor proceeded smoothly, indicating the beginning of Japan’s radical influence and changes from the west. At the beginning of the Meiji period, Japan was primarily an agricultural nation with a weak military and scarce technological development still largely traditional in nature. Power was transferred into the hands of noble samurai that had opposed Tokugawa rule, acting in the name of the Em...
The Tokugawa Era was brought about by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was a military dictatorship and helped achieve hegemony and stability over the entire country after the control and ruling of Japan for over 200 years since the 1600s. The author is an Asian history professor and knows what he is writing and many years of research and effort have been put into this book which is apparent. In conclusion, this book provides 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. & Co. Tokugawa Ieyasu was quoted as “one of the greatest men the world has 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 started off the Tokugawa Era.
Japan lasted from 1185-1603. During that time Japan had emperors, shoguns, daimyos, samurai, and peasants who were all apart of a social class, and all together it was called the Samurai Society. The emperor was just a figurehead for the shogun. The shogun was a powerful military leader that ruled in the emperor’s name. Daimyo were powerful landlords. The daimyo often led armies of samurai. These samurai were trained professional warriors who served daimyo and shoguns. The samurai had to follow a certain code of rules for samurai called Bushido. One of their rules included to always have self-discipline to become a good samurai. The samurai warriors wore light armor, helmets (usually shaped like an animal), and had two swords around their waist. Their armor had a lot of detail and color to it, like their unique helmets. After the samurai comes the peasants, which included farmers and fishermen. They usually always work, then pay takes to the shogun. They usually gave the shogun what they earned from working like food or crops. What made their jobs a bit difficult was their topography. Japan’s topography included many mountains, undersea volcanoes, and barely any flat land to farm on. The Japanese didn’t only work they also practiced their religion. For example, they practiced Confucianism, Buddhism (...
Feudalism was a large part of both Japanese and European society. Land was the basis of the feudal system. The concept of feudalism in Europe and Japan began around the same time and the relationship between lords and their vassals were about the same in both societies. However, in Europe, the lord and vassal relationship was more of a legal contract, yet in Japan it was morally binding. The fragmented and decentralized nature of government made the European feudal system less organized than its Japanese counterpart. Increases in trade led to the development of m...
The term samurai was first used in the 10th century and means “those who serve”. In the beginning it stood for men who guarded the capital for the Emperor, some where used as tax collectors. Later the word grew to include any military man who served a powerful landlord, almost like a police force for that time. They would go around the countryside on horseback collecting taxes from the peasants, often this was in the form of rice. This money helped the Emperor pay for his lavish life style. The word, samurai, quickly spread and was respected (and maybe feared a little) for the men it represented.
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.
The years from 1600 to 1868 are known as the Tokugawa, or Edo, period (Sonnier 30). During this era it was unusually peaceful. Although one problem was that the shoguns had isolated Japan from the rest of the world (Sonnier 30). American forces during this time forced Japan to agreed to trade deals that were unfavorable to Japan. Starting in the nineteenth century, Japanese scholars believed that Shinto could and should be separated from Buddhist influences (Sonnier 30). From this development started the Meiji restoration of 1868. Under this new political system the government of Japan came under central authority. The foundation of this system was the political philosophy called, State Shinto. State Shinto used Shinto beliefs combined with elements of Confucianism to create a monarchy based upon religion (Sonnier
Because of the Meiji Restoration the Japanese society gained economic, military and political change and lost the chance to gain Religious and social equality. I chose this topic because the Japanese transformation from a backwards country into a modern day economic and military world power interested me because it was all done in 40 years. The Meiji restoration forced western civilizations to respect the new modern Japan.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Chinese and Japanese faced much internal conflict, but while China faced a combination of economic setbacks and political weakness, the Japanese were riddled with wars along their countryside. First, the Chinese emperor was too weak in comparison to his bureaucracy, which ended up making most of the decisions for the last Ming dynasty emperor. This was due to the emperor’s realization that having a title as Son of Heaven did not mean he had all the power of the empire. Instead he lived a laid back life where the bureaucrats vied for power and wealth amongst themselves and he merely managed them. Like the Chinese, the Japanese also saw elites battling it out for power, but this time on the battlefield with armies of samurai. These battles put Japan in a period much like the Warring States period in early Chinese history, where families fought and fought for power almost endlessly. The political weakness in China contributed to its economic failure as well. With no force to manage to seas, pirates were free to raid trade ships and villages along the coast line, weakening the Chinese economy that relied on a transport system to supply the country. These two major forces led to China’s fragmentation and eventual takeover by the Manchu. In contrast, the battles happening in Japan were not harmful to the economy as much as they were in China. This is due to the fact that the Japanese daimyos were independent...
With the fall of the Aristocracies during the Heian period, the first establishment of a Shogunate system was created. The Kamakura Era of Japan “takes its name from the garrison town of Kamakura on Sagami Bay in central Honshu, not far from modern Tokyo.” (Colcutt). The Kamakura Era lasted from 1192 until 1333 C.E. and began what is referred to as Japan’s 700 year medieval period. This era defined the foundation of the hierarchical Shogunate system and the role of the legendary samurai warriors. Founded by Minamoto no Yoritomo, the Samurai were part of the warrior government system known as Bakufu. This historically famous system was established after the Genpei War. “The war between [the] Minamoto... and Taira
Ieyasu established his government at Edo, present-day Tokyo, where he had a huge castle. His was a stable, peaceful government beginning a period of Japanese history which was to last until the Imperial Restoration of 1868, for although Ieyasu himself died in 1616 members of his family succeeded each other and the title Shogun became virtually an hereditary one for the Tokugawas.
There are many historical aspects of the Japanese, but the most interesting is the history of the Samurai. In Japans history war played a large role in the country. Controlling clans fought for parts of the land and overall control of the country. These clans were powerful families that resided in the country and who all wanted power and control of Japan for themselves. The families that would be in control were known as Shoguns. These shoguns would have warriors that fought for them if any of the other clan families would try to attack him in order to overthrow him and take his power from him. The Samurai followed a code that developed from Chinese beliefs when in battle. The Samurais code was known as the Bushido. This code was also known as “The Way of The Warrior” which was the main belief s...