Figure 1.--. .

One of Japan's daimyōs (feudal lords), Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), put an end to the constant confict during the Sengoku (Warring States) period. He won the Battle of Sekigaghara and unified the country under hus rule (1600). This gave birth to the Shogunate which unified Japan abnd expanded the power of the national government. The Shogun was essentuially an absolute ruler, but nominally ruled in the name of the Emperor who became something like a religious leader akin to the pope in Europe. The Shogun was apauled by the destabilization of Japanese society accelerated by the Europeans and Christianity. He decided to cut Japan off from all outside influences. He decided to liquidate the Christians and expel the Europeans, except for a small Dutch trading community. The idea was to end foreign influence and trade except for a few close countries (China abnd Korea). Foreigners who even by accident landed in Japan were executed which as one can imagine tended to limit foreign commerce. The Tokegawa Shogunate was the last medieval government in Japan meaning that mecieval culture and ecinomic practices continued into the 19th century. This did not mean that Japan was primitive, but it certainly was backward in technology without any of the scientific advancdes th were propelling the West. It provided Japan nearly three centuries of peace. Tokugawa to strabilize society established a class of four tiers samurai (knights), peasants, artisans, and merchants. Therre werev strict rules that these classes should followed without change. The clss tiers were not arranged by wealth. Rather it was by a philosophical moral order. The wealth and power of the merchant class grdually increased, but was still less inflentisl than their counterparts in the West. Merchants were looked down on by their social betters because they obtained wealth without producing abnything. They were thought to be tainted by greed. While looked down on, they were not the poorest tier in society--that was the peasantry. The Shogunate achieved ciontrol over the economy, ciontroling both production and distribution and they achieved cibsiderabke success. Agriculture and commerce thrived under te Shigunaste. Improved farming methods increased harvests. Land surveys track and helped imprive agricultural production. The Shogunate helped ensuring a stable food supply. City life also flourished and urbanization increased. A national road system systematically connecting the provinces to the capital promoting commerce. The country's population steadily increased. Although the Meji Restoration is commonly seen as moderizing Japan, it brought with it a century of warfare which ended in Japan playing an important role in launhing the most catrotrophic war in human history. The economy continued to be primarily based on a basically feudal agriculture with most of the land in the hands of the aristocracy. The primary source of the Shogunate's income was a tax (about 40 percent) levied on peasantry worrking the Tokugawa clan's personal domains (tenryō). [Hane and Perez] The other daimyōs were not taxed. Foreign trade was controled by the Shogun, an important source of income. There was a brief asctive participation in forein trade. An embassy and trade mission under Hasekura Tsunenaga was sent to Nueva España (the Spanish colony of Mexico) on a Japanese-built galleon, San Juan Bautista. This was parently an attempt to participate in the Manila Galeopn trade through which vast quantities of Spanish silver was being shiped to China to finance European trade there. The Shogun issued numerous Red Seal Ships permits for the Asian trade. With the Seclusion Laws stability and siocial order became more important. The Shogun only allowed merchant ships from China, Korea, and the Netherlands to trade with Japan. The policy of isolation continued unyil the arrival of Commodore Perry and his black ships (1853). Irionically it was the Shogun's reveral of this policy that led to his downfall.

Sources

Hane, Mikiso and Louis G. Perez. Premodern Japan: A Historical Survey (Boulder, Col.: 2014).

Created: 2:42 AM 11/30/2022
Last updated: 2:42 AM 11/30/2022