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Tokugawa Japan. Professor Pacas. Tokugawa Ieyasu. 1600-1800’s CE. The Tokugawa period of Japan was one in which Japan attempted to consolidate power domestically and insulate itself from foreign influences (European and even Chinese and Korean).
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Tokugawa Japan Professor Pacas
1600-1800’s CE • The Tokugawa period of Japan was one in which Japan attempted to consolidate power domestically and insulate itself from foreign influences (European and even Chinese and Korean).
The Shogunate successfully curtailed the power of the daimyos by having them live half of the year in Edo and the other half in Kyoto. • Plus policies put in place to have daimyos compete with each other to see who could build the most lavish Summer residence often had their funds diverted to this enterprise as opposed to funding attempts at usurpation. • This enterprise was successful to break the power of the daimyos throughout Japan and consolidate it in the hands of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Japanese/European Relations • Alarmed at the increase of converts to Christianity and the ever increasing influence of Portuguese on the Japanese population the Tokugawa administration banned Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Dutch immigration and often engaged in bloody persecutions against these groups. • Eventually the Japanese would only allow Dutch merchants small enclaves in Nagasaki to conduct trade.
Cont’d • Eventually, the Japanese would nurture contact with the Dutch so much that ‘Dutch Schools’ were set up throughout Tokugawa appointed regions to teach Japanese Western business practices, art, science, mathematics, and overall industrial production concepts. By late 1700’s the Japanese were producing their own fire-arms on a European model.
Japanese Nationalism • The Tokugawa period as mentioned before sought to increase pride in Japanese identity, culture, society and sought to curtail Christian/European influences…but also sought to curtail Chinese and Korean influences so much so that even Buddhism a well established religion in Japan at the time was viewed as foreign influence and many Japanese turned back to promoting and converting to their original Shinto religion.
Shinto • Shinto or Shintoism is the religion of the ancient Japanese people and it is akin to a combination of ancestor worship of China, shamanistic belief in all things having spirits, and the belief of establishing harmony between the physical realm and that of the spirit. • Shin-spirit To- Way- translated to “Way of the gods.”
Shinto Cont’d • Shinto requires that the believers carry out set guidelines and ceremonies in the worship of spirits and ancestors. • Also the chanting of prayers to worship both spirits and ancestors in order to keep harmony between both realms. • The oldest surviving text to date dating to the 8th century CE illustrates that Shinto was already a well established religion in Japan by this date.
Shinto Shrine The gate or ‘Torii’ to a Shinto shrine is the division between the physical realm and that of the divine.
Japanese Population Growth • Tied to all these developments of the Tokugawa period, the Japanese employed better farming/cultivation techniques that allowed many peasants to increase the production of rice so much so that soon a population explosion occurred • 1600’s Japanese population grew from 22 million to 29 million. • Alarmed at the rapid growth of the population, Japanese families practiced population control in order to maintain and raise the standard of living. • Eventually by the end of the period 1867 the Japanese population was roughly 32 million.
Japanese Modernization and Rise of Japanese Empire • The adoption of western modernization concepts the Japanese soon found themselves in a position, just like their European counterpart, that needed access to natural resources in order to feed their burgeoning industrial enterprise. • By 1860’s the Japanese were involved in extra-territorial land grabs that pit them against China, Korea, and Russia.
