Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
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1603–1868 | |||||||||||||
Mon of the Tokugawa clan
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Emperor | | ||||||||||||
• 1600–1611 (first) | Go-Yōzei[11] | ||||||||||||
• 1867–1868 (last) | Meiji[12] | ||||||||||||
Shōgun | |||||||||||||
• 1603–1605 (first)[13] | Tokugawa Ieyasu | ||||||||||||
• 1866–1868 (last) | Tokugawa Yoshinobu | ||||||||||||
Historical era | Edo period | ||||||||||||
21 October 1600[14] | |||||||||||||
8 November 1614 | |||||||||||||
1635 | |||||||||||||
31 March 1854 | |||||||||||||
29 July 1858 | |||||||||||||
3 January 1868[15] | |||||||||||||
Currency | The tri-metallic Tokugawa coinage system based on copper Mon, silver Bu and Shu, as well as gold Ryō. | ||||||||||||
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Today part of | Japan |
Part of a series on the |
History of Japan |
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The Tokugawa shogunate (/ˌtɒkuːˈɡɑːwə/ TOK-oo-GAH-wə;[17] Japanese: 徳川幕府, romanized: Tokugawa bakufu, IPA: [tokɯgawa, tokɯŋawa baꜜkɯ̥ɸɯ]), also known as the Edo shogunate (江戸幕府, Edo bakufu), was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868.[18][19][20]
The Tokugawa
The Tokugawa shogunate declined during the Bakumatsu period from 1853 and was overthrown by supporters of the Imperial Court in the Meiji Restoration in 1868. The Empire of Japan was established under the Meiji government, and Tokugawa loyalists continued to fight in the Boshin War until the defeat of the Republic of Ezo at the Battle of Hakodate in June 1869.
History
Following the Sengoku period ("Warring States period"), the central government had been largely re-established by Oda Nobunaga during the Azuchi–Momoyama period. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, central authority fell to Tokugawa Ieyasu.[18] While many daimyos who fought against him were extinguished or had their holdings reduced, Ieyasu was committed to retaining the daimyos and the han (domains) as components under his new shogunate.[23] Daimyos who sided with Ieyasu were rewarded, and some of Ieyasu's former vassals were made daimyos and were located strategically throughout the country.[23] The sankin-kotai policy, in an effort to constrain rebellions by the daimyos, mandated the housing of wives and children of the daimyos in the capital as hostages.[24]
A long period of peace occurred between the
The largely inflexible nature of this social stratification system unleashed disruptive forces over time. Taxes on the peasantry were set at fixed amounts that did not account for inflation or other changes in monetary value. As a result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners increasingly declined over time. A 2017 study found that peasant rebellions and desertion lowered tax rates and inhibited state growth in the Tokugawa shogunate.
By 1800, Japan included five cities with over 100,000 residents, and three among the world's twenty cities that had more than 300,000 inhabitants. Edo likely claimed the title of the world's most populous city, housing over one million people.[28]
Late Tokugawa shogunate (1853–1867)
The late Tokugawa shogunate (
An alliance of daimyos and the emperor, succeeded in overthrowing the shogunate, which came to an official end in 1868 with the resignation of the 15th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, leading to the "restoration" (王政復古, Ōsei fukko) of imperial rule. Some loyal retainers of the shogun continued to fight during the Boshin war that followed but were eventually defeated in the notable Battle of Toba–Fushimi.[30]
Government
Shogunate and domains
The bakuhan system (bakuhan taisei 幕藩体制) was the feudal political system in the Edo period of Japan.[7] Baku is an abbreviation of bakufu, meaning "military government"—that is, the shogunate. The han were the domains headed by daimyō.[7] Beginning from Ieyasu's appointment as shogun in 1603, but especially after the Tokugawa victory in Osaka in 1615, various policies were implemented to assert the shogunate's control, which severely curtailed the daimyos' independence.[23] The number of daimyos varied but stabilized at around 270.[23]
The bakuhan system split feudal power between the shogunate in Edo and the daimyōs with domains throughout Japan.[31] The shōgun and lords were all daimyōs: feudal lords with their own bureaucracies, policies, and territories.[31] Provinces had a degree of sovereignty and were allowed an independent administration of the han in exchange for loyalty to the shōgun, who was responsible for foreign relations, national security,[31] coinage, weights, measures, and transportation.[23]
The shōgun also administered the most powerful han, the hereditary fief of the House of Tokugawa, which also included many gold and silver mines.[31] Towards the end of the shogunate, the Tokugawa clan held around 7 million koku of land (天領 tenryō), including 2.6–2.7 million koku held by direct vassals, out of 30 million in the country.[32] The other 23 million koku were held by other daimyos.[32]
The number of han (roughly 270) fluctuated throughout the Edo period.[33] They were ranked by size, which was measured as the number of koku of rice that the domain produced each year.[32] One koku was the amount of rice necessary to feed one adult male for one year. The minimum number for a daimyō was ten thousand koku;[33] the largest, apart from the shōgun, was more than a million koku.[32]
Policies to control the daimyos
The main policies of the shogunate on the daimyos included:
- The principle was that each daimyo (including those who were previously independent of the Tokugawa family) submitted to the shogunate, and each han required the shogunate's recognition and was subject to its land redistributions.[23]: 192–93 Daimyos swore allegiance to each shogun and acknowledged the Laws for Warrior Houses or buke shohatto.[32]
- The sankin-kōtai (参勤交代 "alternate attendance") system, required daimyos to travel to and reside in Edo every other year, and for their families to remain in Edo during their absence.
- The ikkoku ichijyō rei (一国一城令), allowed each daimyo's han to retain only one fortification, at the daimyo's residence.[23]: 194
- The Laws for the Military Houses (武家諸法度, buke shohatto), the first of which is 1615 forbade the building of new fortifications or repairing existing ones without bakufu approval, admitting fugitives of the shogunate, and arranging marriages of the daimyos' families without official permission.[23] Additional rules on the samurai were issued over the years.[23][32]
Although the shogun issued certain laws, such as the
The shogunate had the power to discard, annex, and transform domains, although they were rarely and carefully exercised after the early years of the Shogunate, to prevent daimyōs from banding together.[31] The sankin-kōtai system of alternative residence required each daimyō to reside in alternate years between the han and the court in Edo.[31] During their absences from Edo, it was also required that they leave their family as hostages until their return. The hostages and the huge expenditure sankin-kōtai imposed on each han helped to ensure loyalty to the shōgun.[31] By the 1690s, the vast majority of daimyos would be born in Edo, and most would consider it their homes.[23] Some daimyos had little interest in their domains and needed to be begged to return "home".[23]
In return for the centralization, peace among the daimyos was maintained; unlike in the Sengoku period, daimyos no longer worried about conflicts with one another.[23] In addition, hereditary succession was guaranteed as internal usurpations within domains were not recognized by the shogunate.[23]
Classification of daimyos
The Tokugawa clan further ensured loyalty by maintaining a dogmatic insistence on loyalty to the shōgun. Daimyos were classified into three main categories:[32]
- Fudai ("hereditary" 譜代) were mostly vassals of Ieyasu and the Tokugawa clan before the Battle of Sekigahara.[32] They ruled their han (estate) and served as high officials in the shogunate, although their han tended to be smaller compared to the tozama domains.[32]
- Tozama ("outsiders" 外様) were around 100 daimyos, most of whom became vassals of the Tokugawa clan after the Battle of Sekigahara. Some fought against Tokugawa forces, although some were neutral or even fought on the side of the Tokugawa clan, as allies rather than vassals.[32] The tozama daimyos tend to have the largest han, with 11 of the 16 largest daimyos in this category.[32]
The tozama daimyos who fought against the Tokugawa clan in the Battle of Sekigahara had their estate reduced substantially.
Relations with the Emperor
Regardless of the political title of the Emperor, the shōguns of the Tokugawa family controlled Japan.[34] The shogunate secured a nominal grant of administration (体制, taisei) by the Imperial Court in Kyoto to the Tokugawa family.[33] While the Emperor officially had the prerogative of appointing the shōgun and received generous subsidies, he had virtually no say in state affairs.[31] The shogunate issued the Laws for the Imperial and Court Officials (kinchu narabini kuge shohatto 禁中並公家諸法度) to set out its relationship with the Imperial family and the kuge (imperial court officials), and specified that the Emperor should dedicate to scholarship and poetry.[35] The shogunate also appointed a liaison, the Kyoto Shoshidai (Shogun's Representative in Kyoto), to deal with the Emperor, court and nobility.
Towards the end of the shogunate, however, after centuries of the Emperor having very little say in state affairs and being secluded in his Kyoto palace, and in the wake of the reigning shōgun, Tokugawa Iemochi, marrying the sister of Emperor Kōmei (r. 1846–1867), in 1862, the Imperial Court in Kyoto began to enjoy increased political influence.[36] The Emperor would occasionally be consulted on various policies and the shogun even made a visit to Kyoto to visit the Emperor.[citation needed] Government administration would be formally returned from the shogun to the Emperor during the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
Shogun and foreign trade
Foreign affairs and trade were monopolized by the shogunate, yielding a huge profit. Foreign trade was also permitted to the
The visits of the Nanban ships from Portugal were at first the main vector of trade exchanges, followed by the addition of Dutch, English, and sometimes Spanish ships.
From 1603 onward, Japan started to participate actively in foreign trade. In 1615, an embassy and trade mission under
After 1635 and the introduction of seclusion laws (sakoku), inbound ships were only allowed from China, Korea, and the Netherlands.
Shogun and Christianity
Followers of Christianity first began appearing in Japan during the 16th century. Oda Nobunaga embraced Christianity and the Western technology that was imported with it, such as the musket. He also saw it as a tool he could use to suppress Buddhist forces.[37]
Though Christianity was allowed to grow until the 1610s, Tokugawa Ieyasu soon began to see it as a growing threat to the stability of the shogunate. As Ōgosho ("Cloistered Shōgun"),[38] he influenced the implementation of laws that banned the practice of Christianity. His successors followed suit, compounding upon Ieyasu's laws. The ban of Christianity is often linked with the creation of the Seclusion laws, or Sakoku, in the 1630s.[39]
Government income
The primary source of the shogunate's income was the tax (around 40%) levied on harvests in the Tokugawa clan's personal domains (tenryō).[32] No taxes were levied on domains of daimyos, who instead provided military duty, public works and corvee.[32] The shogunate obtained loans from merchants, which were sometimes seen as forced donations, although commerce was often not taxed.[32] Special levies were also imposed for infrastructure-building.[32]
Institutions of the shogunate
The personal vassals of the Tokugawa shoguns were classified into two groups:
- the bannermen (hatamoto 旗本) had the privilege to directly approach the shogun;[32]
- the housemen (gokenin 御家人) did not have the privilege of the shogun's audience.[32]
By the early 18th century, out of around 22,000 personal vassals, most would have received stipends rather than domains.[32]
Rōjū and wakadoshiyori
The
In principle, the requirements for appointment to the office of rōjū were to be a fudai daimyō and to have a fief assessed at 50000 koku or more.[32] However, there were exceptions to both criteria. Many appointees came from the offices close to the shōgun, such as soba yōnin (側用人), Kyoto Shoshidai, and Osaka jōdai.
Irregularly, the shōguns appointed a rōjū to the position of tairō (great elder).[32] The office was limited to members of the Ii, Sakai, Doi, and Hotta clans, but Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu was given the status of tairō as well. Among the most famous was Ii Naosuke, who was assassinated in 1860 outside the Sakuradamon Gate of Edo Castle (Sakuradamon incident).
Three to five men titled the wakadoshiyori (若年寄) were next in status below the rōjū.[32] An outgrowth of the early six-man rokuninshū (六人衆, 1633–1649), the office took its name and final form in 1662. Their primary responsibility was management of the affairs of the hatamoto and gokenin, the direct vassals of the shōgun.[32] Under the wakadoshiyori were the metsuke.
Some shōguns appointed a soba yōnin. This person acted as a liaison between the shōgun and the rōjū. The soba yōnin increased in importance during the time of the fifth shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, when a wakadoshiyori, Inaba Masayasu, assassinated Hotta Masatoshi, the tairō. Fearing for his personal safety, Tsunayoshi moved the rōjū to a more distant part of the castle. Some of the most famous soba yōnin were Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu and Tanuma Okitsugu.
Ōmetsuke and metsuke
The ōmetsuke and metsuke were officials who reported to the rōjū and wakadoshiyori.[32] The five ōmetsuke were in charge of monitoring the affairs of the daimyōs, kuge and imperial court. They were in charge of discovering any threat of rebellion. Early in the Edo period, daimyōs such as Yagyū Munefuyu held the office. Soon, however, it fell to hatamoto with rankings of 5,000 koku or more. To give them authority in their dealings with daimyōs, they were often ranked at 10,000 koku and given the title of kami (an ancient title, typically signifying the governor of a province) such as Bizen-no-kami.
As time progressed, the function of the ōmetsuke evolved into one of passing orders from the shogunate to the daimyōs, and of administering to ceremonies within Edo Castle. They also took on additional responsibilities such as supervising religious affairs and controlling firearms. The metsuke, reporting to the wakadoshiyori, oversaw the affairs of the vassals of the shōgun.[32] They were the police force for the thousands of hatamoto and gokenin who were concentrated in Edo. Individual han had their own metsuke who similarly policed their samurai.
San-bugyō
The san-bugyō (三奉行 "three administrators") were the jisha, kanjō, and machi-bugyō, which respectively oversaw temples and shrines, accounting, and the cities. The jisha-bugyō had the highest status of the three. They oversaw the administration of Buddhist temples (ji) and Shinto shrines (sha), many of which held fiefs. Also, they heard lawsuits from several land holdings outside the eight Kantō provinces. The appointments normally went to daimyōs; Ōoka Tadasuke was an exception, though he later became a daimyō.[citation needed]
The
The machi-bugyō were the chief city administrators of Edo and other cities. Their roles included mayor, chief of the police (and, later, also of the fire department), and judge in criminal and civil matters not involving samurai. Two (briefly, three) men, normally hatamoto, held the office, and alternated by month.[41]
Three Edo machi bugyō have become famous through jidaigeki (period films): Ōoka Tadasuke and Tōyama Kagemoto (Kinshirō) as heroes, and Torii Yōzō (ja:鳥居耀蔵) as a villain.[citation needed]
Tenryō, gundai and daikan
The san-bugyō together sat on a council called the hyōjōsho (評定所). In this capacity, they were responsible for administering the tenryō (the shogun's estates), supervising the gundai (郡代), the daikan (代官) and the kura bugyō (蔵奉行), as well as hearing cases involving samurai. The gundai managed Tokugawa domains with incomes greater than 10,000 koku while the daikan managed areas with incomes between 5,000 and 10,000 koku.
The shogun directly held lands in various parts of Japan. These were known as shihaisho (支配所); since the Meiji period, the term tenryō (
Gaikoku bugyō
The gaikoku bugyō were administrators appointed between 1858 and 1868. They were charged with overseeing trade and diplomatic relations with foreign countries, and were based in the treaty ports of Nagasaki and Kanagawa (Yokohama).[citation needed]
List of Tokugawa shōguns
# | Picture | Name (Born-Died) |
Shōgun From | Shōgun Until |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) |
1603 | 1605 | |
2 | Tokugawa Hidetada (1579–1632) |
1605 | 1623 | |
3 | Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604–1651) |
1623 | 1651 | |
4 | Tokugawa Ietsuna (1641–1680) |
1651 | 1680 | |
5 | Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646–1709) |
1680 | 1709 | |
6 | Tokugawa Ienobu (1662–1712) |
1709 | 1712 | |
7 | Tokugawa Ietsugu (1709–1716) |
1713 | 1716 | |
8 | Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684–1751) |
1716 | 1745 | |
9 | Tokugawa Ieshige (1712–1761) |
1745 | 1760 | |
10 | Tokugawa Ieharu (1737–1786) |
1760 | 1786 | |
11 | Tokugawa Ienari (1773–1841) |
1787 | 1837 | |
12 | Tokugawa Ieyoshi (1793–1853) |
1837 | 1853 | |
13 | Tokugawa Iesada (1824–1858) |
1853 | 1858 | |
14 | Tokugawa Iemochi (1846–1866) |
1858 | 1866 | |
15 | Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837–1913) |
1866 | 1867 |
Source:[43]
Family Tree
Over the course of the Edo period, influential relatives of the shogun included:
- Tokugawa Mitsukuni of the Mito Domain[44]
- Tokugawa Nariaki of the Mito Domain[45]
- Tokugawa Mochiharu of the Hitotsubashibranch
- Tokugawa Munetake of the Tayasu branch.[46]
- Matsudaira Katamori of the Aizu branch.[47]
- Shirakawa.[48]
- Tokugawa Mochiharu of the Hitotsubashibranch.
Notes
- ^ a b Shibatani, Masayoshi. "Japanese language | Origin, History, Grammar, & Writing". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-4094-3600-3. Archivedfrom the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
The Tokugawa Shogunate had sanctioned Buddhism as a state religion.
- ^ ISBN 9780190075750. Archivedfrom the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
A dew sexteenth-century Chiristian missionaries left a small following in Japan, but from 1600 until 1853, the countory was governed by the Tokugawa Shogunate banned Christianity, forbade travel overseas, and only allowed foreign trade in the port of Nagasaki with the Netherlands and China. Confucianism, with its emphasis on harmony, was the prevailing "state religion", although it coexisted with Shintoism, a religion that worshipped nature gods and that was personified by the emperor.
- ^ Hirai, Naofusa. "Shinto § The encounter with Buddhism". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
Buddhistic Shintō was popular for several centuries and was influential until its extinction at the Meiji Restoration.
- ^ Tucci, Giuseppe. "Buddhism - Korea and Japan". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on October 13, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
- ^ "Kirishitan | religion". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
- ^ a b c "Japan - The bakuhan system". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
- ^ "Japan § Introduction". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
- ^ "Shogunate". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on October 9, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
The shogunate was the hereditary military dictatorship of Japan (1192–1867).
- ^ "Tokugawa period". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
- ^ Emperor Go-Yōzei started reigning in 1586, after the abdication of Emperor Ōgimachi.
- ^ Emperor Meiji reigned until his death in 1912.
- ^ "Tokugawa Ieyasu JapanVisitor Japan Travel Guide". Archived from the original on 2021-04-18. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
- ^ "The Story of the Battle of Sekigahara". Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
- ^ "meiji-restoration Tokugawa Period and Meiji Restoration". Retrieved 2021-05-28.
- ^ "Daimyo Flags, 19th Century". Flags of the World. Archived from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- ^ "Tokugawa". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020.
- ^ in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 978.
- ^ a b Nussbaum, "Edo-jidai" Archived 2023-10-16 at the Wayback Machine at p. 167.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Kinsei" Archived 2023-10-16 at the Wayback Machine at p. 525.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Shogun" at pp. 878–879.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Tokugawa" Archived 2023-10-16 at the Wayback Machine at p. 976.
- ^ OCLC 17483588.
- ^ (PDF) from the original on 2020-03-09. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8047-0527-1.
- ^ Deal, William E. (2006). Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press. p. 14.
- S2CID 242322729.
- ISBN 978-0-674-00991-2.
- ^ Shinsengumi, The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps, Romulus, Hillsborough, Tuttle Publishing, 2005
- ^ Ravina, Mark (2004).Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori. John Wiley & Sons, 2004
- ^ OCLC 277040931.
- ^ )
- ^ a b c d Nussbaum, "Satchotohi" Archived 2023-10-16 at the Wayback Machine, pp. 826–827.
- ^ Jansen 2002, pp. 144–148.
- OCLC 833766152.
- ^ Keene, Donald Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912 (2005, Columbia University Press) p. 62
- ^ Chie Nakane and Shinzaburou Oishi (1990). Tokugawa Japan – The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan. University of Tokyo Press. pp.12.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Ogosho" at p. 738.
- ^ Chie Nakane and Shinzaburou Oishi (1990). Tokugawa Japan: The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan. University of Tokyo Press. pp.24–28.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Kanjō bugyō" Archived 2023-10-16 at the Wayback Machine at p. 473.
- ISBN 978-1-4408-6495-7. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-10-16. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Tenryō", p. 961.
- ^ Jansen, Marius B (2002). The Making of Modern Japan (3rd ed.). London: Harvard University Press. p. 44.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Tokugawa Mitsukuni" at p. 979.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Tokugawa Nariaki" at p. 979.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Tayasu" at p. 954.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Matsudaira Katamori" at p. 616.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Matsudaira Sadanobu" at p. 617.
References
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Japan: A Country Study. Federal Research Division.
Further reading
- Haga, Tōru, translated by ISBN 978-4-86658-148-4
- Totman, Conrad. The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1862–1868. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1980.
- Totman, Conrad. Politics in the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1600–1843. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.
- Waswo, Ann Modern Japanese Society 1868–1994
- The Center for East Asian Cultural Studies Meiji Japan Through Contemporary Sources, Volume Two 1844–1882
External links
- Japan
- Tokugawa Political System
- SengokuDaimyo.com The website of Samurai Author and Historian Anthony J. Bryant
- Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, by M.C. Perry, at archive.org