Edo Period (Tokugawa Period)

INTRODUCTION

Perry broke the traditional japan and force it into the modern world. Commodore
Matthew Perry with his four fabled 'black ships' in July 1853. Also known as 'the father of the
steam-navy'. The US president was Millard Fillmore. The treaty that opened the ports of Shinoda
and Hakodate, and also provided for the stationing of the first US consul on mainland Japan is
Treaty of Kanagawa (31 March 1854). Japan senses itself that it is not equal for Japan as
international society in late 19-century, therefore, Japan ends the 'unequal' treaties. The Japanese
give the US a sumo contest to entertain them but the US is not impressed. Aside from that, the
US delegation presented a 100-meter circle of track and steam locomotive to the Japanese
officials that made them more intimidating.

Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan following the epic battle of Sekigahara in 1600; and
Tokugawa Iemitsu ruled as shogun from 1623 to 1651. These ‘unification’ is started by Oda
Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The bloody process of this unification
began with Nobunaga’s expansion from Owari (present-day Nagoya). Historians portray him as
brutal and self-interested person by suppressing the neighboring villages and destroying
Buddhist temples, burning ancient libraries and murdering monks and their supporters. Other
than being brutal, he established a law that is disarming the peasants and institutionalizing the
social and political divide between the samurai class and the rest of Japan. Moreover, Toyotomi
Hideyoshi, the successor of Nobunaga started the ‘sword hunt’ in 1588. A person other than the
member of the samurai class that carry a sword became illegal by the early 17 th century; thus,
wearing two swords became the privilege and emblem of the samurai minority. By this,
Nobunaga was given the title of shogun by Minamoto Yoritomo who is the emperor however, he
rejected it. He wished to demonstrate that he was not a subordinate to the emperor in Kyoto, but
rather that he wanted Japan recognition about his right to rule based on realpolitik, not any
religious or mystical endorsement by imperial court. Therefore, the one who received the shogun
title was Nobunaga’s successors; Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603 as a way to stabilize his new regime
and the other Nobunaga’s successors which is Toyotomi Hideyoshi did not get the title of shogun
even after begging from Ashikaga Yoshiaki who has the empty title of shogun but he refused. In
the end, Hideyoshi received the title kampaku (advisor to an adult emperor), which as originally
held by the Fujiwara family.

In 1592 and 1597, Hideyoshi tried to invade Korea because of the absence of the
symbolic legitimacy and stability that he craved. Eventually, the invasion was failed, rather than
bolstering his position as kampaku, his family’s name depleted and undermined his status as an
unassailable general. Moreover, the presence of the Christians Europeans had made Hideyoshi
suspicious and threatening in Japan that in 1597, he outbreaks against them, crucifying a number
of missionaries and Japanese converts before expelling the Christians from Japan in 1598. These
movement prefigured the sakoku-rei (closed-country edict) of 1635 until the arrival of US
Commodore Perry. This sakoku-rei had completely had Tokugawa Japan isolated from the
international world and drastically reduced Japan’s knowledge of Europe. Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s
death was in 1598 which made the instability of his lieutenants as the complicated system of
alliances that unified Japan by Hideyoshi himself. As a result, a war was started in 1600 which
also known as ‘The Battle of Sekigahara’ that was won by Tokugawa Ieyasu. His victory led to
the offer by the emperor as the title of shogun from 1603 to 1868 in Edo. This is the reason why
Edo Period is also called as Tokugawa Period.

CHAPTER ONE

The political system that was used during the era ruled by Tokugawa is the bakuhan
taisei, which means a political structure linking the bakufu (military government) and the han
(daimyo) in a single taisei (system). However, in this period, there are two separate powerful
authorities, imperial authority (emperor) and shogunal authority (shogun). This makes the
instability on the feudal system in Japanese history. Nevertheless, Ieyasu made it clear by
making the bakufu or shogun to be the most reliable, hence, the imperial court risked
impoverishment and collapse. The imperial court surrendered their last vestiges and transformed
into a kind of modern constitutional monarchy by the Tokugawa regime.

Ieyasu built new religious sites near Edo (such as his own shrine in Nikko) to satisfy with
the modern structure and to give the shogunates its own religious and spiritual legitimacy like the
imperial house (e.g. The Great Shrine of Ise). Ieyasu really wanted his bakufu to equalize with
the tenka which is the mediation of the imperial house.
 The next relation problem is the shogun and the daimyo. Ieyasu made a thought that the
one who failed and unreliable after or during the Sekigahara war will be disempowered and
pushed out (the so-called tozama daimyo), while the other who was loyal will be empowered (the
so-called fudai daimyo). The fudai daimyos were able to establish only one castle per domain
and prohibited to form alliances, on the other hand, the tozama daimyos were more focused
around the periphery. However, this system made the process of centralization pace down and
Ieyasu’s grandson implemented a new system which is the sankin kotai system where every
daimyo should maintain residence in the capital city, Edo as well as in their home domains.
Thus, the family of daimyo were practically being hostages in Edo. This sankin kotai system
kick-started the development of a national market economy during the 17 th century as the
daimyos around the nation had to reside in Edo, every route that they took has made the trading
possible and the network of roads were also established such as the Tokaido highway which
connects Kyoto and Edo as well as Nakasendo highway that connects through the Japan Alps.
With that being said, Edo became the largest city on the world.

Besides, determining the social mobility between classes into four tier which is shi-no-
ko-sho, which is samurai (shi), farmers (ko), artisans (ko), and merchants (sho) was the most
impactful features in Tokugawa period. Furthermore, this system was justified into neo-
Confucian Hayashi Razan. This relation (the ruler and the ruled) is similar as a father ruled over
his son, and making the shogun as the father of all rather than to the emperor, whom he
depoliticized). However, by the 18th century, this social system was begging to fail, as the
economy faltered, social commentators began to notice the increasing poverty in both cities and
country sides. Meanwhile, since there were no wars during that period, the status of ‘samurai’
was also beginning to lose the respect from the tier below them. Furthermore, Ako Incident was
the famous act back in 1702 where 47 ronin (masterless samurai) avenged the death of their
master (daimyo) that was forcedly seppuku by the other daimyo that is responsible for the death
of their lord. At last, they turned themselves in front of the authorities and performed seppuku as
the punishment. This case caused a controversy and demonstrated how the traditional values of
the samurai tier might face an issue to the modernization of Japan. In the other hand, this act
which is started by the ronin represent enough of the traditional values of loyalty, sacrifice,
endurance, and honor which also known as bushido. Moreover, time by time, the other left
samurai began to lose their status and it became a burden rather than the icon of the society.
 CHAPTER TWO

Year after year, the bakufu is weakening and crumbling while the tensions between
classes in the anachronistic and rigid system were bubbled. And, Commodate Perry came to
throws of a process of modernization that had been frustrated. This leads us to the bakumatsu –
the end of the shogunate (1853-1868).

Perry’s arrival in 1853 had made the chief councilor of the bakufu, Abe Masahiro asking
the daimyo for their views on how to respond to Perry’s ultimatum which is the revival or
installation of the emperor as the sovereign of a modern, constitutional state. Since that time was
a critical moment where the bakufu was lacked of leadership power, eventually, Abe decided to
resign from his division. Tokugawa Iesada, the shogun at that time was dying and sick and Abe’s
successor, Hotta Masayoshi had difficulties in negotiating solutions to both of the problems.
With the help of daimyo of the fudai domains, Hotta accepted Harris’s agreement in trading and
also appoint 12 years-old child, Tokugawa Iemochi, heir to the domain of Kii to be the next
shogun. However. The tozama daimyo, together with other anti-foreign domains (such as Mito,
which was a branch of the Tokugawa family) held the opposite thoughts on both issues, where
they want to reject the treaty and appoint Tokugawa Yoshinobu, son of the powerful Mito
daimyo, Tokugawa Nariaki. The respon that Hotta took was to immediately went to Kyoto where
Emperor Komei resides and asked to ratify Harris’s treaty and confirm the next bakufu of
shogunal hier. Unfortunately, the emperor refused it and turned out to be one of the supporters of
Tokugawa Yoshinobu—and Hotta resigned because of the humiliation. Ii Naosuke, Hotta’s
successor, is against the anti-foreign factions and pushing them further towards an anti-bakufu
and pro-imperial position. However, within two years, he was assassinated by a group of samurai
from the Mito.

In 1862, the shogun cancelled the sankin kotai system and release all the money that are
kept from the daimyo. With that being said, these encourage the daimyo to build powerful
private armies and on the other hand, Tokugawa’s pretence of national unity was crumbling. By
the 1860s, the bakufu began to receive threats from three directions at once and was depleted.
Under the influence of these event, Emperor Komei started to reassert the authority of the
imperial house.