Tokugawa Ieyasu ( ) 1603 accepted the title “Shogun” Established Edo as the Capital Tokugawa Japan
Tokugawa (Edo) Japan ( )
Class Divisions in Edo Japan Warrior - 7% of the population Farmers - 90% Artisans Merchants
Japan is divided into Hans Each Han controlled by a Daimyo
Daimyo Must Establish Rule Samurai must choose a Daimyo for life Samurai must live in a castle town (stipends)
“Making certain they can neither live nor die” Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Peasants Village life was a well-regulated concentration camp.
“Except when sleeping farmers are to devote all their time to farm work, and neither they nor their wives and children are to drink sake or tea.” 1649 Keian Proclamation
Francis Xavier ( )
1624 Spanish Expelled from Japan
British EIC 1613 – 1623 in Hirado
Sakoku Edicts (to 1853) Still illegal to leave Japan in 1868
China market Dutch pessimism No resources Too far north China market Dutch pessimism No resources Too far north
“If that double-bolted land, Japan, is ever to become hospitable, it is the whale-ship alone to whom the credit will be due; for already she is on the threshold.”
July 1853 Matthew Perry
Meiji Japan ( ) Meiji Miracle
Meiji Japan ( ) 1868 Japan comes out of feudalism and isolation 1895 defeat China 1905 defeat Russia 1919 One of the top five world powers at Versailles Meiji Miracle