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Japan Returns To Isolation

The Tokugawa regime unified Japan in the early 1600s and began over 250 years of isolationist policies. [1] Led by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the Tokugawa Shogunate centralized power and imposed strict social control over Japan. [2] To prevent foreign influence, the Tokugawa isolated Japan from outside contact except for a small Dutch trading post in Nagasaki. [3] This isolation lasted until 1853 when American ships commanded by Matthew Perry forced Japan to reopen trade with the Western world.

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571 views

Japan Returns To Isolation

The Tokugawa regime unified Japan in the early 1600s and began over 250 years of isolationist policies. [1] Led by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the Tokugawa Shogunate centralized power and imposed strict social control over Japan. [2] To prevent foreign influence, the Tokugawa isolated Japan from outside contact except for a small Dutch trading post in Nagasaki. [3] This isolation lasted until 1853 when American ships commanded by Matthew Perry forced Japan to reopen trade with the Western world.

Uploaded by

marvs
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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JAPAN RETURNS TO ISOLATION

MAIN IDEA

The Tokugawa regime unified Japan and began 250 years of isolation,
autocracy, and economic growth.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

Even now, Japan continues to limit and control dealings with foreigners,
especially in the area of trade.

TERMS & NAMES

• daimyo • Oda Nobunaga • Toyotomi Hideyoshi • Tokugawa Shogunate •


haiku • kabuki

SETTING THE STAGE

In the 1300s, the unity that had been achieved in Japanin the previous
century broke down. Shoguns, or military leaders, in the north and south
fiercely fought one another for power. Although these two rival courts later
came back together at the end of the century, a series of politically weak
shoguns let control of the country slip from their grasp. The whole land was
torn by factional strife and economic unrest. It would be centuries before
Japan would again be unified.

Why Japan isolate itself?

Japan isolate itself in order to have a homogeneous society,


great unified family with common values and beliefs, and because of
increasingly dangerous European threat, lastly to keep Japanese worldview
and lifestyle uncontaminated by the western ways.

A New Feudalism Under Strong Leaders

In 1467, civil war shattered Japan’s old feudal system. The country
collapsed into chaos. Centralized rule ended. Power drained away from the
shogun to territorial lords in hundreds of separate domains.

Local Lords Rule

A violent era of disorder followed. This time in Japanese history, which


lasted from 1467 to 1568, is known as the Sengoku, or “Warring States,”
period. Powerful samurai seized control of old feudal estates.

Key people in creating Isolation

DAIMYO

SHOGUN IEYASU

THE EUROPEAN (INVADERS)

New Leaders Restore Order

A number of ambitious daimyo hoped to gather enough power to take


control of the entire country. One, the brutal and ambitious Oda Nobunaga ,
defeated his rivals and seized the imperial capital Kyoto in 1568.
 This was the first time firearms had been used effectively in battle in
Japan. However, Nobunaga was not able to unify Japan.
 He committed seppuku, the ritual suicide of a samurai, in 1582, when
one of his own generals turned on him.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Nobunaga’s best general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi continued his fallen


leader’s mission. By 1590, by combining brute force with shrewd political
alliances, he controlled most of the country, eventually conquered China and
invaded Korea in 1592.

Tokugawa Shogunate Unites Japan

One of Hideyoshi’s strongest daimyo allies, Tokugawa Ieyasu


completed the unification of Japan. Japan was unified, but the daimyo still
governed at the local level. To keep them from rebelling, Ieyasu required that
they spend every other year in the capital.

The “alternate attendance policy” and other restrictions, Ieyasu tamed the
daimyo. This was a major step toward restoring centralized government to
Japan.

Life in Tokugawa

Japan enjoyed more than two and a half centuries of stability, prosperity, and
isolation under the Tokugawa shoguns.

Tokugawa society was very structured.


 The emperor had the top rank but was just a figurehead.
 The actual ruler was the shogun.
 Below him were the daimyo, the powerful landholding.
 Samurai warriors came next.
 The peasants and artisans followed them.
 Merchants were at the bottom.
 Culture Under the Tokugawa Shogunate

Society in Tokugawa Japan

In Japan, as in China, Confucian values influenced ideas about society.


According to Confucius, the ideal society depended on agriculture, not
commerce. Farmers, not merchants, made ideal citizens. In the real world of
Tokugawa Japan, however, peasant farmers bore the main tax burden and
faced more difficulties than any other class. Many of them abandoned farm
life and headed for the expanding towns and cities. There, they mixed with
samurai, artisans, and merchants.

Culture Under the Tokugawa Shogunate

 Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been


performed since the 14th century. 
 The people also read haiku 5-7-5-syllable, 3-line verse poetry. This
poetry presents images rather than ideas.
 Kabuki theater, Actors in elaborate costumes, using music, dance, and
mime, performed skits about modern life.
 The paintings the people enjoyed were often woodblock prints showing
city life.

Contact Between Europe and Japan

Europeans began coming to Japan in the 16th century, during the


Warring States period. Despite the severe disorder in the country, the
Japanese welcomed traders and missionaries, from Portugal and, later, other
European countries. These newcomers introduced fascinating new
technologies and ideas. Within a century, however, the aggressive Europeans
had worn out their welcome.

Portugal Sends Ships, Merchants, and Technology to Japan

The Japanese first encountered Europeans in 1543, when shipwrecked


Portuguese sailors washed up on the shores of southern Japan. Portuguese
merchants soon followed. They hoped to involve themselves in Japan’s trade
with China and Southeast Asia. The Portuguese brought clocks, eyeglasses,
tobacco, firearms, and other unfamiliar items from Europe. Japanese
merchants, eager to expand their markets, were happy to receive the
newcomers and their goods.

Japan in Isolation

Most commercial contacts with Europeans ended. One port, Nagasaki,


remained open to foreign traders. For more than 200 years, Japan remained
basically closed to Europeans. In addition, the Japanese were forbidden to
leave, so as not to bring back foreign ideas. Japan would continue to
develop, but as a self-sufficient country, free from European attempts to
colonize or to establish their presence.

Key person getting Japan out of isolation

Commander Matthew Perry under the American government sailed to


Tokyo Bay and forced Japan sign the convention of Kanagawa.
Prepared by:

Hershey Joy N. Decripito

BSED SS3A

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