From the Edo Period to Meiji Restoration in Japan

27.2: From the Edo Period to Meiji Restoration in Japan

27.2.1: The Edo Period

The Edo period (1603-1868), when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, and stable population.

Learning Objective

Characterize the Edo Period in Japan

Key Points

  • Shogun was the military dictator of Japan from 1185 to 1868 (with exceptions). In most of this period, the shoguns were the de facto rulers of the country, although nominally e appointed by the Emperor. The shogun held almost absolute power over territories through military means. A shogun’s office or administration is the shogunate, known in Japanese as the bakufu. Between 1603 and 1868 Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, a period known as the Edo period.
  • This period brought 250 years of stability to Japan. The political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han (domains) to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyōs had regional authority. This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities.
  • A code of laws was established to regulate the daimyō houses. It encompassed private conduct, marriage, dress, types of weapons, and numbers of troops allowed. It required the feudal lords to reside in Edo every other year, prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships, proscribed Christianity, restricted castles to one per domain (han), and stipulated that bakufu regulations were the national law. The Tokugawa shogunate also went to great lengths to suppress social unrest.
  • Edo society had an elaborate social structure in which everyone knew their place and level of prestige. At the top were the Emperor and the court nobility, invincible in prestige but weak in power. Next came the shogun, daimyōs, and layers of feudal lords. A social order called “the four divisions of society” was adapted to stabilize the country, comprised of samurai, farming peasants, artisans, and merchants. The classes were not arranged by wealth or capital but by what philosophers described as their moral purity.
  • The Edo period witnessed the growth of a vital commercial sector, burgeoning urban centers, relatively well-educated elite, sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads. Rice was the base of the economy. About 80% of the people were rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable, so prosperity increased.
  • Japan also developed an advanced forest management policy. Increased demand for timber resources for construction, shipbuilding, and fuel led to widespread deforestation, which resulted in forest fires, floods, and soil erosion. In response, the shogun instituted a policy to reduced logging and increased the planting of trees.

Key Terms

Shogun
The military dictator of Japan during the period from 1185 to 1868 (with exceptions). In most of this period, they were the de facto rulers of the country, although nominally they were appointed by the Emperor as a ceremonial formality. They held almost absolute power over territories through military means.
Edo period
The period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country’s 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, and isolationist foreign policies.
Sakoku
The foreign relations policy of Japan under which severe restrictions were placed on the entry of foreigners and Japanese people were forbidden to leave the country without special permission on penalty of death if they returned. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and largely remained officially in effect until 1866. The arrival of the American Black Ships of Commodore Matthew Perry, which started the forced opening of Japan to Western trade, eroded its enforcement severely.
Tokugawa shogunate
The last feudal Japanese military government, which existed between 1603 and 1867. The head of government was the shogun and each was a member of the Tokugawa clan. The regime ruled from Edo Castle and the years of the shogunate became known as the Edo period.

Shogun and Shogunate

Shogun was the military dictator of Japan from 1185 to 1868 (with exceptions). In most of this period, the shoguns were the de facto rulers of the country, although nominally they were appointed by the Emperor as a ceremonial formality. The shogun held almost absolute power over territories through military means. A shogun’s office or administration is the shogunate, known in Japanese as the bakufu. The shogun’s officials were collectively the bakufu and carried out the actual duties of administration, while the imperial court retained only nominal authority. In this context, the office of the shogun had a status equivalent to that of a viceroy or governor-general, but in reality shoguns dictated orders to everyone including the reigning Emperor.

 

Tokugawa Shogunate

During the second half of the 16th century, Japan gradually reunified under two powerful warlords, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In the hope of founding a new dynasty, Hideyoshi asked his most trusted subordinates to pledge loyalty to his infant son Toyotomi Hideyori. Despite this, almost immediately after Hideyoshi’s death (1598), war broke out between Hideyori’s allies and those loyal to Tokugawa Ieyasu, a feudal lord (daimyō) and former ally of Hideyoshi. Tokugawa Ieyasu won a decisive victory at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and although it took him three more years to consolidate his position of power over the Toyotomi clan and the daimyōs, Sekigahara is widely considered to be the unofficial beginning of the Tokugawa bakufu.

In 1603, Emperor Go-Yōzei declared Tokugawa Ieyasu shogun.Ieyasu abdicated two years later to groom his son as the second shogun of what became a long dynasty. Despite laws imposing tighter controls on the daimyōs, the latter continued to maintain a significant degree of autonomy in their domains. The central government of the shogunate in Edo, which quickly became the most populous city in the world, took counsel from a group of senior advisors known as rōjū and employed the samurai as bureaucrats. The Emperor in Kyoto was funded lavishly by the government but had no political power.

A painting of Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu, first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, by Kanō Tan’yū, Osaka Castle main tower Ieyasu had a number of qualities that enabled him to rise to power. He was both careful and bold—at the right times, and in the right places. Calculating and subtle, Ieyasu switched alliances when he thought he would benefit from the change.

 

The period of the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, known as the Edo period, brought 250 years of stability to Japan. The political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han (domains). In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyōs had regional authority. This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities.

A code of laws was established to regulate the daimyō houses. The code encompassed private conduct, marriage, dress, types of weapons, and numbers of troops allowed. It required the feudal lords to reside in Edo every other year, prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships, proscribed Christianity, restricted castles to one per domain (han) and stipulated that bakufu regulations were the national law. Although the daimyō were not taxed per se, they were regularly levied for contributions for military and logistical support and for such public works projects as castles, roads, bridges, and palaces. The various regulations and levies not only strengthened the Tokugawa but depleted the wealth of the daimyōs, thus weakening their threat to the central administration. The han, once military-centered domains, became mere local administrative units. The daimyōs did have full administrative control over their territories and their complex systems of retainers, bureaucrats, and commoners.

The Tokugawa shogunate went to great lengths to suppress social unrest. Harsh penalties, including crucifixion, beheading, and death by boiling, were decreed for even the most minor offenses, although criminals of high social class were often given the option of seppuku (“self-disembowelment”), an ancient form of suicide that became ritualized. Christianity, which was seen as a potential threat, was gradually restricted until it was completely outlawed. To prevent further foreign ideas from sowing dissent, the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, implemented the sakoku (“closed country”) isolationist policy, under which Japanese people were not allowed to travel abroad, return from overseas, or build ocean-going vessels. The only Europeans allowed on Japanese soil were the Dutch, who were granted a single trading post on the island of Dejima. China and Korea were the only other countries permitted to trade and many foreign books were banned from import.

 

 

Social Structure

Edo society had an elaborate social structure in which everyone knew their place and level of prestige. At the top were the Emperor and the court nobility, invincible in prestige but weak in power. Next came the shogun, daimyōs, and layers of feudal lords, whose rank was indicated by their closeness to the Tokugawa. The daimyōs comprised about 250 local lords of local han with annual outputs of 50,000 or more bushels of rice.

The Tokugawa government adapted a social order called “the four divisions of society” (shinōkōshō or mibunsei) that stabilized the country. This system was based on the ideas of Confucianism that spread to Japan from China. Society was composed of samurai, farming peasants, artisans, and merchants. Samurai were placed at the top because they started an order and set a high moral example for others to follow. The system was meant to reinforce their position of power in society by justifying their ruling status. Peasants came second because they produced the most important commodity, food. According to Confucian philosophy, society could not survive without agriculture. Third were artisans because they produced nonessential goods. Merchants were at the bottom of the social order because they generated wealth without producing any goods. As this indicates, the classes were not arranged by wealth or capital but by what philosophers described as their moral purity. In actuality, shinōkōshō does not accurately describe Tokugawa society as many were excluded from this simplified division (e.g., soldiers, clergy, service providers like cleaners, etc.).

The individual had no legal rights in Tokugawa Japan. The family was the smallest legal entity and the maintenance of family status and privileges was of great importance at all levels of society.

Terakoya, private educational school (here specifically for girls) by Issunshi Hanasato

The first terakoya made their appearance at the beginning of the 17th century, as a development from educational facilities founded in Buddhist temples. Before the Edo period, public educational institutions were dedicated to the children of samurai and ruling families, thus the rise of the merchant class in the middle of the Edo period boosted the popularity of terakoya. They were common in large cities as Edo and Osaka, as well as in rural and coastal regions.

A painting showing students and an instructor studying

 

Economic Development

The Edo period witnessed the growth of a vital commercial sector, burgeoning urban centers, relatively well-educated elite, sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads. Economic development included urbanization, increased shipping of commodities, a significant expansion of domestic and initially foreign commerce, and a diffusion of trade and handicraft industries. The construction trades flourished, along with banking facilities and merchant associations.

By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of more than one million, and Osaka and Kyoto each had more than 400,000 inhabitants. Many other castle towns grew as well. Japan had almost zero population growth between the 1720s and 1820s. This is often attributed to lower birth rates in response to widespread famine, but some historians have presented different theories, such as a high rate of infanticide as a means to artificially control population.

Rice was the base of the economy. About 80% of the people were rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable, so prosperity increased. Improved technology helped farmers control the all-important flow of irrigation to their paddies. Large-scale rice markets developed, centered on Edo and Ōsaka. The daimyōs collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, about 40% of the harvest. In the cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants, though low in status, prospered, especially those with official patronage. They invented credit instruments to transfer money, currency came into common use, and the strengthening credit market encouraged entrepreneurship.

It was during the Edo period that Japan developed an advanced forest management policy. Increased demand for timber resources for construction, shipbuilding, and fuel had led to widespread deforestation, which resulted in forest fires, floods, and soil erosion. In response, the shogun, beginning around 1666, instituted a policy to reduced logging and increased the planting of trees. The policy mandated that only the shogun and daimyōs could authorize the use of wood. By the 18th century, Japan had developed detailed scientific knowledge about silviculture and plantation forestry.

Attributions