The rise of a new merchant class and increasing urbanization was included in Tokugawa Ieyasu’s dynasty of shoguns which presided over 250 years of peace and prosperity in Japan.
They also worked to close off Japanese society from Westernizing influences to guard against external influence, particularly Christianity.
By the mid-19th century the Tokugawa shogunate became increasingly weak and in early 1868 two powerful clans joined forces to seize power as part of an “imperial restoration” named for Emperor Meiji.
The Meiji Restoration would lead to the emergence of modern Japanese culture, politics and society they also spelled the beginning of the end for feudalism in Japan.
Background & Rise of Tokugawa Shogunate:
The power was decentralized in Japan during the 1500s, which torned apart by warfare between competing feudal lords (daimyo) for nearly a century. Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) swiftly consolidated power from his heavily fortified castle at Edo (now Tokyo) following his victory in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.
In 1603 largely powerless imperial court named Ieyasu as shogun began a dynasty that would rule Japan for the next two-and-a-half centuries.
Re-establishing order in social, political and international affairs after a century of warfare was the biggest points of focus of the Tokugawa regime from the beginning.
The political structure bound all daimyos to the shogunate and limited any individual daimyo from acquiring too much land or power. It was established by Ieyasu and solidified under his two immediate successors, his son Hidetada (who ruled from 1616-23) and grandson Iemitsu (1623-51).
Tokugawa Shoguns Close Japan to Foreign Influence:
The Tokugawa regime acted to exclude missionaries and eventually issued a complete ban on Christianity in Japan after suspicious of foreign intervention and colonialism.
There were an estimated 300,000 Christians in Japan near the beginning of the Tokugawa period; Christianity was forced underground after the shogunate’s brutal repression of a Christian rebellion on the Shimabara Peninsula in 1637-38.
Confucianism a relatively conservative religion with a strong emphasis on loyalty and duty was the dominant faith of the Tokugawa period.
The Tokugawa shogunate also prohibited trade with Western nations and prevented Japanese merchants from trading abroad in its efforts to close Japan off from damaging foreign influence.
Japan was effectively cut off from Western nations for the next 200 years with the Act of Seclusion passed on 1636. It maintained close relations with neighboring Korea and China in the meantime to confirm a traditional East Asian political order with China at the center.
Tokugawa Period: Economy and Society
The Tokugawa Period recognized only four social classes–warriors (samurai), artisans, farmers and merchants, and mobility between the four classes was officially prohibited as per the Neo-Confucian theory that dominated Japan during.
Many samurai became bureaucrats or took up a trade as the peace restored in the land. They were expected to maintain their warrior pride and military preparedness in the meantime leading to much frustration in their ranks.
Peasants (who made up 80 percent of the Japanese population) were forbidden from engaging in non-agricultural activities for their part which helped them ensure consistent income for landowning authorities.
The Tokugawa period saw a significant upward graph of Japanese economy. Japan’s commerce and manufacturing industries also expanded, in addition to an emphasis on agricultural production.
All these lead to the rise of an increasingly wealthy merchant class and in turn to the growth of Japanese cities. A vibrant urban culture emerged centered in Kyoto, Osaka and Edo (Tokyo), catering to merchants, samurai and townspeople rather than to nobles and daimyo, the traditional patrons.
The rise of Kabuki theater and Bunraku puppet theater was particularly seen in the Genroku era (1688-1704), the growth of literature (especially Matsuo Basho, the master of haiku) and woodblock printing also happened.
Meiji Restoration:
The mercantile and commercial sectors was way ahead in comparison to the agricultural production even samurai and daimyo did not fare as well as the merchant class.
From the mid-18th to the mid-19th century, mounting opposition seriously weakened the Tokugawa shogunate despite efforts at fiscal reform. A series of “unequal treaties” created further unrest as in those treaties the stronger nations imposed their will on smaller ones in East Asia.
The Treaty of Kanagawa, which opened Japanese ports to American ships guaranteeing them safe harbor and allowed the U.S. to set up a permanent consulate in exchange for not bombing Edo, got the most negative reactions from the people.
The Choshu and Satsuma was the two powerful anti-Tokugawa clans who combined and forced to topple the shogunate in 1867. An “imperial restoration” in the name of the young Emperor Meiji in the following year. He was just 14 years old at the time.
The Meiji Constitution of 1889 remained as the constitution of Japan until 1947, after World War II. Itō Hirobumi wrote the most part of this and created a parliament. The lower house was elected by the people and a prime minister and cabinet appointed by the emperor.
The peace and stability of the Tokugawa period set the stage for the rapid modernization that took place after the Meiji Restoration, and the economic development gave it a further boost.
The Meiji Period ended in 1912 with the death of its emperor, it helped the country to experience significant social, political and economic change–including the abolition of the feudal system and the adoption of a cabinet system of government.
The new regime opened the country once again to Western trade and influence and in addition it oversaw a buildup of military strength that would soon propel Japan onto the world stage.
Russo-Japanese War:
The Russian Empire was one of the largest territorial powers in the world under Czar Nicholas II, in 1904. The Czar zeroed in on the Korean and Liaodong peninsulas setting his sights on a warm-water port in the Pacific Ocean for trade and as a base for its growing navy.
Japan was wary, fearing the growth of Russian influence in the region since the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895.
At first, Russia refused Japan’s offer to give them control of Manchuria (northeastern China) in order to retain influence in Korea in the attempt to negotiate, then demanded that Korea north of the 39th parallel serve as a neutral zone.
The Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur in China was surprisingly attached by Japanese resounding to the failed attempts of negotiations on February 8, 1904, kicking off the Russo-Japanese War. Between 1904 and 1905 over 150,000 people lost their lives as the conflict was a bloody one.
The signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth which was mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt ended the war with a victory for Japanese. Harvard graduate Baron Komura represented Japan while Sergei Witte represented Russia, he was a minister in Czar Nicholas’ government.
The Russo-Japanese War was referred to as “World War Zero” by some historians as it set the stage for the coming global wars that would reshape global politics.
Written by: Gourav Chowdhury
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