The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868.
The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars of the Sengoku period following the collapse of the Ashikaga shogunate. Ieyasu became the shà Âgun, and the Tokugawa clan governed Japan from Edo Castle in the eastern city of Edo (Tokyo) along with the daimyà  lords of the samurai class.
The Tokugawa shogunate organized Japanese society under the strict Tokugawa class system and banned the entry of most foreigners under the isolationist policies of Sakoku to promote political stability. Japanese subjects were also barred from leaving the country. The Tokugawa shoguns governed Japan in a feudal system, with each daimyà  administering a han (feudal domain), although the country was still nominally organized as imperial provinces. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan experienced rapid economic growth and urbanization, which led to the rise of the merchant class and Ukiyo culture.
The Tokugawa shogunate declined during the Bakumatsu period from 1853 and was overthrown by supporters of the Imperial Court in the Meiji Restoration in 1868. The Empire of Japan was established under the Meiji government, and Tokugawa loyalists continued to fight in the Boshin War until the defeat of the Republic of Ezo at the Battle of Hakodate in June 1869.
Following the Sengoku period ("Warring States period"), the central government had been largely re-established by Oda Nobunaga during the AzuchiâÂÂMomoyama period. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, central authority fell to Tokugawa Ieyasu. While many daimyà  who fought against him were extinguished or had their holdings reduced, Ieyasu was committed to retaining the daimyà  and the han (domains) as components under his new shogunate. daimyà  who sided with Ieyasu were rewarded, and some of Ieyasu's former vassals were made daimyà  and were located strategically throughout the country. The sankin-kotai policy, in an effort to constrain rebellions by the daimyà Â, mandated the housing of wives and children of the daimyà  in the capital as hostages.
A period of peace occurred between the Siege of Osaka in 1615 and the Keian Uprising in 1651. This period saw the bakufu (shogunate's administration) prioritise civil administration, while civil society witnessed a surge in trade and industrial activities. Trade under the reign of Ieyasu saw much new wealth created by mining and goods manufacturing, which resulted in a rural population flow to urban areas. By the Genroku period (1688âÂÂ1704) Japan saw a period of material prosperity and the blossoming of the arts, such as the early development of ukiyo-e by Moronobu. The reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune (1716âÂÂ1745) saw poor harvests and a fall in tax revenue in the early 1720s; as a result he pushed for the Kyoho reforms to repair the finances of the bakufu as he believed the military aristocracy was losing its power against the rich merchants and landowners.
Society in the Tokugawa period, unlike in previous shogunates, was supposedly based on the strict class hierarchy originally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The daimyà  (lords) were at the top, followed by the warrior-caste of samurai, with the farmers, artisans, and traders ranking below. In some parts of the country, particularly smaller regions, daimyà Â, and samurai were more or less identical, since daimyà  might be trained as samurai, and samurai might act as local rulers.
The largely inflexible nature of this social stratification system unleashed disruptive forces over time. Taxes on the peasantry were set at fixed amounts that did not account for inflation or other changes in monetary value. As a result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners increasingly declined over time. A 2017 study found that peasant rebellions and desertion lowered tax rates and inhibited state growth in the Tokugawa shogunate. By the mid-18th century, both the shà Âgun and daimyà  were hampered by financial difficulties, whereas more wealth flowed to the merchant class. Peasant uprisings and samurai discontent became increasingly prevalent. Some reforms were enacted to attend to these issues such as the Kansei reforms (1787âÂÂ1793) by Matsudaira Sadanobu. He bolstered the bakufu's rice stockpiles and mandated daimyà  to follow suit. He cut down urban spending, allocated reserves for potential famines, and urged city-dwelling peasants to return to rural areas.
By 1800, Japan included five cities with over 100,000 residents, and three among the world's twenty cities that had more than 300,000 inhabitants. Edo likely claimed the title of the world's most populous city, housing over one million people.
The late Tokugawa shogunate (Bakumatsu) was the period between 1853 and 1867, during which Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy called sakoku and modernized from a feudal shogunate to the Meiji government. The 1850s saw growing resentment by the tozama daimyà Âs and anti-Western sentiment following the arrival of a U.S. Navy fleet under the command of Matthew C. Perry (which led to the forced opening of Japan). The major ideological and political factions during this period were divided into the pro-imperialist Ishin Shishi (nationalist patriots) and the shogunate forces; aside from the dominant two groups, other factions attempted to use the chaos of the Bakumatsu era to seize personal power.
An alliance of daimyà  and the emperor succeeded in overthrowing the shogunate, which came to an official end in 1868 with the resignation of the 15th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, leading to the "restoration" (, à Âsei fukko) of imperial rule. Some loyal retainers of the shogun continued to fight during the Boshin War that followed but were eventually defeated in the notable Battle of TobaâÂÂFushimi.
Followers of Catholic Christians first began appearing in Japan during the 16th century.
In 1600, when English sailor William Adams and his Dutch colleague Jan Joosten arrived at Japan, they told Ieyasu about the world situation, including that there were many conflicts in Europe, and that the Jesuits and other Catholics (e.g. Portuguese, Spanish), who had been proselytizing Christianity in Japan, and the Protestants (e.g. Dutch, English) were on different sides and were in conflict with each other. Ieyasu reportedly took a liking to them for their frankness and regarded them as trustworthy.
While at first tolerant of Christianity, Tokugawa Ieyasu soon began to see it as a growing threat to the stability of the shogunate. His attitude changed after 1613, and persecution of Christians sharply increased, with Ieyasu completely banning Catholicism in 1614.
The hostility of Ieyasu towards Catholics was shown when he replaced Jesuit translator João Rodrigues Tçuzu with William Adams in his court in the aftermath of the Nossa Senhora da Graça incident in Nagasaki. This change of attitude is believed to be due to the Okamoto Daihachi incident, where a Catholic daimyà  and shogun's official were accused of a series of crimes.
The Shimabara Rebellion is often portrayed as a Christian rebellion against violent suppression by Matsukura Katsuie. However the main academic understanding is that the rebellion was mainly by peasants against Matsukura's misgovernance, with Christians later joining the rebellion. The system which introduced by the Shogunate to stamp out Catholicism after Shimabara rebellion was the Danka system, which makes affiliation of every Household in Japan to the Buddhist temple being compulsory.
Ieyasu's ban of Christianity is often linked with the creation of the sakoku seclusionist policies in the 1630s. His successor shoguns followed his policy, compounding upon existing laws by Ieyasu. The ban on Christianity was enforced via decrees of expulsion and mass-executions in 1613, 1622 (Great Genna Martyrdom), 1623 (Great Martyrdom of Edo) 1630, 1632 and 1634.
The bakuhan system (bakuhan taisei ) was the feudal political system in the Edo period of Japan. Baku is an abbreviation of bakufu, meaning "military government"âÂÂthat is, the shogunate. The han were the domains headed by daimyà Â. Beginning from Ieyasu's appointment as shogun in 1603, but especially after the Tokugawa victory in Osaka in 1615, various policies were implemented to assert the shogunate's control, which severely curtailed the daimyà  independence. The number of daimyà  varied but stabilized at around 270.
The bakuhan system split feudal power between the shogunate in Edo and the daimyà  with domains throughout Japan. The shà Âgun and lords were all daimyà Â: feudal lords with their own bureaucracies, policies, and territories. Provinces had a degree of sovereignty and were allowed an independent administration of the han in exchange for loyalty to the shà Âgun, who was responsible for foreign relations, national security, coinage, weights, measures, and transportation.
The shà Âgun also administered the most powerful han, the hereditary fief of the House of Tokugawa, which also included many gold and silver mines. Towards the end of the shogunate, the Tokugawa clan held around 7 million koku of land (天頠tenryà Â), including 2.6âÂÂ2.7 million koku held by direct vassals, out of 30 million in the country. The other 23 million koku were held by other daimyà Â.
The number of han (roughly 270) fluctuated throughout the Edo period. They were ranked by size, which was measured as the number of koku of rice that the domain produced each year. One koku was the amount of rice necessary to feed one adult male for one year. The minimum number for a daimyà  was ten thousand koku; the largest, apart from the shà Âgun, was more than a million koku.
The main policies of the shogunate on the daimyà  included:
Although the shogun issued certain laws, such as the buke shohatto on the daimyà  and the rest of the samurai class, each han administered its autonomous system of laws and taxation. The shà Âgun did not interfere in a han<nowiki/>'s governance unless major incompetence (such as large rebellions) was shown, nor were central taxes issued. Instead, each han provided feudal duties, such as maintaining roads and official courier stations, building canals and harbors, providing troops, and relieving famines. Daimyà Âs were strategically placed to check each other, and the sankin-kà Âtai system ensured that daimyà  or their family were always in Edo, observed by the shogun.
The shogunate had the power to discard, annex, and transform domains, although they were rarely and carefully exercised after the early years of the shogunate, to prevent daimyà  from banding together. The sankin-kà Âtai system of alternative residence required each daimyà  to reside in alternate years between the han and the court in Edo. During their absences from Edo, it was also required that they leave their family as hostages until their return. The hostages and the huge expenditure sankin-kà Âtai imposed on each han helped to ensure loyalty to the shà Âgun. By the 1690s, the vast majority of daimyà  would be born in Edo, and most would consider it their homes. Some daimyà  had little interest in their domains and needed to be begged to return "home".
In return for the centralization, peace among the daimyà  was maintained; unlike in the Sengoku period, daimyà  no longer worried about conflicts with one another. In addition, hereditary succession was guaranteed as internal usurpations within domains were not recognized by the shogunate.
The Tokugawa clan further ensured loyalty by maintaining a dogmatic insistence on loyalty to the shà Âgun. Daimyos were classified into three main categories:
The tozama daimyà  who fought against the Tokugawa clan in the Battle of Sekigahara had their estates reduced substantially. They were often placed in mountainous or far away areas, or placed between most trusted daimyà Â. Early in the Edo period, the shogunate viewed the tozama as the least likely to be loyal; over time, strategic marriages and the entrenchment of the system made the tozama less likely to rebel. In the end, however, it was still the great tozama of Satsuma, Chà Âshà « and Tosa, and to a lesser extent Saga, that brought down the shogunate. These four states are called the Four Western Clans, or Satchotohi for short.
Regardless of the political title of the Emperor, the shà Âguns of the Tokugawa family controlled Japan. The shogunate secured a nominal grant of by the Imperial Court in Kyoto to the Tokugawa family. While the Emperor officially had the prerogative of appointing the shà Âgun and received generous subsidies, he had virtually no say in state affairs. The shogunate issued the Laws for the Imperial and Court Officials to set out its relationship with the Imperial family and the kuge (imperial court officials), and specified that the Emperor should dedicate himself to scholarship and poetry. The shogunate also appointed a liaison, the Kyoto Shoshidai (Shogun's Representative in Kyoto), to deal with the Emperor, court and nobility.
Towards the end of the shogunate, however, after centuries of the Emperor having very little say in state affairs and being secluded in his Kyoto palace, and in the wake of the reigning shà Âgun, Tokugawa Iemochi, marrying the sister of Emperor Kà Âmei (r. 1846âÂÂ1867), in 1862, the Imperial Court in Kyoto began to enjoy increased political influence. The Emperor would occasionally be consulted on various policies and the shogun even made a trip to Kyoto to visit the Emperor. Government administration would be formally returned from the shà Âgun to the Emperor during the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
After the unification of Japan, the discovery of new silver mines and the improvement of mining techniques, the extraction and export of silver from Japan increased dramatically, particularly to Ming China. Between 1560 and 1600, the annual export of silver ranged from 33 to 49 tons, but due to the Ming ban on trade with Japan, the import of Japanese silver was facilitated by the Portuguese. In the early 17th century, Japanese silver exports continued to rise, with the import of luxury goods such as silk (reaching up to 280 tons per year in the 1630s). Silk was so abundant and inexpensive in Japan that even some peasants were able to afford it, leading to a rise in its popularity among the lower classes.
In 1601, the Hokusan regionÃÂ becameÃÂ the domain ofÃÂ Tokugawa Ieyasu. Gold veins in Sado mine were discovered in the same year in the region, andÃÂ theÃÂ region served as an important source of revenue forÃÂ the ShogunateÃÂ throughoutÃÂ the Edo period. Its peak during the Edo period was the first half ofÃÂ the 17th century. Records indicate that over 400 kgÃÂ of gold was extracted annually, andÃÂ 10,000ÃÂ kan (37.5 tons) of silver was paid to the Shogunate annually, Making itÃÂ oneÃÂ ofÃÂ theÃÂ world's largest gold mines at the time.
Foreign affairs and trade were monopolized by the shogunate, yielding an extremely large profit. Foreign trade was also permitted for the Satsuma and the Tsushima domains. Rice was the main trading product of Japan during this time. Isolationism was the foreign policy of Japan and trade was strictly controlled. Merchants were outsiders to the social hierarchy of Japan and were thought to be greedy.
The visits of the Nanban ships from Portugal were at first the main vector of trade exchanges, followed by the addition of Dutch, English, and sometimes Spanish ships.
From 1603 onward, Japan started to participate actively in foreign trade. In 1615, an embassy and trade mission under Hasekura Tsunenaga was sent across the Pacific to Nueva España (New Spain) on the Japanese-built galleon San Juan Bautista. Until 1635, the Shogun issued numerous permits for the so-called "red seal ships" destined for the Asian trade.
After 1635 and the introduction of seclusion laws (sakoku), inbound ships were only allowed from China, Korea, and the Netherlands.
The primary source of the shogunate's income was the tax (around 40%) levied on harvests in the Tokugawa clan's personal domains (tenryà Â). No taxes were levied on domains of daimyà Â, who instead provided military duty, public works and corvee. The shogunate obtained loans from merchants, which were sometimes seen as forced donations, although commerce was often not taxed. Special levies were also imposed for infrastructure-building.
During the earliest years of the Tokugawa shogunate institution, when Tokugawa Hidetada coronated as the second shogun and Ieyasu retired, they formed dual governments, where Hidetada controlled the official court with the government central located in Edo city, Ieyasu, who now became the à Âgosho (retired shogun), also controlled his own informal shadow government which called "Sunpu government" with its center at Sunpu Castle. The membership of the Sunpu government's cabinet was consisted of trusted vassals of Ieyasu which was not included in Hidetada's cabinet. including William Adams (samurai) and Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn, which Ieyasu entrusted with foreign affairs and diplomacy.
The earliest structure of Edo Shogunate organization has Buke Shitsuyaku as the highest rank. the earliest members of this office were Ii Naomasa, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and Honda Tadakatsu.
The personal vassals of the Tokugawa shoguns were classified into two groups:
By the early 18th century, out of around 22,000 personal vassals, most would have received stipends rather than domains.
The rà Âjà « were normally the most senior members of the shogunate. Normally, four or five men held the office, and one was on duty for a month at a time on a rotating basis. They supervised the à Âmetsuke (who checked on the daimyà Â), machi-bugyà  (commissioners of administrative and judicial functions in major cities, especially Edo), ' (é å½å¥Âè¡Â, the commissioners of other major cities and shogunate domains) and other officials, oversaw relations with the Imperial Court in Kyoto, kuge (members of the nobility), daimyà Â, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, and attended to matters like divisions of fiefs. Other bugyà  (commissioners) in charge of finances, monasteries and shrines also reported to the rà Âjà «. The roju conferred on especially important matters. In the administrative reforms of 1867 (Keià  Reforms), the office was eliminated in favor of a bureaucratic system with ministers for the interior, finance, foreign relations, army, and navy.
In principle, the requirements for appointment to the office of rà Âjà « were to be a fudai daimyà  and to have a fief assessed at koku or more. However, there were exceptions to both criteria. Many appointees came from the offices close to the shà Âgun, such as ' (å´ç¨人), Kyoto Shoshidai, and Osaka-jà  dai.
Irregularly, the shà Âguns appointed a rà Âjà « to the position of tairà  (great elder). The office was limited to members of the Ii, Sakai, Doi, and Hotta clans, but Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu was given the status of tairà  as well. Among the most famous was Ii Naosuke, who was assassinated in 1860 outside the Sakuradamon Gate of Edo Castle (Sakuradamon incident).
Three to five men titled the wakadoshiyori were next in status below the rà Âjà «. An outgrowth of the early six-man rokuninshà « (å Â人è¡Â, 1633âÂÂ1649), the office took its name and final form in 1662. Their primary responsibility was management of the affairs of the hatamoto and gokenin, the direct vassals of the shà Âgun. Under the wakadoshiyori were the metsuke.
Some shà Âguns appointed a soba yà Ânin. This person acted as a liaison between the shà Âgun and the rà Âjà «. The soba yà Ânin increased in importance during the time of the fifth shà Âgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, when a wakadoshiyori, Inaba Masayasu, assassinated Hotta Masatoshi, the tairà Â. Fearing for his personal safety, Tsunayoshi moved the rà Âjà « to a more distant part of the castle. Some of the most famous soba yà Ânin were Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu and Tanuma Okitsugu.
The à Âmetsuke and metsuke were officials who reported to the rà Âjà « and wakadoshiyori. The five à Âmetsuke were in charge of monitoring the affairs of the daimyà Â, kuge and imperial court. They were in charge of discovering any threat of rebellion. Early in the Edo period, daimyà  such as Yagyà « Munefuyu held the office. Soon, however, it fell to hatamoto with rankings of 5,000 koku or more. To give them authority in their dealings with daimyà Â, they were often ranked at 10,000 koku and given the title of kami (an ancient title, typically signifying the governor of a province) such as Bizen-no-kami.
As time progressed, the function of the à Âmetsuke evolved into one of passing orders from the shogunate to the daimyà Â, and of administering to ceremonies within Edo Castle. They also took on additional responsibilities such as supervising religious affairs and controlling firearms. The metsuke, reporting to the wakadoshiyori, oversaw the affairs of the vassals of the shà Âgun. They were the police force for the thousands of hatamoto and gokenin who were concentrated in Edo. Individual han had their own metsuke who similarly policed their samurai.
The san-bugyà  (ä¸Âå¥Âè¡ "three administrators") were the jisha, kanjà Â, and machi-bugyà Â, which respectively oversaw temples and shrines, accounting, and the cities. The jisha-bugyà  had the highest status of the three. They oversaw the administration of Buddhist temples (ji) and Shinto shrines (sha), many of which held fiefs. Also, they heard lawsuits from several land holdings outside the eight Kantà  provinces. The appointments normally went to daimyà Â; à Âoka Tadasuke was an exception, though he later became a daimyà Â.
The kanjà Â-bugyà  were next in status. The four holders of this office reported to the rà Âjà «. They were responsible for the finances of the shogunate.
The machi-bugyà  were the chief city administrators of Edo and other cities. Their roles included mayor, chief of the police (and, later, also of the fire department), and judge in criminal and civil matters not involving samurai. Two (briefly, three) men, normally hatamoto, held the office, and alternated by month.
The san-bugyà  together sat on a council called the hyà Âjà Âsho. In this capacity, they were responsible for administering the tenryà  (the shogun's estates), supervising the gundai (), the daikan and the kura bugyà  (), as well as hearing cases involving samurai. The gundai managed Tokugawa domains with incomes greater than 10,000 koku while the daikan managed areas with incomes between 5,000 and 10,000 koku.
The shogun directly held lands in various parts of Japan. These were known as shihaisho (æ¯é ÂæÂÂ); since the Meiji period, the term tenryà  (, literally "Emperor's land") has become synonymous, because the shogun's lands were returned to the emperor. In addition to the territory that Ieyasu held prior to the Battle of Sekigahara, this included lands he gained in that battle and lands gained as a result of the Summer and Winter Sieges of Osaka. Major cities as Nagasaki and Osaka, and mines, including the Sado gold mine, also fell into this category.
The gaikoku bugyà  were administrators appointed between 1858 and 1868. They were charged with overseeing trade and diplomatic relations with foreign countries, and were based in the treaty ports of Nagasaki and Kanagawa (Yokohama).
Over the course of the Edo period, influential relatives of the shogun included: