The
Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a
feudalFeudalism is a decentralized sociopolitical structure in which a weak monarchy attempts to control the lands of the realm through reciprocal agreements with regional leaders...
regime of
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
established by
Tokugawa Ieyasu
and ruled by the
shogun is a military rank and historical title for Hereditary Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces of Japan. The modern rank is equivalent to a Generalissimo...
s of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the
Edo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the...
and gets its name from the capital city,
Edo, literally: bay-door, "estuary", ), also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
, which now is called
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from
Edo Castle, also known as , is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. It is located in Chiyoda in Tokyo, then known as Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate here. It was the residence of the shogun and location of the shogunate, and also...
from 1603 until 1868, when it was abolished during the
Meiji RestorationThe , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure...
.
Following the
Sengoku PeriodThe was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict in Japan that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century....
of "warring states", central government had been largely re-established by
Oda Nobunaga was a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. He was the second son of Oda Nobuhide, a deputy shugo with land holdings in Owari province. Nobunaga lived a life of continuous military conquest, eventually conquering a third of Japanese daimyo before his death in 1582...
and
Toyotomi Hideyoshiwas a daimyo in the Sengoku period who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle. He is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the...
during the
Azuchi-Momoyama periodThe came at the end of the Warring States Period in Japan, when the political unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate took place. It spans the years from approximately 1568 to 1603, during which time Oda Nobunaga and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, imposed order...
. After the
Battle of SekigaharaThe , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu...
in 1600, central authority fell to
Tokugawa Ieyasu
who completed this process and received the title of
shogun is a military rank and historical title for Hereditary Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces of Japan. The modern rank is equivalent to a Generalissimo...
in 1603. In order to become shogun, one traditionally was a descendant of the ancient
Minamoto clanwas one of the honorary surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan of the Heian Period on those of their sons and grandsons who were not considered eligible for the throne. The Taira were another such offshoot of the imperial dynasty...
.
The Tokugawa period, unlike the shogunates before it, was supposedly based on the strict class hierarchy originally established by
Toyotomi Hideyoshiwas a daimyo in the Sengoku period who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle. He is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the...
. The warrior-caste of
samuraiis the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
were at the top, followed by farmers, artisans, and traders. The inflexible nature of the Social stratification system unleashed disruptive forces over time. Taxes on the peasantry were set at fixed amounts which did not account for
inflationIn economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation is also an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a loss of real...
or other changes in monetary value. As a result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners were worth less and less over time. This often led to numerous confrontations between noble but impoverished samurai and well-to-do peasants, ranging from simple local disturbances to much bigger rebellions. None, however, proved compelling enough to seriously challenge the established order until the arrival of foreign powers.
Toward the end of the 19th century, an alliance of several of the more powerful
daimyois a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
with the titular Emperor finally succeeded in the overthrow of the shogunate after the
Boshin WarThe was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
, culminating in the
Meiji RestorationThe , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure...
. The Tokugawa Shogunate came to an official end in 1868, with the resignation of the 15th Tokugawa Shogun,
Tokugawa YoshinobuPrince Tokugawa Yoshinobu was the 15th and last shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful...
and the "restoration" (
Ōsei fukko) of imperial rule.
See
Late Tokugawa shogunateare the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate came to an end. It is characterized by major events occurring between 1853 and 1867 during which Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as sakoku and transitioned from a feudal shogunate to the Meiji government...
for details.
Shogunate and domain
The
bakuhan taisei was the feudal political system in the
Edo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the...
of
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Baku, or "tent," is an abbreviation of
bakufu, meaning "military government" — that is, the shogunate. The
hanThe , or domains, were the fiefs of feudal lords of Japan that were created by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and existed until their abolition in 1871, three years after the Meiji Restoration. The number of han varied; typically, there were around 300 han in the Edo period. Most were led by a daimyo whose...
were the domains headed by daimyo.
Vassals held inherited lands and provided military service and homage to their lords. The Bakuhan Taisei split feudal power between the shogunate in Edo and provincial domains throughout Japan. Provinces had a degree of sovereignty and were allowed an independent administration of the Han in exchange for loyalty to the Shogun, who was responsible for foreign relations and national security. The shogun and lords were all
daimyois a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
: feudal lords with their own bureaucracies, policies, and territories. The Shogun also administered the most powerful han, the hereditary fief of the House of Tokugawa. Each level of government administered its own system of taxation.
The Shogun had the military power of Japan and was more powerful than the emperor, who was a religious and political leader.
The shogunate had the power to discard, annex and transform domains. The
sankin kōtaiwas a policy of the shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history. The purpose was to control the daimyo. In adopting the policy, the shogunate was continuing and refining similar policies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1635, a law required sankin kōtai, which was already an established...
system of alternative residence required each daimyo would reside in alternate years between the han and attendance in Edo. In their absence from Edo it was also required that they leave family as hostages until their return. The huge expenditure sankin-kotai imposed on each han helped centralize aristocratic alliances and ensured loyalty to the Shogun as each representative doubled as a potential hostage.
Tokugawa's descendants further ensured loyalty by maintaining a dogmatic insistence on loyalty to the Shogun.
Fudaiwas a class of daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa in Edo period Japan. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.-Origins:...
daimyo were hereditary vassals of Ieyasu, as well as of his descendants.
TozamaA ' was a daimyo who was considered an outsider by the rulers of Japan. The term came into use in the Kamakura period and continued until the end of the Edo period.-Edo period:...
, or "outsiders", became vassals of Ieyasu after the battle of Sekigahara.
ShinpanThe daimyo were certain relatives of the Tokugawa shoguns of Japan. While all shinpan were relatives of the shogun, not all relatives of the shogun were shinpan; an example of this is the Matsudaira clan of the Okutono Domain. The shinpan lords were also known as kamon daimyō — non-daimyo...
, or "relatives", were collaterals of Tokugawa Hidetada. 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, it was the great tozama of Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa and to a lesser extent Hizen that brought down the shogunate. These four states are called the Four Western Clans or Satchotohi for short.
The number of han (roughly 250) fluctuated throughout the Edo period. They were ranked by size, which was measured as the number of
kokuThe is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...
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 daimyo was ten thousand koku; the largest, apart from the shogun, was a million.
Shogun and emperor
Despite the establishment of the shogunate, the
emperorThe of Japan is the symbol of the state and of the unity of the Japanese people. He is the head of the Japanese Imperial Family. He is also the highest authority of the Shinto religion...
in
Kyotois a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area....
was still the legitimate ruler of Japan. The of Japan was a task given by the
Imperial Court in KyotoImperial Court in Kyoto was the nominal ruling government of Japan from 794 AD until the Meiji Era, in which the court was moved to Tokyo and integrated into the Meiji government.thumb|left|240px|Front view of Kyoto imperial palace...
to the Tokugawa family, which they returned to the court in the
Meiji RestorationThe , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure...
.
The shogunate appointed a liaison, the
Kyoto ShoshidaiThe ' was an important administrative and political office in the early modern government of Japan. However, the significance and effectiveness of the office is credited to the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, who developed these initial creations as bureaucratic elements in a consistent and...
(
Shogun's Representative in Kyoto), to deal with the emperor, court and nobility.
Shogun and foreign trade
Foreign affairs and trade were monopolized by the shogunate, yielding a huge profit. Foreign trade was also permitted to the Satsuma and the
Tsushima domainThe Tsushima Fuchū domain , also called the Tsushima domain, was a domain of Japan during the Edo period that controlled Tsushima Province and a small portion of Hizen Province. It was ruled by the Sō clan...
s.
The visits of the Nanban ships from
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
were at first the main vector of trade exchanges, followed by the addition of Dutch, English and sometimes Spanish ships.
From 1600 onward, Japan started to participate actively in foreign trade. In 1615, an embassy and trade mission under
Hasekura TsunenagaHasekura Rokuemon Tsunenaga was a Japanese samurai and retainer of Date Masamune, the daimyo of Sendai....
was sent across the Pacific to Nueva Espana (New Spain) on the Japanese-built galleon
San Juan BautistaSan Juan Bautista was one of Japan's first Japanese-built Western-style sail warships. She crossed the Pacific in 1614. She was of the Spanish galleon type, known in Japan as Nanban-Sen San Juan Bautista (“St. John the Baptist”) (originally called Date Maru, 伊達丸 in Japanese) was one of Japan's...
. Until 1635, the Shogun issued numerous permits for the so-called "
red seal shipswere Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with a red-sealed patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century...
" destined for the Asian trade.
After 1635 and the introduction of
Seclusion lawswas the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633-1639 and remained in effect until...
, only inbound ships were allowed, from
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
,
KoreaKorea is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it borders China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait....
, and the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
.
Rōjū and wakadoshiyori
The
rōjūThe ', usually translated as Elder, was one of the highest-ranking government posts in Tokugawa Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council as a whole; under the first two shoguns, there were only two Rōjū...
were the senior members of the shogunate. They supervised the ōmetsuke, machibugyō, ongokubugyō and other officials, oversaw relations with the
Imperial Court in KyotoImperial Court in Kyoto was the nominal ruling government of Japan from 794 AD until the Meiji Era, in which the court was moved to Tokyo and integrated into the Meiji government.thumb|left|240px|Front view of Kyoto imperial palace...
,
kugeThe kuge was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto until the rise of the Shogunate in the 12th century at which point it was eclipsed by the daimyo...
(members of the nobility), daimyo, Buddhist
templeA temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s and Shinto shrines, and attended to matters like divisions of fiefs. Normally, four or five men held the office, and one was on duty for a month at a time on a rotating basis. They conferred on especially important matters. In the administrative reforms of 1867, 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 rōjū were to be a
fudai (hereditary) daimyo and to have a fief assessed at 50 000 koku or more. However, there were exceptions to both criteria. Many appointees came from the offices close to the shogun, such as soba yōnin, Kyoto shoshidai, and Osaka jōdai.
Irregularly, the shoguns appointed a rōjū to the position of
tairōTairō was a high-ranking official position in the bakuhan taisei government of Japan. The tairō would preside over the governing Rōjū council in the event of an emergency. A tairō would be nominated from among a group of samurai families who supported Tokugawa Ieyasu...
(great elder). The office was limited to members of the Ii, Sakai, Doi, and Hotta clans, but
Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu' was a Japanese daimyo of the Edo period, who served as an official in the Tokugawa shogunate. He served Tokugawa Tsunayoshi from an early age, becoming his wakashu and eventually rising to the position of soba yōnin. He was the daimyo of the Kawagoe han, and later of the Kofu han; he retired in...
was given the status of tairō as well. Among the most famous was
Ii Naosukewas daimyo of Hikone and also Tairō of Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan, a position he held from April 23, 1858 until his death on March 24, 1860. He is most famous for signing the Harris Treaty with the United States, granting access to ports for trade to American merchants and seamen and...
, who was assassinated in 1860 outside the Sakuradamon Gate of
Edo Castle, also known as , is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. It is located in Chiyoda in Tokyo, then known as Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate here. It was the residence of the shogun and location of the shogunate, and also...
.
The
wakadoshiyori were next in status below the rōjū. An outgrowth of the early six-man
rokuninshū (1633–1649), the office took its name and final form in 1662, but with four members. Their primary responsibility was management of the affairs of the
hatamotoA was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...
and
gokeninwere originally vassals of the Kamakura and Muromachi period shogunates. In exchange for protection and the right to become shugo or jitō , in times of peace a gokenin had the duty to protect the imperial court and Kamakura, in case of war had to fight with his forces under the shogun’s flag...
, the direct vassals of the shogun.
Some shoguns appointed a
soba yōnin. This person acted as a liaison between the shogun and the rōjū. The soba yōnin increased in importance during the time of the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, when a wakadoshiyori,
Inaba MasayasuInaba Masayasu was a Japanese hatamoto and daimyō of Aono han in Mino Province in Edo period Japan. Masayasu's family was descended from Konō Michitaka....
, assassinated
Hotta MasatoshiHotta Masatoshi was a daimyō in Shimousa Province, and top government advisor and official in the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan...
, the tairō. Fearing for his personal safety, Tsunayoshi moved the rōjū to a more distant part of the castle. Some of the most famous soba yōnin were Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu and
Tanuma Okitsugu' was a rōjū of the Tokugawa shogunate who introduced monetary reform. He was also a daimyo, and ruled the Sagara han. He used the title Tonomo-no-kami....
.
Ōmetsuke and metsuke
The ōmetsuke and metsuke were officials who reported to the rōjū and wakadoshiyori. The five ōmetsuke were in charge of monitoring the affairs of the daimyo, kuge and imperial court. They were in charge of discovering any threat of rebellion.
Early in the Edo period, daimyo such as Yagyū Munefuyu held the office. Soon, however, it fell to
hatamotoA was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...
with rankings of 5000 koku or more. To give them authority in their dealings with daimyo, they were often ranked at 10 000 koku and given the title of
kami (an ancient title, typically signifying the governor of a
provinceBefore the modern prefecture system was established, the land of Japan was divided into tens of kuni , usually known in English as provinces. Each province was divided into gun ....
) such as
Bizen-no-kami.
As time progressed, the function of the ōmetsuke evolved into one of passing orders from the shogunate to the daimyo, 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 shogun. They were the police force for the thousands of hatamoto and
gokeninwere originally vassals of the Kamakura and Muromachi period shogunates. In exchange for protection and the right to become shugo or jitō , in times of peace a gokenin had the duty to protect the imperial court and Kamakura, in case of war had to fight with his forces under the shogun’s flag...
who were concentrated in Edo. Individual han had their own metsuke who similarly policed their samurai.
San-bugyō
The
san-bugyō', often translated as "commissioner" or "magistrate" or "governor," was a title assigned to government officers in pre-modern Japan; other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given commissioner's tasks or jurisdiction....
("three administrators") were the
jisha,
kanjō, and
machi-bugyōwere officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually fudai daimyō, but this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not daimyō...
, which oversaw
templesAlong with Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples are the most numerous, famous, and important religious buildings in Japan. The Japanese word for a Buddhist temple is , and the same kanji also has the pronunciation ji, so temple names often end with -ji or -dera. There are a number of other variations ...
and shrines, accounting, and the cities, respectively. The
jisha bugyō 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
KantōThe is a geographical area of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. The region encompasses seven prefectures which overlaps the Greater Tokyo Area: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain...
provinces. The appointments normally went to daimyo;
Ōoka Tadasukewas a Japanese samurai in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as a magistrate of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate prior to his tenure as South Magistrate of Edo...
was an exception, though he later became a daimyo.
The
kanjō bugyō were next in status. The four holders of this office reported to the
rōjū. They were responsible for the finances of the shogunate.
The
machi bugyō 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.
Three Edo
machi bugyō have become famous through
jidaigekiis a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama", and the period is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier — Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period — and the early...
(period films): Ōoka Tadasuke and Tōyama Kinshirō as heroes, and Torii Yōzō as a villain.
The
san-bugyō together sat on a council called the
hyōjōshoThe ', established in 1634, was the judicial council in Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate. It was equivalent to the Monchūjo council of the earlier Kamakura shogunate. It was composed of the Rōjū , the highest officials in the shogunate government, and a number of Commissioners called Bugyō, who...
. In this capacity, they were responsible for administering the
tenryō, supervising the
gundai, the
daikan and the
kura bugyō, as well as hearing cases involving samurai.
Tenryō, gundai and daikan
The shogun directly held lands in various parts of Japan. These were known as
bakufu chokkatsuchi; since the Meiji period, the term
tenryō has become synonymous. 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. By the end of the seventeenth century, the shogun's landholdings had reached four million koku. Such major cities as Nagasaki and Osaka, and
mineMining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock salt and potash...
s, including the
Sadowas a province of Japan until the late 19th century; since then, it has been a part of Niigata Prefecture. It lies on the eponymous Sado Island, off the coast of Niigata Prefecture ....
gold mine, also fell into this category.
Rather than appointing a daimyo to head the holdings, the shogunate placed administrators in charge. The titles of these administrators included
gundai,
daikan, and
ongoku bugyō. This last category included the Osaka, Kyoto and Sumpu machibugyō, and the Nagasaki bugyō. The appointees were
hatamotoA was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...
.
Gaikoku bugyō
The
gaikoku bugyō 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).
Late Tokugawa Shogunate (1853-1867)
The Late Tokugawa Shogunate (
Bakumatsu) is the period between 1853 and 1867 during which Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy called
sakokuwas the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633-1639 and remained in effect until...
and modernized from a feudal shogunate to the Meiji government. It is at the end of the
Edo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the...
and preceded the Meiji era. The major ideological/political factions during this period were divided into the pro-imperialist
Ishin Shishi (nationalist
patriotsPatriotism is love of and/or devotion to one's country. The word comes from the Greek patris, meaning fatherland. However, patriotism has had different meanings over time, and its meaning is highly dependent upon context, geography and philosophy....
) and the shogunate forces, including the elite
shinsengumiThe were a special police force of the late shogunate period.-Historical background:After Japan opened up to the West following U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's visits in 1853, its political situation gradually became more and more chaotic...
(newly selected corps) swordsmen. Although these two groups were the most visible powers, many other factions attempted to use the chaos of Bakumatsu to seize personal power. Furthermore there were two other main driving forces for dissent; first, growing resentment of
tozamaA ' was a daimyo who was considered an outsider by the rulers of Japan. The term came into use in the Kamakura period and continued until the end of the Edo period.-Edo period:...
daimyo (or outside lords), and second, growing anti-western sentiment following the arrival of Perry. The first related to those lords who had fought against Tokugawa forces at Sekigahara (in 1600 AD) and had from that point on been exiled permanently from all powerful positions within the shogunate. The second was to be expressed in the phrase
sonnō jōiis a Japanese political philosophy and a social movement derived from Neo-Confucianism; it became a political slogan in the 1850s and 1860s in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, during what is called the Bakumatsu period....
, or "revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians". The turning point of the Bakumatsu was during the
Boshin WarThe was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
and the
Battle of Toba-FushimiThe occurred between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan. The battle started on 27 January 1868 , when the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the allied forces of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa domains clashed near Fushimi...
when pro-shogunate forces were defeated.
List of the Tokugawa Shoguns
- Tokugawa Ieyasu
, ruled 1603–1605
- Tokugawa Hidetada
was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa bakufu.-Early Life :...
, r. 1605–1623
- Tokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Iemitsu ruled from 1623 to 1651.-Early life :...
, r. 1623–1651
- Tokugawa Ietsuna
was the fourth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan who was in office from 1651 to 1680. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, thus making him the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Early Life :...
, r. 1651–1680
- Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, thus making him the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.He is known for instituting draconian animal...
, r. 1680–1709
- Tokugawa Ienobu
was the sixth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Tsunashige, thus making him the nephew of Tokugawa Ietsuna and Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the grandson of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the great-grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-great grandson of Tokugawa...
, r. 1709–1712
- Tokugawa Ietsugu
Tokugawa Ietsugu; 徳川 家継 was the seventh shogun of the Tokugawa Dynasty, who ruled from 1713 until his death in 1716...
, r. 1713–1716
- Tokugawa Yoshimune
was the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Lineage:...
, r. 1716–1745
- Tokugawa Ieshige
Tokugawa Ieshige; 徳川 家重 was the ninth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.The first son of Tokugawa Yoshimune, his mother was the daughter of Okubo Tadanao, known as Osuma no kata. His childhood name was Nagatomi-maru. He underwent the genpuku coming-of-age ceremony in 1725...
, r. 1745–1760
- Tokugawa Ieharu
Tokugawa Ieharu Tokugawa Ieharu Tokugawa Ieharu (徳川家治 (June 20, 1737–September 17, 1786) was the tenth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, who held office from 1760 to 1786.Ieharu was the eldest son of Tokugawa Ieshige, the ninth shogun.-Events of the Ieharu's bakufu:...
, r. 1760–1786
- Tokugawa Ienari
Tokugawa Ienari; 徳川 家斉 was the eleventh shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.-First wife:...
, r. 1787–1837
- Tokugawa Ieyoshi
Tokugawa Ieyoshi was the 12th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.He was the second son of the 11th shogun, Tokugawa Ienari, and employed Mizuno Tadakuni to conduct the Tenpo reform....
, r. 1837–1853
- Tokugawa Iesada
Tokugawa Iesada Tokugawa Iesada Tokugawa Iesada (徳川 家定 (May 6, 1824—August 14, 1858) was the 13th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office for only 5 years, from 1853 to 1858...
, r. 1853–1858
- Tokugawa Iemochi
was the 14th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, who held office 1858 to 1866. During his reign there was much internal turmoil as a result of Japan's first major contact with the United States, which occurred under Commodore Perry in 1853 and 1854, and of the subsequent "re-opening" of...
, r. 1858–1866
- Tokugawa Yoshinobu
Prince Tokugawa Yoshinobu was the 15th and last shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful...
, r. 1867–1868
Over the course of the Edo period, influential relatives of the shogun included:
- Tokugawa Mitsukuni
was a prominent daimyo who was known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period. He was the third son of Tokugawa Yorifusa and succeeded him, becoming the second daimyo of the Mito domain....
of the Mito domainwas a prominent feudal domain in Japan during the Edo period. Beginning with the appointment of Tokugawa Yorifusa by his father, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1608, the Mito branch of the Tokugawa clan controlled the domain until the abolition of the han system in 1871...
- Tokugawa Nariaki
Tokugawa Nariaki was a prominent Japanese daimyo who ruled the Mito domain and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the Meiji restoration.-Clan leader:...
of the Mito domainwas a prominent feudal domain in Japan during the Edo period. Beginning with the appointment of Tokugawa Yorifusa by his father, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1608, the Mito branch of the Tokugawa clan controlled the domain until the abolition of the han system in 1871...
- Tokugawa Mochiharu of the Hitotsubashi
The ' were three branches of the Tokugawa clan of Japan. They were descended from the eighth of the fifteen Tokugawa shoguns, Yoshimune . Yoshimune established the Gosankyo to augment the Gosanke, the heads of the powerful han of Owari, Kishū, and Mito...
branch
- Tokugawa Munetake
Tokugawa Munetake was a Japanese samurai of the mid-Edo period, also known as Tayasu Munetake...
of the TayasuThe ' were three branches of the Tokugawa clan of Japan. They were descended from the eighth of the fifteen Tokugawa shoguns, Yoshimune . Yoshimune established the Gosankyo to augment the Gosanke, the heads of the powerful han of Owari, Kishū, and Mito...
branch.
- Matsudaira Katamori
was a samurai who lived in the last days of the Edo period and the early to mid Meiji period. He was the 9th daimyo of the Aizu han and the Military Commissioner of Kyoto during the Bakumatsu period. During the Boshin War, Katamori and the Aizu han fought against the Meiji Government armies, but...
of the Aizuis an area comprising the westernmost third of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. The principal city of the area is Aizuwakamatsu.During the Edo period, Aizu was a feudal domain known as and part of Mutsu Province.-History:...
branch.
- Matsudaira Sadanobu
' Japanese daimyo of the mid-Edo period, famous for his financial reforms which saved the Shirakawa Domain, and the similar reforms he undertook during his tenure as chief senior councilor of the Tokugawa Shogunate, from 1787 to 1793.-Early life:Sadanobu was born in Edo Castle on January 15,...
, born into the TayasuThe ' were three branches of the Tokugawa clan of Japan. They were descended from the eighth of the fifteen Tokugawa shoguns, Yoshimune . Yoshimune established the Gosankyo to augment the Gosanke, the heads of the powerful han of Owari, Kishū, and Mito...
branch, adopted into the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira of Shirakawa.
See also
- Shogun
is a military rank and historical title for Hereditary Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces of Japan. The modern rank is equivalent to a Generalissimo...
- Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the...
- Keian uprising
The was a failed coup d'etat attempt carried out against the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan in 1651, by a number of ronin. Though it failed, the event is historically significant as an indication of a wider problem of disgruntled ronin throughout the country at the time...
- Late Tokugawa shogunate
are the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate came to an end. It is characterized by major events occurring between 1853 and 1867 during which Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as sakoku and transitioned from a feudal shogunate to the Meiji government...
- Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure...
Further reading
- Bolitho, Harold. Treasures among men; the fudai daimyo in Tokugawa Japan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974.
- Bolitho, Harold. The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1862-1868. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1980.
- Totman, Conrad. Politics in the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1600-1843. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.
- Waswo, Ann Modern Japanese Society 1868-1994
- The Center for East Asian Cultural Studies Meiji Japan Through Contemporary Sources, Volume Two 1844-1882