Tokugawa shogunate

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Tokugawa Shogunate

Edo Bakufu

16001868

Flag

Crest

Capital

Edo

Languages

Japanese

Religion

Buddhism, Shinto

Government

Feudal military
dictatorship

Emperor
-16001611

Go-Yzei

-18671868

Meiji

Shogun

-16001605

Tokugawa Ieyasu

-18671868

Tokugawa Yoshinobu

Rj
-16001614

kubo Tadachika

-1868

Tachibana Taneyuki

Historical era

Edo Period

-Battle of
Sekigahara

21 October 1600

-Siege of Osaka
8 November 1614
-Sakoku Edict
1635
-Treaty of Peace
31 March 1854
-Treaty of
Commerce

29 July 1858

-Meiji Restoration
3 January 1868

Currency

Today part of

Ry

Japan

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Tokugawa bakufu (?) and the Edo
bakufu (?), was the last feudal Japanese military government which existed between 1603
and 1868.[1] The heads of government were the shoguns,[2] and each was a member of
the Tokugawa clan.[3] The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle and the years of shogunate

became known as the Edo period.[4] This time is also called the Tokugawa period[1] or pre-modern
(Kinsei (?)).[5]
Contents
[hide]

1 History
2 Government
o 2.1 Shogunate and domain
o 2.2 Shogun and emperor
o 2.3 Shogun and foreign trade
o 2.4 Shogun and Christianity
3 Institutions of the shogunate
o 3.1 Rj and wakadoshiyori
o 3.2 metsuke and metsuke
o 3.3 San-bugy
o 3.4 Tenry, gundai and daikan
o 3.5 Gaikoku bugy
4 Late Tokugawa Shogunate (18531867)
5 List of the Tokugawa shoguns
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links

History[edit]
See also: Late Tokugawa shogunate
Following the Sengoku Period of "warring states", central government had been largely
reestablished by Oda Nobunaga during the Azuchi-Momoyama period. After the Battle of
Sekigahara in 1600, central authority fell to Tokugawa Ieyasu.[1]
Society in the Tokugawa period, unlike the shogunates before it, was supposedly based on the strict
class hierarchyoriginally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The daimyo, or lords, were at the top,
followed by the warrior-caste ofsamurai, with the farmers, artisans, and traders ranking below. In
some parts of the country, particularly smaller regions,daimyo and samurai were more or less
identical, since daimyo might be trained as samurai, and samurai might act as local rulers.
Otherwise, the largely inflexible nature of this social stratification system unleashed disruptive forces
over time.Taxes on the peasantry were set at fixed amounts which did not account for inflation 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.
In the mid-19th century, an alliance of several of the more powerful daimyo, along with the titular
Emperor, finally succeeded in the overthrow of the shogunate after the Boshin War, culminating in
the Meiji Restoration. The Tokugawa Shogunate came to an official end in 1868, with the resignation
of the 15th Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu and the "restoration" (sei fukko) of imperial
rule. Notwithstanding its eventual overthrow in favor of the more "modernized", less feudal form of

governance of the Meiji Restoration, the Tokugawa shogunate oversaw the longest period of peace
and stability in Japan's history, lasting well over 200 years.

Government[edit]
Shogunate and domain[edit]

Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu

Hideyoshi and Ieyasu played Go on this board.

The bakuhan taisei () was thefeudal political system in the Edo period ofJapan. Baku, or
"tent," is an abbreviation ofbakufu, meaning "military government" that is, the shogunate.
The han 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 daimyo: 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 ktai 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. Fudaidaimyo were hereditary vassals of Ieyasu, as well as of his descendants. Tozama,
or "outsiders", became vassals of Ieyasu after the battle of Sekigahara. Shinpan, 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, Chsh 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.[6]
The number of han (roughly 250) fluctuated throughout the Edo period. They were ranked by size,
which was measured as the number of koku 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[edit]

Despite the establishment of the shogunate, the emperor in Kyoto was still the legitimate ruler of
Japan. Regardless of the political title of the emperor, the "shoguns of the Tokugawa family
controlled Japan".[7] The administration ( taisei?) of Japan was a task given by the Imperial Court
in Kyoto to the Tokugawa family, which they returned to the court in the Meiji Restoration. While the
emperor had the prerogative of appointing the shogun, he had virtually no say in state affairs. The
shogunate 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
shogun, Tokugawa Iemochi, marrying the sister of Emperor Komei (r. 1846-1867), in 1862, the
imperial court in Kyoto began to enjoy increased political influence.[8] The emperor would
occasionally be consulted on various policies and the shogun even made a visit to Kyoto to visit the
emperor.

Shogun and foreign trade[edit]

A 1634 Japanese Red seal ship

Sakurada Gate at Edo Castle, the center of Tokugawa rule

Foreign affairs and trade were monopolized by the shogunate, yielding a huge profit. Foreign trade
was also permitted to the Satsuma and the Tsushima domains. Rice was the main trading product
of Japan during this time.Isolationism 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 Espaa (New
Spain) on the Japanese-built galleonSan 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, inbound ships were only allowed
from China, Korea, and the Netherlands.

Shogun and Christianity[edit]

Main article: Kirishitan
Followers of Christianity first began appearing in Japan during the 16th century.Oda Nobunaga,
however, embraced Christianity and the Western technology that was imported with it, such as the
musket. He also saw it as a tool he could use to suppress Buddhist forces.[9]
Though Christianity was allowed to grow until the 1610s, Tokugawa Ieyasu soon began to see it as a
growing threat to the stability of the Shogunate. As Ogosho ("Cloistered Shogun"),[10] he influenced
the implementing of laws that banned the practice of Christianity. His successors followed suit,
compounding upon Ieyasu's laws. The ban of Christianity is often linked with the creation of the
Seclusion laws, or Sakoku, in the 1630s.[11]

Institutions of the shogunate[edit]

Rj and wakadoshiyori[edit]
The rj () were the senior members of the shogunate. They supervised
the metsuke, machibugy, ongokubugy and other officials, oversaw relations with the Imperial
Court in Kyoto, kuge (members of the nobility), daimyo, Buddhist templesand 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 (Kei 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 rj were to be a fudai 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 ynin, Kyoto shoshidai,
and Osaka jdai.

Irregularly, the shoguns appointed a rj to the position of tair (great elder). The office was limited
to members of the Ii,Sakai, Doi, and Hotta clans, but Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu was given the status of
tair as well. Among the most famous was Ii Naosuke, who was assassinated in 1860 outside the
Sakuradamon Gate of Edo Castle (Sakuradamon incident).
The wakadoshiyori were next in status below the rj. An outgrowth of the early sixman rokuninsh (16331649), the office took its name and final form in 1662, but with four members.
Their primary responsibility was management of the affairs of the hatamoto and gokenin, the direct
vassals of the shogun.
Some shoguns appointed a soba ynin. This person acted as a liaison between the shogun and the
rj. The soba ynin increased in importance during the time of the fifth shogun Tokugawa
Tsunayoshi, when a wakadoshiyori, Inaba Masayasu, assassinated Hotta Masatoshi, the tair.
Fearing for his personal safety, Tsunayoshi moved the rj to a more distant part of the castle.
Some of the most famous soba ynin were Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu and Tanuma Okitsugu.

metsuke and metsuke[edit]

The metsuke and metsuke were officials who reported to the rj and wakadoshiyori. The five
metsuke 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 Yagy
Munefuyu held the office. Soon, however, it fell to hatamoto 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 province) such as Bizen-nokami.
As time progressed, the function of the metsuke 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 gokenin who were concentrated in Edo. Individual
han had their own metsuke who similarly policed their samurai.

San-bugy[edit]
The san-bugy ("three administrators") were the jisha, kanj, and machi-bugy, which
oversaw temples and shrines, accounting, and the cities, respectively. The jisha bugy 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 Kant provinces. The appointments normally went to daimyo; oka Tadasuke was an
exception, though he later became a daimyo.
The kanj bugy were next in status. The four holders of this office reported to the rj. They were
responsible for the finances of the shogunate.[12]
The machi bugy 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 bugy have become famous through jidaigeki (period films): oka Tadasuke
and Tyama Kinshir as heroes, and Torii Yz as a villain.
The san-bugy together sat on a council called the hyjsho. In this capacity, they were responsible
for administering thetenry, supervising the gundai, the daikan and the kura bugy, as well as
hearing cases involving samurai.

Tenry, gundai and daikan[edit]

The shogun directly held lands in various parts of Japan. These were known as bakufu
chokkatsuchi; since the Meiji period, the term tenry has become synonymous.[13] 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 mines, including the Sado gold mine, also fell into this category.

Gaikoku bugy[edit]
The gaikoku bugy 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 (18531867)[edit]

Main article: Bakumatsu

Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last Shogun, in French military uniform, c.1867

The Late Tokugawa Shogunate (Japanese: 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. It is at the end of the Edo periodand preceded the Meiji
era. The major ideological and political factions during this period were divided into the proimperialist Ishin Shishi (nationalist patriots) and the shogunate forces, including the
elite shinsengumi (newly selected corps) swordsmen.
Although these two groups were the most visible powers, many other factions attempted to use the
chaos of the Bakumatsu era to seize personal power.[14] Furthermore there were two other main
driving forces for dissent; first, growing resentment of tozama daimyo (or outside lords), and second,
growing anti-Western sentiment following the arrival of Matthew C. 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 sonn ji, or "revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians". The turning points
of the Bakumatsu were the Boshin War and the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, when pro-shogunate forces
were defeated.[15]

List of the Tokugawa shoguns[edit]

Picture

Name
(Born-Died)

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Hidetada

Tokugawa Iemitsu

Tokugawa Ietsuna

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

Tokugawa Ienobu

(15431616)

(15791632)

(16041651)

(16411680)

(16461709)

(16621712)

Shogun From

Shogun Until

1603

1605

1605

1623

1623

1651

1651

1680

1680

1709

1709

1712

Tokugawa Ietsugu

Tokugawa Yoshimune

Tokugawa Ieshige

10

Tokugawa Ieharu

11

Tokugawa Ienari

12

Tokugawa Ieyoshi

(17091716)

(16841751)

(17121761)

(17371786)

(17731841)

(17931853)

1713

1716

1716

1745

1745

1760

1760

1786

1787

1837

1837

1853

13

Tokugawa Iesada

14

Tokugawa Iemochi

15

Tokugawa Yoshinobu

(18241858)

(18461866)

(18371913)

1853

1858

1858

1866

1866

1867

Over the course of the Edo period, influential relatives of the shogun included:

Tokugawa Mitsukuni of the Mito domain[16]

Tokugawa Nariaki of the Mito domain[17]
Tokugawa Mochiharu of the Hitotsubashi branch
Tokugawa Munetake of the Tayasu branch.[18]
Matsudaira Katamori of the Aizu branch.[19]
Matsudaira Sadanobu, born into the Tayasu branch, adopted into the HisamatsuMatsudaira of Shirakawa.[20]

See also[edit]