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HONORS
NOTES: ch 19 sect 2- Tokugawa Japan
Key Terms:
1. Feudalism: a political system in which the nobles own the use of lands that belong to the ruler in return for their
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loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live in that area.
Daimyo: a Japanese feudal lord who commanded a private army of samurai.
Samurai: a professional soldier in Japan.
Shogun: in feudal Japan, a supreme military commander who ruled in the name of the emperor.
Shogunate: a ruling family
Tokugawa Shogunate: a dynasty of shoguns that ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867.
Kabuki: a type of Japanese drama in which music, dance, and mime are used to present stories.
Haiku: a Japanese form of poetry consisting of 3 unrhymed lines of 5, 7, 5 syllables.
Unification of Japan
“Warring States” (1467-1568)
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A civil war in Japan that took away the power of the emperor and the shogun and gave rise to the powerful territorial
daimyo in hundreds of domains throughout Japan.
o The new daimyo had been powerful samurais who found against each other in the civil war.
The civil war made the emperor a powerless figurehead; daimyo took advantage of this chaos and seized control of
old feudal estates and offered the peasants the protection of their samurai soldiers IF they promised them their
loyalty.
Daimyo built castles protected by samurais
Rival daimyo often fought one another for each other’s territory which led to constant disorder throughout Japan.
Japan is Unified: Many of the daimyo wanted to gain enough power that he could take over the entire country of Japan.
1. Oda Nobunaga:
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Brutal daimyo who believed in the motto “rule by force”
1568: defeated his rival daimyo and took control of the capital KYOTO.
o Nobunaga wanted to completely eliminate ALL other daimyo and Buddhist monasteries that aided his rivals.
1575: Nobunaga’s army crushed an enemy army (first time firearms were effectively used in a battle in Japan)
Ultimately he could not unify Japan so he committed SEPPUKU (the ritual suicide of a samurai) because he was
betrayed and dishonored by one of his own generals.
2. Toyotomi Hideyoshi:
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Nobunaga’s best general; wanted to complete Nobunaga’s mission of unifying Japan under his power.
1590: set out to eliminate all of the remaining daimyo who opposed his power by using violence and political alliances
to achieve his goal.
1592: invaded Korea in an attempt to control China as well (at the time Korea was a territory of China)
1598: Hideyoshi died and his troops withdrew from Korea.
3. Tokugawa Ieyasu:
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Very strong supporter and close ally of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
1600: defeated his rivals at the Battle of Sikigahara; UNIFIED JAPAN!
1603: Ieyasu became shogun and moved Japan’s capital to EDO (a small fishing village that would later become Tokyo)
“Alternate Attendance Policy”: to prevent the daimyo who governed Japan at the local levels from rebelling and
gaining too much power, Ieyasu required that they spend every other year living in the capital and when they returned
to their lands they were required to leave their families in Edo as hostages who would be killed if the daimyo staged a
revolt.
Founded the Tokugawa Shogunate, which ruled for over 200 years.
EDO Period under the Rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate:
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Japan was able to produce more food and increase the population now that stability had been returned to the
countryside.
Japanese culture was enriched as Japan moved away from being an agricultural society and moved towards being an
urban society.
o Edo had a population of over 1 million in the 18th century
o Large commercial cities developed which provided more employment for men and women.
o People began enjoying new forms of entertainment, such as kabuki and haiku poetry which reflected the new
urban lifestyle in Japan.
Japan Limits Western Influence
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Japan’s first contact with Europeans happened in 1543 when a group of shipwrecked Portuguese soldiers washed up
on the shores of Japan.
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Portugal introduced new goods to Japan:
o Clocks
o Eyeglasses
o Tobacco
o Firearms
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Merchants in Japan expanded their trade
Daimyo were able to build fortified castles that attracted more merchants and artisans
Christian Missionaries
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The first Jesuit missionaries arrived in 1549 and were welcomes because the Japanese thought they would also bring
new goods to trade.
o By 1600, more than 300,000 Japanese had been converted to Christianity
1612: Tokugawa Ieyasu banned Christianity because it opposed traditional Japanese beliefs and customs.
1637: Japan began prosecuting and killing Christians and forcing people to follow Buddhism.
Closed Country Policy
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1639: Japan closed all ports of trade except Nagasaki, which was only open to the Dutch and Chinese merchants
o Japan remained isolated from Europe for more than 200 years.