1.
History of Japan
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It is widely accepted that first Human habitation in the Japanese archipelago traced back to prehistoric times. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi in the first millennium BC, during this period, in the first century AD, the first known written reference to Japan was recorded in the Chinese Book of Han. Between the fourth century and the century, Japans many kingdoms and tribes gradually came to be unified under a centralized government. The imperial dynasty established at this time continues to reign over Japan to this day, in 794, a new imperial capital was established at Heian-kyō, marking the beginning of the Heian period, which lasted until 1185. The Heian period is considered an age of classical Japanese culture. Japanese religious life from time and onwards was a mix of Buddhism. Over the following centuries the power of the Emperor and the imperial court gradually declined and passed to the military clans, the Minamoto clan under Minamoto no Yoritomo emerged victorious from the Genpei War of 1180–85. After seizing power, Yoritomo set up his capital in Kamakura, in 1274 and 1281, the Kamakura shogunate withstood two Mongol invasions, but in 1333 it was toppled by a rival claimant to the shogunate, ushering in the Muromachi period. During the Muromachi period regional warlords called daimyō grew in power at the expense of the shogun, eventually, Japan descended into a period of civil war. Over the course of the sixteenth century, Japan was reunified under the leadership of the daimyō Oda Nobunaga. After Hideyoshis death in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power and was appointed shogun by the Emperor, the Tokugawa shogunate, which governed from Edo, presided over a prosperous and peaceful era known as the Edo period. The Tokugawa shogunate imposed a strict class system on Japanese society, the American Perry Expedition in 1853–54 ended Japans seclusion, this in turn contributed to the fall of the shogunate and the return of power to the Emperor in 1868. The new national leadership of the following Meiji period transformed their isolated, underdeveloped island country into an empire that closely followed Western models and became a world power. Although democracy developed and modern civilian culture prospered during the Taishō period, Japans powerful military had great autonomy, the military invaded Manchuria in 1931, and from 1937 the conflict escalated into a prolonged war with China. Japans attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 led to war with the United States, Japans forces soon became overextended, but the military held out in spite of Allied air attacks that inflicted severe damage on population centers. Japans unconditional surrender was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 14 August 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Allies occupied Japan until 1952, during which a new constitution was enacted in 1947 that transformed Japan into a constitutional monarchy, after 1955, Japan enjoyed very high economic growth, and became a world economic powerhouse. Since the 1990s, economic stagnation has been a major issue, an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 caused massive economic dislocations and a serious nuclear power disaster
2.
Asuka period
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The Asuka period was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710, although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after the Asuka region, the introduction of Buddhism marked a change in Japanese society. The Asuka period is distinguished by the change in the name of the country from Wa to Nihon. The term Asuka period was first used to describe a period in the history of Japanese fine-arts and it was proposed by fine-arts scholars Sekino Tadasu and Okakura Kakuzō around 1900. Sekino dated the Asuka period as ending with the Taika Reform of 646, Okakura, however, saw it as ending with the transfer of the capital to the Heijō Palace of Nara. Although historians generally use Okakuras dating, many historians of art and architecture prefer Sekinos dating, the Yamato polity was distinguished by powerful great clans or extended families, including their dependents. Each clan was headed by a patriarch who performed sacred rites for the kami to ensure the long-term welfare of the clan. Clan members were the High Nobility, and the Imperial line that controlled the Yamato polity was at its pinnacle, the Yamato polity was concentrated in the Asuka region and exercised power over clans in Kyūshū and Honshū, bestowing titles, some hereditary, on clan chieftains. The Yamato name became synonymous with all of Japan as the Yamato rulers suppressed other clans, based on Chinese models, they developed a central administration and an imperial court attended by subordinate clan chieftains but with no permanent capital. By the mid-seventh century, the lands had grown to a substantial public domain. The basic administrative unit of the Gokishichidō system was the county, most people were farmers, others were fishers, weavers, potters, artisans, armorers, and ritual specialists. Suiko, the first of eight sovereign empresses, was merely a figurehead for Umako, Shōtoku, recognized as a great intellectual of this period of reform, was a devout Buddhist and was well-read in Chinese literature. He was influenced by Confucian principles, including the Mandate of Heaven, under Shōtokus direction, Confucian models of rank and etiquette were adopted, and his Seventeen-article constitution prescribed ways to bring harmony to a chaotic society in Confucian terms. Six official missions of envoys, priests, and students were sent to China in the seventh century, some remained twenty years or more, many of those who returned became prominent reformers. The sending of such scholars to learn Chinese political systems showed significant change from envoys in the Kofun period, as a result, Japan in this period received no title from Chinese dynasties, while they did send tribute. From the Chinese point of view, the class or position of Japan was demoted from previous centuries in which the kings received titles, on the other hand, Japan loosened its political relationships with China and consequently established extraordinary cultural and intellectual relationships. The revolt was led by Prince Naka no Ōe and Nakatomi no Kamatari, the Japanese era corresponding to the years 645–649 was thus named Taika, referring to the Reform, and meaning great change. The revolt leading to the Taika Reform is commonly called the Isshi Incident, ritsu was a code of penal laws, while ryō was an administrative code
3.
Nara period
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The Nara period of the history of Japan covers the years from AD710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō, most of Japanese society during this period was agricultural in nature and centered on villages. Most of the villagers followed a religion based on the worship of natural and ancestral spirits called kami, the capital at Nara was modeled after Changan, the capital city of Tang China. In many other ways, the Japanese upper classes patterned themselves after the Chinese, including adopting Chinese written system, fashion, concentrated efforts by the imperial court to record and document its history produced the first works of Japanese literature during the Nara period. Works such as the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki were political in nature, used to record and therefore justify, with the spread of written language, the writing of Japanese poetry, known in Japanese as waka, began. Over time, personal collections were referenced to establish the first large collection of Japanese poetry known as Manyōshū sometime after 759, Chinese characters were used to express sounds of Japanese until kana were invented. The Chinese characters used to express the sounds of Japanese are known as manyōgana, before the Taihō Code was established, the capital was customarily moved after the death of an emperor because of the ancient belief that a place of death was polluted. Reforms and bureaucratization of government led to the establishment of a permanent imperial capital at Heijō-kyō, or Nara, in AD710. It is to be noted that the capital was moved shortly to Kuni-kyō in 740–744, to Naniwa-kyō in 744–745, to Shigarakinomiya in 745, Nara was Japans first truly urban center. It soon had a population of 200,000 and some 10,000 people worked in government jobs, economic and administrative activity increased during the Nara period. Roads linked Nara to provincial capitals, and taxes were collected more efficiently and routinely, coins were minted, if not widely used. Outside the Nara area, however, there was little commercial activity, by the mid-eighth century, shōen, one of the most important economic institutions in medieval Japan, began to rise as a result of the search for a more manageable form of landholding. Some of these formerly public people were employed by large landholders. Factional fighting at the court continued throughout the Nara period. Imperial family members, leading families, such as the Fujiwara. Earlier this period, Prince Nagaya seized power at the court after the death of Fujiwara no Fuhito, Fuhito was succeeded by four sons, Muchimaro, Umakai, Fusasaki, and Maro. They put Emperor Shōmu, the prince by Fuhitos daughter, on the throne, in 729, they arrested Nagaya and regained control. However, as the first outbreak of smallpox spread from Kyūshū in 735 and it is without doubt that the Emperor was heavily shocked about this disaster, and he moved the palace three times in only five years since 740, until he eventually returned to Nara
4.
Heian period
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The Heian period is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism, the Heian period is also considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art, especially poetry and literature. Although the Imperial House of Japan had power on the surface, the power was in the hands of the Fujiwara clan. Many emperors actually had mothers from the Fujiwara family, the Heian period was preceded by the Nara period and began in 794 A. D. after the movement of the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō, by the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu. Kanmu first tried to move the capital to Nagaoka-kyō, but a series of disasters befell the city, prompting the emperor to relocate the capital a second time, a rebellion occurred in China in the last years of the 9th century, making the political situation unstable. The Japanese missions to Tang China was suspended and the influx of Chinese exports halted, therefore the Heian Period is considered a high point in Japanese culture that later generations have always admired. The period is noted for the rise of the samurai class. Nominally, sovereignty lay in the emperor but in power was wielded by the Fujiwara nobility. However, to protect their interests in the provinces, the Fujiwara and other noble families required guards, police, the warrior class made steady political gains throughout the Heian period. Still, a military takeover of the Japanese government was centuries away. The entry of the class into court influence was a result of the Hōgen Rebellion. At this time Taira no Kiyomori revived the Fujiwara practices by placing his grandson on the throne to rule Japan by regency and their clan, the Taira, would not be overthrown until after the Genpei War, which marked the start of the shogunate. The Kamakura period began in 1185 when Minamoto no Yoritomo seized power from the emperors, Nara was abandoned after only 70 years in part due to the ascendancy of Dōkyō and the encroaching secular power of the Buddhist institutions there. Kyōto had good access to the sea and could be reached by land routes from the eastern provinces. The early Heian period continued Nara culture, the Heian capital was patterned on the Chinese Tang capital at Changan, as was Nara, Kanmu endeavoured to improve the Tang-style administrative system which was in use. Known as the ritsuryō, this attempted to recreate the Tang imperium in Japan. Despite the decline of the Taika–Taihō reforms, imperial government was vigorous during the early Heian period, Kanmus avoidance of drastic reform decreased the intensity of political struggles, and he became recognized as one of Japans most forceful emperors
5.
Kamakura period
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The Kamakura period is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo. The period is known for the emergence of the samurai, the warrior caste, the Kamakura period marks the transition to land-based economies and a concentration of advanced military technologies in the hands of a specialized fighting class. Lords required the services of vassals, who were rewarded with fiefs of their own. The fief holders exercised local military rule, once Minamoto Yoritomo had consolidated his power, he established a new government at his family home in Kamakura. He called his government a bakufu, but because he was given the ancient high military title Seii Tai-shōgun by the Emperor, Yoritomo followed the Fujiwara form of house government and had an administrative board Mandokoro, a board of retainers, and a board of inquiry. After confiscating estates in central and western Japan, he appointed stewards for the estates and constables for the provinces, as shogun, Yoritomo was both the steward and the constable general. The Kamakura shogunate was not a regime, however, and although it controlled large tracts of land. The regime continued warfare against the Northern Fujiwara, but never brought either the north or the west under complete military control, however, the 4th leader of the Northern Fujiwara Fujiwara no Yasuhira was defeated by Yoritomo in 1189, and the 100-year-long prosperity of the north disappeared. The old court resided in Kyoto, continuing to hold the land over which it had jurisdiction, despite a strong beginning, Yoritomo failed to consolidate the leadership of his family on a lasting basis. Intrafamily contention had long existed within the Minamoto, although Yoritomo had eliminated most serious challengers to his authority. When he died suddenly in 1199, his son Minamoto no Yoriie became shogun and nominal head of the Minamoto, but Yoriie was unable to control the other eastern warrior families. By the early century, a regency had been established for the shogun by Hōjō Tokimasa—a member of the Hōjō clan. Often the Shikken was also the Tokuso and Rensho, under the Hōjō, the shogun became a powerless figurehead. The Hōjō forces easily won the war, and the court was brought under the direct control of the shogunate. The shoguns constables gained greater powers, and the court was obliged to seek Kamakuras approval for all of its actions. Although deprived of power, the court retained extensive estates. Several significant administrative achievements were made during the Hōjō regency, in 1225 the third regent Hōjō Yasutoki established the Council of State, providing opportunities for other military lords to exercise judicial and legislative authority at Kamakura. The Hōjō regent presided over the council, which was a form of collective leadership
6.
Kenmu Restoration
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The Kenmu Restoration is the name given to both the three-year period of Japanese history between the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period, and the political events that took place in it. The restoration was a made by Emperor Go-Daigo to bring the Imperial House back into power, thus restoring a civilian government after almost a century. The attempted restoration ultimately failed and was replaced by the Ashikaga shogunate and this was to be the last time the Emperor had any power until the Meiji restoration of 1867. The Emperors role had been usurped by the Minamoto and Hōjō families ever since Minamoto no Yoritomo had obtained from the Emperor the title of Shogun in 1192, the method worked for several successions until a member of the Southern Court ascended to the throne as Emperor Go-Daigo. Go-Daigo wanted to overthrow the shogunate and openly defied Kamakura by naming his own son his heir, in 1331 the shogunate exiled Go-Daigo but loyalist forces, including Kusunoki Masashige, rebelled and came to his support. They were aided by, among others, future shogun Ashikaga Takauji, at roughly the same time, Nitta Yoshisada, another eastern chieftain, attacked the shogunates capital. The city was reached, besieged, and taken. Kamakura would remain for one century the capital of the Kantō region. When Emperor Go-Daigo ascended the throne in 1318, he manifested his intention to rule without interference from the military in Kamakura. Another situation that begged for a solution was the problem posed by the manors. Chikafusa admitted that nobody had any intention of abolishing those privileges, what he planned to replace shugo and jitō with is unclear, but he surely had no intention of sharing power with the samurai class. In such a situation, any effort to regulate the manors was bound to cause resentment among key allies and he however failed to protect the rights of tenants and workers, whose complaints poured into the monasteries. These errors are the key to understanding the events of the few decades. After rewarding religious institutions, he prepared to redistribute Hōjō lands, the biggest rewards were given to samurai, among them Nitta Yoshisada, the man who had destroyed the Kamakura shogunate, and Ashikaga Takauji. In so doing, however, he failed to control of the provinces to civilians. But he made his greatest error when he failed to properly reward minor warriors who had supported him, the tribunals set up to the purpose were inefficient and too inexperienced for the task, and corruption was rife. Samurai anger was made worse by the fact that Go-Daigo, wanting to build a palace for himself but having no funds, a wave of enmity towards the nobility started to run through the country, growing stronger with time. Go-Daigo wanted to re-establish his rule in Kamakura and the east of the country without sending a shogun there, as a compromise, he sent his six-year-old son Prince Norinaga to Mutsu province and nominated him Governor-General of the Mutsu and Dewa provinces
7.
Muromachi period
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The Muromachi period is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun of this line, from a cultural perspective, the period can be divided into the Kitayama and Higashiyama periods. The early years from 1336 to 1392 of the Muromachi period are known as the Nanboku-chō or Northern and Southern Court period and this period is marked by the continued resistance of the supporters of Emperor Go-Daigo, the emperor behind the Kenmu Restoration. The years from 1465 to the end of the Muromachi period are known as the Sengoku period or Warring States period. Emperor Go-Daigos brief attempt to restore the power in the Kenmu Restoration alienated the samurai class. Ashikaga Takauji obtained the samurais strong support, and deposed Emperor Go-Daigo, in 1338 Takauji was proclaimed shogun and established his government in Kyoto. However, Emperor Godaigo escaped from his confinement and revived his political power in Nara, the ensuing period of Ashikaga rule was called Muromachi from the district of Kyoto in which its headquarters – the Hana-no-gosho – were located by third shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in 1378. Nevertheless, the Ashikaga shogunate was not as strong as that in Kamakura had been, not until the rule of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did a semblance of order emerge. Yoshimitsu allowed the constables, who had had limited powers during the Kamakura period, to become strong regional rulers, in time, a balance of power evolved between the shogun and the daimyō, the three most prominent daimyō families rotated as deputies to the shogun at Kyoto. The line of shoguns gradually weakened after Yoshimitsu and increasingly lost power to the daimyō, the shoguns influence on imperial succession waned, and the daimyō could back their own candidates. In time, the Ashikaga family had its own problems, resulting finally in the Ōnin War. The power vacuum that ensued launched a century of anarchy, the Japanese contact with the Ming dynasty began when China was renewed during the Muromachi period after the Chinese sought support in suppressing Japanese pirates in coastal areas of China. Japanese pirates of this era and region were referred to as wokou by the Chinese, wanting to improve relations with China and to rid Japan of the wokou threat, Yoshimitsu accepted a relationship with the Chinese that was to last for half a century. In 1401 he restarted the system, describing himself in a letter to the Chinese Emperor as Your subject. Japanese wood, sulfur, copper ore, swords, and folding fans were traded for Chinese silk, porcelain, books, and coins, in what the Chinese considered tribute but the Japanese saw as profitable trade. Zen played a role in spreading not only religious teachings and practices but also art and culture, including influences derived from paintings of the Chinese Song, Yuan. The proximity of the court to the bakufu resulted in a commingling of imperial family members, courtiers, daimyō, samurai. Art of all kinds—architecture, literature, Noh drama, Kyōgen, poetry, sarugaku, the tea ceremony, landscape gardening, there was renewed interest in Shinto, which had quietly coexisted with Buddhism during the centuries of the latters predominance
8.
Nanban trade
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Nanban is a Sino-Japanese word, Chinese Nánmán, originally referring to the peoples of South Asia and Southeast Asia. In Japan, the took on a new meaning when it came to designate the Portuguese, who first arrived in 1543. Following contact with the Portuguese on Tanegashima in 1542, the Japanese were at first rather wary of the newly arrived foreigners, the culture shock was quite strong, especially due to the fact that Europeans were not able to understand the Japanese writing system nor accustomed to using chopsticks. They eat with their fingers instead of with chopsticks such as we use and they show their feelings without any self-control. They cannot understand the meaning of written characters, Japan was to become a major exporter of copper and silver during the period. Japan was also noted for being more populated and urbanized than any Western country. Buddhist schools in Japan were also larger than universities in the West such as Salamanca or Coimbra. At the time, some Europeans became quite fascinated with Japan, Alessandro Valignano even writing that the Japanese excel not only all the other Oriental peoples, early European visitors noted the quality of Japanese craftsmanship and metalsmithing. This stems from the fact that Japan itself is rather poor in natural resources found commonly in Europe, thus, the Japanese were famously frugal with their consumable resources, what little they had they used with expert skill though because of this, they had not reached European levels. Japanese military prowess was also well noted, a Spanish royal decree of 1609 specifically directed Spanish commanders in the Pacific not to risk the reputation of our arms and state against Japanese soldier. Troops of Japanese samurai were later employed in the Maluku Islands in Southeast Asia by the Dutch to fight off the English, soon after the first contacts in 1543, Portuguese ships started to arrive in Japan. At that time, there were already trade exchanges between Portugal and Goa, consisting of 3 to 4 carracks leaving Lisbon with silver to purchase cotton, out of these, only one carrack went on to China in order to purchase silk, also in exchange for Portuguese silver. Accordingly, the cargo of the first Portuguese ships arriving in Japan almost entirely consisted of Chinese goods. The Japanese were very much looking forward to acquiring such goods, the Portuguese therefore found the opportunity to act as intermediaries in Asian trade. The carracks were very large ships, usually between 1000 and 1500 tons, about double or triple the size of a regular galleon or a large junk. That trade continued with few interruptions until 1638, when it was prohibited on the ground that the ships were smuggling priests into Japan, many documents mention the large slave trade along with protests against the enslavement of Japanese. Toyotomi blamed the Portuguese and Jesuits for this trade and banned Christian proselytizing as a result. Japanese Christian Daimyos were mainly responsible for selling to the Portuguese their fellow Japanese, Japanese women and Japanese men, Javanese, Chinese, and Indians were all sold as slaves in Portugal
9.
Edo period
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The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the countrys 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies. The shogunate was established in Edo on March 24,1603. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3,1868, instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area, after Hideyoshis death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family. Ieyasus victory over the western daimyōs at the Battle of Sekigahara gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyō houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyōs, but his assumption of the title of shogun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada as shogun. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication, in 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka. The Tokugawa period brought 250 years of stability to Japan, the political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyōs had regional authority and this represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the classes of daimyō. Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan, or related houses and they were twenty-three daimyōs on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu, the second class of the hierarchy were the fudai, or house daimyōs, rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century,145 fudai controlled such smaller han, members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the group, the tozama, former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on the peripheries of the archipelago, because the tozama were least trusted of the daimyō, they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, they also had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all daimyōs and the religious orders
10.
Sakoku
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This period was also noted for the large number of foreign traders and pirates who were resident in Japan and active in Japanese waters. The term Sakoku originates from the manuscript work Sakoku-ron written by Japanese astronomer, shizuki invented the word while translating the works of the 17th-century German traveller Engelbert Kaempfer concerning Japan. Japan was not completely isolated under the sakoku policy and it was a system in which strict regulations were applied to commerce and foreign relations by the shogunate, and by certain feudal domains. The policy stated that the only European influence permitted was the Dutch factory at Dejima in Nagasaki, trade with China was also handled at Nagasaki. Trade with Korea was limited to the Tsushima Domain, trade with the Ainu people was limited to the Matsumae Domain in Hokkaidō, and trade with the Ryūkyū Kingdom took place in Satsuma Domain. Apart from these direct commercial contacts in peripheral provinces, trading countries sent regular missions to the shogun in Edo, Japan traded at this time with five entities, through four gateways. Through the Matsumae clan domain in Hokkaidō, they traded with the Ainu people, through the Sō clan daimyōs of Tsushima, they had relations with Joseon dynasty Korea. The Dutch East India Company was permitted to trade at Nagasaki, alongside private Chinese traders, Ryūkyū, a semi-independent kingdom for nearly all of the Edo period, was controlled by the Shimazu family daimyōs of Satsuma Domain. These two different groups of trade basically reflected a pattern of incoming and outgoing trade, the outgoing trade flowing out from Japan to Korea and the Ryūkyū Kingdom, eventually being brought from those places to China. In the Ryūkyū Islands and Korea, the clans in charge of trade with the Ryūkyū Kingdom, trade in fact prospered during this period, and though relations and trade were restricted to certain ports, the country was far from closed. In fact, as the shogunate expelled the Portuguese, they engaged in discussions with Dutch. The increasing number of Catholic converts in southern Japan was a significant element of that which was seen as a threat, based on work conducted by Japanese historians in the 1970s, some scholars have challenged this view, believing it to be only a partial explanation of political reality. The motivations for the strengthening of the maritime prohibitions during the early 17th century should be considered within the context of the Tokugawa bakufus domestic agenda. These daimyōs had used East Asian trading linkages to profitable effect during the sengoku period and this is consistent with the generally agreed rationale for the Tokugawa bakufus implementation of the system of alternate attendance, or sankin-kōtai. Directing trade predominantly through Nagasaki, which came under Toyotomi Hideyoshis control in 1587, would enable the bakufu, through taxes and levies and this was no small matter, as lack of wealth had limited both the preceding Kamakura bakufu and the Muromachi bakufu in crucial ways. Nevertheless, Christianity and the two colonial powers it was most strongly associated with, were seen as threats by the Tokugawa bakufu. Once the remnants of the Toyotomi clan had been defeated in 1615, religious challenges to central authority were taken seriously by the bakufu as ecclesiastical challenges by armed Buddhist monks were common during the sengoku period. The Dutch and English were generally seen by the Japanese to be able to separate religion and trade, the Dutch, eager to take over trade from the Spanish and Portuguese, had no problems reinforcing this view
11.
Bakumatsu
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Bakumatsu refers to the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867 Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as sakoku, the major ideological-political divide during this period was between the pro-imperial nationalists called ishin shishi and the shogunate forces, which included the elite shinsengumi swordsmen. Although these two groups were the most visible powers, many other factions attempted to use the chaos of Bakumatsu to seize personal power, the second was to be expressed in the phrase sonnō jōi, or revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians. The turning point of the Bakumatsu was during the Boshin War, frictions with foreign shipping led Japan to take defensive actions from the beginning of the 19th century. Western ships were increasing their presence around Japan due to whaling activities and they were hoping for Japan to become a base for supply or at least a place where shipwrecks could receive assistance. The violent demands made by the British frigate Phaeton in 1808 shocked many in Japan, in 1825, the Edict to expel foreigners at all cost was issued by the Shogunate, prohibiting any contacts with foreigners, it remained in place until 1842. Meanwhile, Japan endeavoured to learn about foreign sciences through rangaku and these domains also studied the manufacture of Western weapons. By 1852 Satsuma and Saga had reverbatory furnaces to produce the necessary for firearms. Following the Morrison incident involving the Morrison under Charles W. King in 1837, after the victory of the British over the Chinese in the 1840 Opium War, many Japanese realized that traditional ways would not be sufficient to repel Western intrusions. To resist Western military forces, Western guns were studied and demonstrations made in 1841 by Takashima Shūhan to the Tokugawa Shogunate, a national debate was already taking place about how to better avoid foreign domination. Some like Egawa claimed that it was necessary to use the techniques to repel them. Others, such as Torii Yōzō argued that only traditional Japanese methods should be employed and reinforced, Egawa argued that just as Confucianism and Buddhism had been introduced from abroad, it made sense to introduce useful Western techniques. A theoretical synthesis of Western knowledge and Eastern morality would later be accomplished by Sakuma Shōzan and Yokoi Shōnan, after 1839, however, traditionalists tended to prevail. Students of Western sciences were accused of treason, put under house arrest, forced to commit ritual suicide, Perrys four-ship squadron appeared in Edo Bay in July 1853, the bakufu was thrown into turmoil. Commodore Perry was fully prepared for hostilities if his negotiations with the Japanese failed and he gave them two white flags, telling them to hoist the flags when they wished a bombardment from his fleet to cease and to surrender. To demonstrate his weapons, Perry ordered his ships to several buildings around the harbor. The ships of Perry were equipped with new Paixhans shell guns, fortifications were established at Odaiba in Tokyo Bay in order to protect Edo from an American incursion. Industrial developments were soon started in order to build modern cannons
12.
Meiji period
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The Meiji period, also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from October 23,1868 through July 30,1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan during which Japanese society moved from being a feudal society to its modern form. Fundamental changes affected its structure, internal politics, economy, military. The period corresponded with the reign of Emperor Meiji after 1868 and it was succeeded by the Taishō period upon the accession of Emperor Taishō to the throne. On February 3,1867, the 14-year-old Prince Mutsuhito succeeded his father, Emperor Kōmei, on November 9,1867, then-Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu tendered his resignation to the Emperor, and formally stepped down ten days later. Imperial restoration occurred the year on January 3,1868. The fall of Edo in the summer of 1868 marked the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, and a new era, Meiji, was proclaimed. The first reform was the promulgation of the Five Charter Oath in 1868, implicit in the Charter Oath was an end to exclusive political rule by the bakufu, and a move toward more democratic participation in government. To implement the Charter Oath, a rather short-lived constitution with eleven articles was drawn up in June 1868, the Meiji government assured the foreign powers that it would follow the old treaties negotiated by the bakufu and announced that it would act in accordance with international law. Mutsuhito, who was to reign until 1912, selected a new reign title—Meiji, to further dramatize the new order, the capital was relocated from Kyoto, where it had been situated since 794, to Tokyo, the new name for Edo. Confirmed in their positions, the daimyo became governors. The han were replaced with prefectures in 1871, and authority continued to flow to the national government, officials from the favored former han, such as Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, and Hizen staffed the new ministries. Formerly old court nobles, and lower-ranking but more radical samurai, replaced bakufu appointees, in as much as the Meiji Restoration had sought to return the Emperor to a preeminent position, efforts were made to establish a Shinto-oriented state much like it was 1,000 years earlier. Furthermore, a new State Shinto had to be constructed for the purpose, in 1871, the Office of Shinto Worship was established, ranking even above the Council of State in importance. The kokutai ideas of the Mito school were embraced, and the ancestry of the Imperial House was emphasized. The government supported Shinto teachers, a small but important move, although the Office of Shinto Worship was demoted in 1872, by 1877 the Home Ministry controlled all Shinto shrines and certain Shinto sects were given state recognition. Shinto was released from Buddhist administration and its properties restored, although Buddhism suffered from state sponsorship of Shinto, it had its own resurgence. Christianity also was legalized, and Confucianism remained an important ethical doctrine, increasingly, however, Japanese thinkers identified with Western ideology and methods
