DBQ: THE FALL OF THE TOKUGAWA
SHOGUNATE
DIRECTIONS
The following question is based on the accompanying documents. (The documents have
been edited for the purpose of this exercise). The question is designed to test your ability to
work with and understand historical documents. Write an essay that:

Has relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.

Uses all or all but one of the documents.

Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible and
does not simply summarize the documents individually.

Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ points of view.
ESSAY PROMPT
Analyze the issues and conditions in the 19th century, which led to the overthrow of the
Tokugawa Shogunate and the restoration of the rule by the Japanese emperor.
Based on the following documents, discuss causes for the replacement of the last Tokugawa
shogun. What types of additional documentation would help access the conditions, which
led to the Meiji restoration?
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In the early 17th century, the Tokugawa established the third and last of the Japanese
shogunal dynasties. Until 1867, the Tokugawa shoguns ruled as a military dictator from
Edo (Tokyo) and the emperor was a figurehead who lived in isolation at his palace in
Osaka. In 1867, a revolt overthrew the last shogun and returned power to the emperor.
This revolution was called the Meiji Restoration after the reign name of the restored
emperor.
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DOCUMENT 1
Oshio Heihachiro, respected scholar and official in the Osaka Town Commissioner’s
office, his manifesto during the 1837 uprising addressed to the village officials, elders,
farmers, peasants, and tenant farmers; executed by the Shogun
“If the four seas suffer destitution, the beneficence of heaven cannot long survive. If
a man of small stature governs the country, calamities become inevitable. These are
the teachings bequeathed by the sage of old to the later generations of rulers and
subjects. During the past 250 years of peace, those who ruled from above became
accustomed to luxury and they now live in sheer extravagance. Those officials who
are entrusted with important political affairs openly give and take bribes. Some who
lack virtue and righteousness still attain high positions as a result of the influence
they have through the ladies in waiting. They levy an excessive amount of money
from common people and farmers. These are the people who have suffered excessive
exactions of annual taxes and the various types of forced labor.”
DOCUMENT 2
Osaka Rice Exchange, Sole Official Exchange for Shogun Japan:
Price of 1 Koku of Higo Rice
YEAR
1 KOKU IN
SILVER MOMME
YEAR
1 KOKU IN
ILVER MOMME
1854
84.8
1861
142.5
1855
77.1
1862
172.0
1856
82.4
1863
100.5
1857
106.3
1864
325.5
1858
131.5
1865
513.0
1859
120.4
1866
1300.0
1860
203.0
1867
590.0
(one koku is the amount of rice necessary to feed one person for a year)
(Conversion rates: 60 silver momme equals one gold rye)
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DOCUMENT 3
Total Debt of Choshu, One of the Major Domains of the Daimyo (Landed Elite)
(1 Kan = 8.27 pounds of silver)
YEAR
1603
1622
1632
1638
1644
1646
1649
1652
1658
1676
1682
DEBT IN KAN
--4,000
----3,682
6,200
8,439
7,430
3,912
12,000
22,000
YEAR
1704
1705
1707
1708
1712
1724
1730
1731
1758
1838
1840
DEBT IN KAN
11,613
15,822
10,000
13,000
50,000
12,547
15,076
15,000
41,300
92,026
85,252
1840 Income for Choshu
(1 Koku is the amount needed to feed one person for a year)
Taxes Expressed in Koku
Taxes Expressed in Silver Kan
75,800 koku
3,790 Kan
DOCUMENT 4
Advice of the Choshu Daimyo (Landed Noble) to the Shogun, 1853
“Although there are various requests in the letter from the US president, the essense
of the letter is that they are seeking friendly trade with Japan, and that they intend
to send warships if they are not accomodated. If for the present, trade is permitted
according to their request, then for the time being, the affair will be settled
peacefully. However if we permit the Americans to trade, then the other barbarians
will make similar demands until finally Japan’s national strength will be weakened
by trade. Recently in nearby China, a dispute arising from trade has turned into
war, and one hears of the suffering and misery of the people. Moreover, trade also
paved the way for the downfall of the Sung and the Ming dynasties. Therefore refuse
their demands in such a way as to strike terror into the hearts of the foreign
pirates.”
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DOCUMENT 5
Shimazu Hisamitsu, Daimyo of Satsuma and an ally of the Choshu daimyo in his
revolt against the shogun, a petition to the Shogun, 1866
“Since last year signs of great civil disturbance have appeared. On several occasions
armies have been moved, commoners have been killed, and now peasant uprisings
beak out in Tamba and Yamato (provinces) and riots occur in Hyogo, Osaka, and
Edo (cities). As the Shogun is presently in Osaka, his august command and military
might should be shining forth in all directions; on the contrary, the merchants and
lowly people at his very feet break the law without regard for his authority. This is
the result of what is called “a misery so great that life is unbearable” and it is an
intolerable situation.”
DOCUMENT 6
Sakuma Zozan, a leading scholar of Dutch learning and Confucianism, 1854,
comments from his writings
“In teachings concerning morality, benevolence, and righteousness, filial piety, and
brotherly love, loyalty, and faithfulness, we must follow the examples and precepts of
the Chinese sages. In astronomy, geography, navigation, surveying, the investigation
of the principles of all things, the art of gunnery, commerce, medicine, machinery,
and construction, we must rely mainly on the West. We must gather the strong
points of the Five Worlds and construct the great learning of our imperial nation.”
DOCUMENT 7
Yoshida Shonin, a lower rank samurai, Confucian scholar and student of Western
learning, a leading spokesman to restore the emperor, his comments, 1854; executed
for treason by the Shogun, 1859
“It is clear that the Americans’ intentions are harmful to the land of the Gods. It
has been proven that the words of the American envoy have caused the land of the
Gods to be dishonored. In view of this, the emperor, in extreme anger, decreed that
relations be severed. His command the shogun was obliged to obey without delay
and he failed to do so. His government behaved with arrogance and independence
and made flattery of the Americans the highest policy of the land. It gave no
thought to the national danger, did not reflect upon the national disgrace, and
disobeyed the imperial decree. This is the shogun’s crime. Now it would be proper
to destroy and to kill in accordance with the fundamental principle of
righteousness.”
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DOCUMENT 8
Baron Stoekl, Russian diplomat who would later negotiate the sale of Alaska to the
United States, a letter to the Russian Foreign Minister Prince Aleksander
Gorchackov, 1859. Russia had tried three times since 1796 to get Japan to open
their ports to Russian ships and had raided Japanese territory several times.
“Our interests lie on the Asiatic coast and we should direct our energy thither. In
that area, we are in our own territory and in a position to exploit the production of
a vast and wealthy region. We shall take part in the extraordinary activity that is
being developed in the Pacific. Our establishments will vie with similar
establishments of other nations, and in view of the solicitude which our august
monarch has given the coast region of Amur (the part of Russia across the sea from
Japan), we must not miss the opportunity to attain in this vast ocean the high
position of which Russia is deserving.”
DOCUMENT 9
Keisei Hisaku, samurai and advocate of Western learning, from his memorandum to
his daimyo, Secret Plans for Governing the Country, 1798
“If the samurai can remember that their basic functions are the study of literature
and practice of military arts, and if they can refrain from luxury and live frugally,
treating the farmers well and sincerely nurturing them, then there will be no poverty.
However, nowadays, it is common to see a debt incurred by daimyo (landed nobles)
increasing instead of decreasing even when he continuously reduces the stipends due
his samurai to pay for his debt to the merchants. There is not a single daimyo who is
not in debt with one or more merchants. In the eyes of the merchants, the daimyo
must look like birds or fish caught by a net cast by a hunter or fisherman. All daimyo
select officials who impose extra burdens on farmers in an attempt to repay their
debts, but these debts do not decrease. Since the great famine of 1783, many of the
fields and gardens previously owned by the victims of starvation have been
abandoned. But nowadays many of them are reduced to ghost villages without any
harvest. Unless the daimyo treat the farmers kindly and protect them and nurture
them, this custom cannot be easily eradicated. We look for the coming of an
enlightened ruler who will establish a government based on the great mercy and
compassion of the Buddha.”
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FOOTNOTES
1. David J. Lu, Japan: A Document History, vol. 2, The Late Tokugawa Period to the
Present (Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997), 280 – 281.
2. John W. Dover, ed., Origins of the Modern Japanese State: Selected Writings of E. H.
Norman (New York: Pantheon Books, 1975), 148.
3. Albert M. Craig, Choshu in the Meiji Restoration (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington
Books, 2000), 39 – 40.
4. Albert Craig, Choshu, 87.
5. Albert Craig, Choshu, 328.
6. Mikiso Hane, Pre-Modern Japan: A Historical Survey (Boulder, Colorado: Westview
Press, 1991), 217.
7. Hane, Pre-Modern, 216.
8. S. B. Okun, The Russian America Company, B. D. Grekov, editor, translated by Carl
Ginsburg (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1951), 245.
9. David Lu, A Document History, 277 - 278.
Copywrite 2007 @ Paul Philp
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