Tokugawa shogunate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Tokugawa bakufu (徳川幕府?) and the Edo
bakufu (江戸幕府?),[1] was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and
ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family.[2] This period is known as the Edo period and
gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was
changed in 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle from 1603 until 1868,
when it was abolished during the Meiji Restoration.
History
See also: Late Tokugawa shogunate
Following the Sengoku Period of "warring states" (also known as the "Sengoku Jidai" or
"Warring States Era"), 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 who completed this process and received the title of
shogun in 1603. In order to become shogun, one traditionally was a descendant of the
ancient Minamoto clan.
Society in the Tokugawa period, unlike the shogunates before it, was supposedly based on
the strict class hierarchy originally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The daimyo, or lords,
were at the top, followed by the warrior-caste of samurai, 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 lords. 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.
Toward the end of the 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" (Ōsei fukko) of imperial rule.
Government
Shogunate and domain
Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu
The bakuhan taisei (幕藩体制) was the feudal political system in the Edo period of Japan.
Baku, or "tent," is an abbreviation of bakufu, 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 kōtai
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. Fudai daimyo 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, 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.[3]
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
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."[4] The administration (体制 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.
The shogunate appointed a liaison, the Kyoto Shoshidai (Shogun's Representative in Kyoto),
to deal with the emperor, court and nobility.
Shogun and foreign trade
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.
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
Espana (New Spain) on the Japanese-built galleon San 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
Main article: Kirishitan
Followers of Christianity first began appearing in Japan during the 16th century. As a symbol
of foreign power over Japanese people, it would normally have been swiftly crushed. 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[5]
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"),[6] 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.[7]
Institutions of the shogunate
Rōjū and wakadoshiyori
The rōjū (老中) were the senior members of the shogunate. They supervised the ōmetsuke,
machibugyō, ongokubugyō and other officials, oversaw relations with the Imperial Court in
Kyoto, kuge (members of the nobility), daimyo, Buddhist temples 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 (Keiō 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 rōjū 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
yōnin, Kyoto shoshidai, and Osaka jōdai.
Irregularly, the shoguns appointed a rōjū to the position of tairō (great elder). The office was
limited to members of the Ii, Sakai, Doi, and Hotta clans, but Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu was
given the status of tairō 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 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 hatamoto and
gokenin, 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 Masayasu, assassinated Hotta
Masatoshi, 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.
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 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-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 gokenin who
were concentrated in Edo. Individual han had their own metsuke who similarly policed their
samurai.
San-bugyō
The san-bugyō ("three administrators") were the jisha, kanjō, and machi-bugyō, which
oversaw temples 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 Kantō provinces. The appointments normally went to daimyo;
Ōoka Tadasuke 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.[8]
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 jidaigeki (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 hyōjōsho. 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.[9] 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.
Rather than appointing a daimyo to head the holdings, the shogunate placed administrators
in charge. The titles of these administrators included gundai,[10] daikan,[11] and ongoku
bugyō. This last category included the Osaka, Kyoto and Sumpu machibugyō, and the
Nagasaki bugyō. The appointees were hatamoto.
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)
Main article: Late Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last Shogun, in French military uniform, c.1867
The Late Tokugawa Shogunate (Japanese: 幕末 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
period and preceded the Meiji era. The major ideological and political factions during this
period were divided into the pro-imperialist 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.[12] 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 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 jōi, 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.[13]