22
When the revolt, known as the Shimabara Rebellion,
was put down — with some effort — even more
restrictions were put in place to elminate secret Christians.
All Japanese were required to register with a Buddhist
temple, and the temple was required to certify each year
that none of the registrants was Christian.
National seclusion under the Tokugawa Shogunate
gave Japan more than 200 years of peace. What it also
did, however, was cut the country off from any outside
influences that might have been beneficial for the people.
It created the sense of insularity that still prevails in
Japan, one of the most ethnically homogeneous cultures
on earth.
Nagasaki harbour with the
Dutch enclave of Dejima in
the centre foreground
Class distinction
Offices of the Shogunate
Roju
was squeezed, by 1612 trade was
Senior officials of the Shogunate
who oversaw relations with the
similarly restricted. Only ships
Imperial court at Kyoto, and also
and traders from Spain, Portugal
supervised the Ometsuke,
and the Netherlands were
Machibugyo and Angokubugyo
permitted to land in Japan, and
Wakadoshiyori
only at Nagasaki or Hirado.
Supervision of the Hatamoto and
Within twelve years even the
Gokenin, vassals of the Shogun
Spanish had been excluded.
Ometsuke, Metsuke
By this time the elimination
of Christianity from Japanese
In charge of monitoring threats
to the security of the Shogunate
society had become a major
from daimyo or elsewhere
priority. The Shogunate
San-bugyo
eventually accepted it could
only be achieved with a loss of
Overseers of temples, shrines,
trade. By 1640 the Portuguese
economic matters and city
administration
were barred, and only the Dutch
were still permitted to trade on
Tenryo, Gundai, Daikan
Dejima, a small artificial island
Managers of the Shogun’s
at Nagasaki.
personal landholdings
Ieyasu’s successors as Shogun
Gaikoku Bugyo
— Hidetada and Iemitsu —
Supervisors of international
tightened the controls on foreign
relations after 1858
relations considerably. The
Closed Country Edict of 1635
banned Japanese from travelling
overseas and blocked the return of Japanese who were
already overseas. This created yet another severe restriction
on Japan’s importers and exporters.
In 1627 a samurai called Amakusa Shiro led a rebellion
of peasants, most of them Catholic Christians, protesting
both the prohibition on their faith and high taxes that
were being used to fund infrastructure development.
the mid-1600s a rigid class or
status system had developed
under the Tokugawa Shogunate. There
were four key levels: samurai, farmers,
artisans and merchants.
The samurai class was carefully
protected as they were vital to the
economic health and the security of
the country. When they were not
fighting in wars, samurai levied taxes
on farmers. This income was the
mainstay of Japan’s economy. Samurai
dominated Japanese society by force
of arms, symbolised by the two swords
they wore. No other class was allowed
to be armed.
By
Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada