Japan During The Tokugawa Period

Humanities Essay Draft

The Tokugawa period, also known as the Edo period or the Shogunate Era, lasted from 1603 – 1867 and was the final period of traditional Japan. During this time, Japan was peaceful and politically stable, with much economic growth while under the shogunate, military dictatorship. The Tokugawa period was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu and was a period in which the Japanese culture was greatly formed (Britannica, 2018). The Japanese culture was greatly sculpted from international relationships with the Dutch and the Chinese, Buddhism and Shinto religion became hugely influencing in the way people lived their lives and completely banning Christianity and killing all Christians in hopes to keep Japan isolated. The Tokugawa Period is an eventful and interesting time in history.

Religion was extremely inflectional during the Shogunate Era and
Japan’s suspicions held by the shoguns led them to completely banning Christianity in 1639AD and placing foreigners under tight restrictions. Portuguese merchants and many other foreigners were forced away from the country empty handed and told not to come back. Japan did however allow restricted commercial contacts with the Dutch and Chinese merchants, who did not teach Christianity. In 1641 the policy of sakoku, isolation, was officially adopted and lasted until 1867 when the Tokugawa Era ended. During this time of sakoku, shoguns succeeded in keeping Japan relatively stable and keeping the Japanese culture the same (Skwirk n.d). Though in the Oxford Big Ideas Australian Curriculum History 8 book, an artist’s impression of the “Black ships” entering Edo Bay, modern day Tokyo Bay, painted in 1853 was present. This painting was about the ending of japans isolation when the Americans forced Japan to open up. It also shows how protected and innocent Japan was compared to the rest of the world. (Saldais,