Group+6+-+The+Unification+of+Japan;+The+Tokugawa+Shogunate+and+Economic+and+Social+Change+(741-744)+2

=Group 6 - The Unification of Japan; The Tokugawa Shogunate and Economic and Social Change (741-744)=

The Tokugawa Shogunate

 * Shogun (12 to 16 century): military governor that ruled Japan through retainers who received political rights and estates in exchange for military service
 * Emperors became figureheads as shoguns monopolized power
 * Conflict between retainers and shoguns led to civil war
 * Tokugawa Ieyasu (1600-1687)**
 * Was a shogun who established military government called the //bakufu// to reunite Japan
 * main goal of Tokugawa shoguns was to stabilize Japan and prevent civil war
 * Shoguns needed to control //daimyo,// powerful lords ruling most of Japan with vast landholdings
 * Many //daimyo// created relationships between European mariners and learned about gunpowder and weapons
 * cannons and personal firearms played key roles in Japanese conflicts
 * Control of the Daimyo**
 * Tokugawa shoguns required daimyo to live every other year in the town of Edo at Tokugawa court (enableded the shoguns to keep a close eye on the daimyos)
 * Bakufu controlled daimyo marriages, travel, and supervised their activities
 * Shoguns feared Europeans might risk the security of the bakufu
 * Control of Foreign Relations**
 * During the 1630's the shoguns issued a series of edicts restricting Japanese relations with other lands
 * Prohibited the construction of large ships, expelled Europeans from Japan, forbade merchants and foreign books
 * 1640 a Portuguese merchant ship arrived at Nagaski; officials beheaded 61 and only spared thirteen so they could caution the rest of the world and get the word out
 * Authorities gradually loosened restrictions and policy never made Japan completely isolated from the outside world

**Economic and Social Change**
 * Population Growth**
 * Increased agricultural production from 1600 to 1700 broought about rapid population growth from twenty-two million to twenty-nine million
 * 1700 to 1850 Japanese population grew slightly from twenty-nine to thirty-two million
 * Controlled population with contraception, late marriage, abortion, and infanticide
 * Families practiced population control to improve their standard of living and because Japan was land poor
 * Booming economy actually encouraged social change that undermined the order that the bakufu sought to preserve
 * Social Change**
 * In Tokugawa era Japan adopted Confucian thought and the hierarchy changed to fit this change
 * Tokugawa authorities tried to reduce the number of armed professional warriors in Japanese society and encouraged daimyo and samurai to become bureaucrats or to turn their talents toward scholarship
 * As they lost their traditional place in society they ran into financial problems
 * Income came in the form of rice which they turned into money through brokers, but the price of rice didn't keep pace with other costs
 * Daimyo and samurai lifestyle of luxury was very expensive and many became largely indebted to brokers
 * During Tokugawa era merchants flourished in Japan, and became more wealthy than the ruling elites
 * Wealthy individuals sometimes bought elite ranks or married into ruling families, but many who didn't also gained respect despite a low ranking job in the Confucian social order