Tokugawa Political System

*Tokugawa Ieyasu

1 of 5 regents of Toyotomi Hideyori

Battle of Sekigahara, 1600

Eastern Tokugawa alliance vs. Western Mori alliance

Toyotomi Hideyori neutral

Osaka Castle

*Tokugawa Shogunate (bakufu), 1603-1867

Shogun, 1603

“Retires,” 1605

Battle of Osaka Castle, 1614-15

Toyotomi Hideyori and followers defeated

Hideyori commits suicide

Died, 1616

Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns, 1603-1867

Tokugawa Hidetada, r. 1605-1623, died 1632

*Tokugawa Iemitsu, r. 1623-1651

Short-term Tokugawa policies

✓Confiscated & redistributed domains of enemy daimyō “big names”

Tokugawa shoguns control ¼ of arable land

Hierarchy of daimyō (18th century figures):

23 shinpan “cadet”

150 fudai “house”

100+ tozama “outside”

Building projects

Osaka Castle

Tozama “outside” daimyō

Long-term Tokugawa policies

*Shogun restored

Emperor bestows title

Dual capitals

*Edo (Tokyo)

Shogun

Domain 25% of wealth

*Kyoto

Emperor

Domain 0.03% of wealth

Limited domains to 1 castle

Villages self-regulating

Village head

*"Alternate attendance"

Mandatory by 1642

Wives and children in Edo permanently

Daimyō spends alternate years in domain

Foreign policy of seclusion

Portuguese arrive, 1543

Kyushu Island

Trade and Christianity

300,000 converts by early 17th c.

Christianity banned, 1614

Shimabara Rebellion, 1637

Limits on trade

Japanese merchant ships forbidden to go abroad, 1636

Koreans (Tsushima Domain)

Chinese, Vietnamese, and Dutch (Nagasaki)

Reappraising seclusion

Tokugawa Motives

Ideological consolidation

Control of trade

Diplomatic ties maintained selectively

Korea and Ryukyu islands

Volume of trade increased

Ban on foreign books relaxed, 1720

*"Dutch learning"

Discussion

Musui’s Story, pp. ix-xxi, 1-42

Maps

Tokaidō Post Road, p. 22

Edo, p. 70

1. What is Katsu Kokichi’s family background? How is the family organized (x-xi)?

• See family trees (Appendix I, pp. 171)

2. What kind of education did Kokichi receive?

3. Why does he run away at age 14?

• Where does he go?
• What do you learn about Tokugawa society?
• What different social classes of people does he encounter?
• How does he mix easily with them?

4. Critical thinking: Is his story believable?

5. Based on the introduction, what was the economic plight of the samurai in the early 19th century?