Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate or Tokugawa bakufu (????) (also known as the Edo bakufu) was a feudal military dictatorship of Japan established in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family until 1868. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city of Edo, now Tokyo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo castle until the Meiji Restoration.

Government

Shogunate and Han

The bakuhan taisei (????) 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.

Related Topics:
Edo period - Japan - Han

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The system was feudal. Vassals held inherited lands and provided military service and homage to their lords.

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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 towards the Shogun, who was responsible for foreign relations and national security. The shogun and lords were both daimyo, feudal lords with their own bureaucracies, policies, and territories. The Shogun also administrated the most powerful daimyo, the hereditary fief of House Tokugawa. Each level of government administrated its own system of taxation.

Related Topics:
Daimyo - Taxation

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The shogunate had the power to discard, annex and transform domains. The sankin-kotai system of alternative residence required each daimyo to send a family representative that would alternate years between the han and attendance in Edo. 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.

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Tokugawa's descendants further ensured the 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. Shimpan, 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, Choshu 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.

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The number of han (roughly 250) fluctuated throughout the Edo period. They were ranked by size, which was measured as the number of koku, or bales of rice, that the domain produced each year(?). The minimum number for a daimyo was ten thousand koku; the largest, apart from the shogun, was a million.

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Daimyo society 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. Shimpan, 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. However, in the end, it was the great tozama of Satsuma, Choshu 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.

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Shogun and Emperor

Despite the establishment of the shogunate, the emperor in Kyoto was still the legitimate ruler of Japan. The administration (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.

Related Topics:
Emperor - Kyoto - Imperial Court in Kyoto - Meiji restoration

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The shogunate appointed a liaison, the Ky?to Shoshidai, to deal with the emperor, court and nobility.

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Shogun and Foreign Trade

The foreign affairs and trade were monopolized by the shogunate, yielding a huge profit. Foreign trade was also permitted to the Satsuma and the Tsushima domain.

Related Topics:
Satsuma - Tsushima domain

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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.

Related Topics:
Nanban - Portugal

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From 1600 onward, Japan started to participate actively in foreign trade.

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In 1615, an embassy and trade mission under Hasekura Tsunenaga was sent across the Pacific to Nueva Espana on a Japanese-built galleon San Juan Bautista. Until 1635, the Shogun issued numerous permits for Red seal ships, destined to Asian trade.

Related Topics:
Hasekura Tsunenaga - Nueva Espana - ''San Juan Bautista'' - Red seal ships

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After 1635 and the introduction of Seclusion laws, only inbound ships were allowed, from China and the Netherlands.

Related Topics:
China - Netherlands

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