The Tokugawa Polity

1Overview• Ancient Periods (-1192)– Jomon, Yayoi, Asuka, Nara, Heian• Medieval Periods (1192-1572)– Kamakura, Nanboku-cho, Muromachi• Pre-Modern– Sengoku, Edo• Modern– Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei
2Oda Nobunaga3

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

4Tokugawa Ieyasu

5Oda Nobunaga• Warfare was constant for 1467-1572.
• Nobunaga made a big step toward theunification of Japan. He consolidated
control of 2/3 of Japan by the time when
he was assassinated by Akechi Mitsuhidein 1582.
• Although his cruel and brutal actions,Nobunaga is regarded as a reformer bycontemporary historians.
6Toyotomi Hideyoshi• Hideyoshi succeeded Nobunaga’s will toconquer Japan.
• He also continued the institutions of Nobunaga.
– Disarming peasants through “sword hunts”.

• He launched two massive invasions into Korea.
• He died and left a young son who was supposed
to be supported by a council of his most trusted
liutenants (regents).
• This was an unstable plan for succession, and apower struggle soon broke out among regents.
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Tokugawa Ieyasu• He was a peer of Hideyoshi, and one of
the regents succeeding Hideyoshi’s rule.
• In 1600, he destroyed the forces of theopponent regents in the famous battle ofSekigahara, which gave him unchallengedhegemony.
• The emperor granted him the ancient titleof “shogun” in 1603.
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Tokugawa Bakufu (Shogunate)• Ieyasu’s rule was succeeded by his son,Hidetada, and his grandson, Iemitsu.
• Tokugawa bakufu built itself upon theachievements of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi.
• The bakufu took many “settlements” tostabilize the political order.

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The Daimyo• The bakufu’s settlements with Daimyo isquite unique and systematic.
– Limits castles to one per domain.
– Mandates all marriages to receive Tokugawa
approval.
– Requires to give expensive contributions tobuilding projects, especially at Edo (Tokyo).
– Confiscated portions of the daimyo domains
and gave them to lieutenants under theshougun’s direct control.
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Ranks of the Daimyo• Shinpan Daimyo – relatives of theTokugawa.
• Fudai Daimyo – Tokugawa’s most loyalallies.
• Tozama Daimyo – They pledged loyalty toTokugawa after the Battle of Sekigahara.
• Edo was surrounded by Shinpan andFudai daimyo. Remote areas were ruledby Tozama daimyo.
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Sankin Kotai (alternate attendance)• The bakufu required all daimyo to maintainresidences in Edo as well as in their homedomains.
• A daimyo lives in his home in a year. In the nextyear, he attends the shogun in Edo. Every
daimyo repeats this.
• Damyo’s families are mandated to live in Edo as
hostages. Traveling between Edo and theirhome was very expensive.
• This was the most effective system of politicalcontrol.
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The Imperial Institution• The position of shogun as supreme military ruler
is a grant from the emperor.
• The bakufu raised economic support for thecourt, but strengthened control over it.
• Imperial princes were held as hostage inTokugawa family’s temples and shrines in Edoand Nikko.
• The court was monitored by the bakufu’s deputy
stationing at Nijo palace near the emperor’spallace.
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The Samurai• The samurai system resembles thefeudalism in Europe.
• Samurai has control over small portions ofland as well as the peasants who farmthem.
• By pledging loyalty and offering military
service to daimyo, samurai warriors gain
protection of their lands from predatoryneighbors and rebellious peasants.
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Samurai in cities• The samurai in the city retained the right towear two swords.
• They receive “stipends” from their daimyo.
• But over time, the samurai’s sense ofconnection to their own lands became
increasingly abstract and weakened.

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Villagers and City-Dwellers• People were ranked in an order, samurai
at the highest, then farmers, artisans, andmerchants at the lowest.
• Every commoner were mandated toregister with a Buddhist temple, to enforce
the ban on Christianity.
• Roughly 80 percent of the population wasfarmers.
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