Japan
Review600-1450: Nara Period (8th Century)
Heian Period (794-1153)
Kamakura Shogunate (1185-1330s)
Ashikaga Shogunate (1338-1573)
1450-1750:
- End of the Ashikaga Shogunate and the Reunification of Japan under the Tokugawa
by the 16th century Japan was divided and racked by civil war as shogun and daimyo battled for supremacy. Three successive military leaders restored unity and civil peace:
- Nobunaga—from a minor family but gained great prominence via his military
skills/leadership (he was innovative and ruthless, even cruel, and was also the
first to utilize firearms which had arrived with the Portuguese in the 1540s). In 1573 Nobunaga deposed the last Ashikaga Shogun (who hadn’t really controlled anything anyway—Japan had become a decentralized state where the daimyo controlled their own lands…hence feudal society!) and unified the daimyo of central Honshu under his command then began to battle the daimyo of western Honshu but was killed (by one of his own generals).
Key here--Nobunaga started the process of unification before his death.
- Toyotomi Hideyoshi—he was one of Nobunaga’s best generals who went after
those who had betrayed Nobunaga and renewed the fight to break the power of the daimyo. Hideyoshi was a skilled military leader but also a skillful diplomat who used both military victories and diplomatic alliances to bring Japan under his control by 1590 then sought to expand Japanese control to the mainland. He invaded Korea and had early success though his campaigns later stalled, and his overreach cost a great deal of money and weakened Japan’s position militarily. After his death in 1598, his vassals tried to seize power and the fighting for control of Japan resumed.
- Tokugawa Ieyasu—he rose to power as an ally of Hideyoshi and emerged as the
winner of the renewed warfare that followed his death.
- Instead of continuing Hideyoshi’s campaigns overseas, he focused on Japan itself.
- He took the official title of shogun in 1603 thereby establishing the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868).
- He reorganized the daimyo—in central Honshu they were controlled directly by the Tokugawa family, but in the outlying areas the vassal daimyo retained their domains but were carefully controlled and required to pledge personal allegiance to the shogun.
- Bottom line here—the civil wars were over and some semblance of unity was established.
What was the relationship between these three unifiers of Japan and foreigners—particularly those from the West?
The number of European traders and missionaries was increasing. Traders were bringing goods from India, China, and Southeast Asia to Japan and exporting Japanese silver, copper, pottery and laquerware. They also brought European GUNS to Japan (as well as the printing press and clocks). The Japanese learned to produce their own guns, which in turn changed warfare in Japan and contributed to the victories of the three men above. At the same time the Japanese began to venture out establishing trade with Formosa (Taiwan), Korea and the Philippines.
Missionaries came on the heels of the traders and sought to convert the natives (the most famous of these was the Jesuit Francis Xavier). Nobunaga welcomed them perhaps because he saw Christianity as a counterforce to militant Buddhists (who had resisted his rise to power). The missionaries themselves were hoping to convert Nobunaga himself because they thought that would lead to the conversion of the entire country. He didn’t convert although many thousands of Japanese people did. Then Nobunaga was murdered and Hideyoshi, while not openly hostile, was not as supportive of the missionaries. The opposing Buddhist sects had been crushed so he didn’t really need them like Nobunaga did. In addition, Hideyoshi began to hear reports that Christian converts were not following orders if they thought those orders went against Christianity—a fact that worried Hideyoshi! After that Christianity was seen more and more as a threat to social order and there was some worry that Japan might actually face a European invasion.
As a result foreign activities were restricted in Japan (starting in the 1580s)
- Christian missionaries were ordered to leave (although this wasn’t really enforced—at first)
- Eventually ACTIVE persecution began to happen—against both missionaries AND converts (by the 1590s)
- Tokugawa Ieyasu continued the persecution and the BANNED Christianity in 1614. The missionaries were driven out (and those who stayed were hunted down). Converts were forced to renounce their faith although some refused and went underground. Some of these groups attempted to rebel and were put down. Only a few underground Christian communities remained.
- The attitude against Christianity turned into an attitude against foreigners in general. In 1616, foreign traders were limited to a few cities. Then in the 1630s Japanese ships were forbidden to sail overseas and trade, and one by one the European powers were either officially excluded from Japan (ex. Spain) or decided that trade with Japan wasn’t worth the trouble (ex. England). By the 1640s, only a limited number of Dutch and Chinese ships were allowed to trade on the island of Deshima in Nagasaki Bay. The export of silver and copper was restricted. Western books were banned, and foreigners were allowed to live and travel only in restricted areas. By the 1650s, Japan’s isolation was nearly complete.
The Tokugawa government in power:
In the 17th century much time and effort was spent on consolidating internal control of Japan by extending the bureaucratic administration of the shogunate further into the outlying domains of Japan.
In the 18th century a Neo-Confucian revival which had accompanied the Tokugawa rise to power gave rise to a new ideology—the school of National Learning which:
Placed great emphasis on Japan’s unique history
Led to a revival of JAPANESE culture at the expense of Chinese ideas
BUT—the Japanese also followed developments of the West through contacts with the Dutch community at Deshima (this interest contrasts with the indifference of the Chinese scholar-gentry in this period).