Tokugawa Seclusion Policy of 1603-1858 - Essay Example

Tokugawa Seclusion Policy of 1603-1858 Tokugawa Seclusion Policy of 1603-1858 Tokugawa or Edo period was the final traditional period in Japan. The period characterised by prolonged internal peace, political stability, and economic growth under military dictatorship (shogunate) founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu achieved this political hegemony as a shogun in the whole country by carefully balancing the power of perceived hostile domains (tozama) with strategically positioned allies (fudai) and collateral houses. As a further control strategy, Ieyasu’s successors from 1635 used the same tactics. They used the domain lords (daimyo) to maintain the households in Tokugawa’s administrative capital of Edo, the present day Tokyo and stayed there for many months every year (Huffman, 2010). This semi-autonomous domains pioneered by the central authority of Tokugawa Shogunate lasted for more than 250 years. They formed the strong pillar of the Tokugawa government. The official abolishment of the social order and the prohibition of mobility between the four classes that is, the warriors, the artisans, the farmers and the merchants was part of the systemic plan to maintain stability. Many members of the warrior class (samurai) resided both in the capital as well as in other castle towns where the majority became bureaucrats (Shogimen, 2008). Peasants whose population was about 80 percent of the total population were barred from engaging in non-agricultural activities. The directive aimed at ensuring a stable and continuous income flow for those in the positions of power. Tokugawa also had another political stability concern; this was the fear of foreign ideas and military intervention. Aware that the missionary work facilitated the Spanish and Portuguese colonial expansion in Asia, the Tokugawa Shoguns viewed the Catholic missionaries as potential threats to their political control and peace. Steps to expel them from Japan culminated in the enactment of three decrees in the 1630s, which completely banned Christianity in the country (McMullen, 2010). While issuing these orders, the Tokugawa Shogunate officially adopted the National Seclusion Policy. From 1633, the Japanese government prohibited her citizens either from travelling abroad or to return from overseas fearing foreign influence and exposure to foreign cultures. Even though the foreign contact was limited, the government only allowed a few Dutch and Chinese merchants to trade via the Southern port of Nagasaki. The Country’s economy rapidly expanded from 1680s to early 1700s with emphasis placed on agricultural production by the Tokugawa Shogunate. This encouraged a considerable growth of the economy since agriculture was the main source of livelihood and trade. Expansion of commerce and manufacturing industries greatly expanded thus stimulating the development of large urban settlements (Lee, 2011). Most of the towns that developed as a result of this include Edo, Kyoto and Osaka, in the eve of the government’s attempts to centralize its success in maintaining peace within the country. The production of fine silk, cotton fabrics, paper manufacturing and brewing industries flourished in the cities and towns thus translating to increased trading activities in these commodities (Hunter, 2013). This increase in commercial activities gave rise wholesale traders and exchange brokers. The ever-wondering currency and credit trade gave rise to strong financiers and moneylenders. With the emergence of the merchant class, a dynamic urban culture came into being thus founding expression in the new literary and art forms. The rapidly expanding commercial activities and economic development, which precede the emergence of vibrant urban-cultured centres, was an outcome of the peaceful rule of Tokugawa Shogunate and its policies designed to concentrate the warriors in castle towns. Edo (present Tokyo) became the country’s administrative capital and the seat of Tokugawa Shogunate while Osaka served as the Commercial hub for the country. The rich Osaka merchants who were free from rigid codes that restricted the warriors established the Genroku culture. They could spend their leisure pursuing pleasures while their profits created a cultural explosion. While merchants and traders continued to prosper, the samurai and daimyo begun to experience financial constraints. Their chief sources of income were a fixed stipend hinged on Agricultural production that had not maintained growing pace with other sectors of the Country’s economy. Despite several fiscal reform attempts by the government in 18th and 19th centuries, the financial woes for warriors steadily increased as the period progressed. Tokugawa Shogunate’s final 30 years in office was punctuated with the chronic discontent of warriors’ unrests, peasants’ uprisings and financial problems (Zachmann, 2009). These factors coupled with the growing threat of western invasion threatened the continued existence of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s regime. By 1860s, many citizens demanded the restoration of the direct imperial rule as an avenue to unite the country and solve the existing problems. The powerful tozana domains from South-Western Japan exerted the greatest pressure on Tokugawa Shogunate’s government eventually contributing to the overthrowing of the last shogun in 1867 (Happell, & Koehn, 2010). The restoration of Meiji Emperor to supreme power took place in less than a year after the fall of Tokugawa government. By the end of Tokugawa regime, Japan had already laid foundations for forthcoming industrialization and economic modernization (Nakada, 2010). Tokugawa’s requirements of having an alternate attendance (sankin kotai) in Edo for daimyo presented a great stimulus for the national economic thrust. Daimyo and retainers travelling to Edo facilitated the development of road networks and the growth of towns along the transport channel that provided stopovers, refreshments and accommodation facilities to travellers. Daimyo’s residence in Edo claimed a huge portion of income, but his spending stimulated development in other sectors of the economy. The political revolution that ended the Tokugawa’s government returned to full control the direct Imperial rule of Emperor Meiji, commencing a major socio-political and economic change. The young warriors from feudal domains historically hostile to Tokugawa’s authority were motivated by increasing domestic dissidents and the threat of Western invasion. They sought to create a nation capable of standing the equal pressure on the western governments. The new government relocated to Tokyo (formerly Edo) and dismantled the old feudal regimes. It also abolished and replaced the prefecture system of the domains and struck out all the feudal privileges in 1871. In the same year, the new government formed the national army and further strengthened this in 1873 by a universal conscription law. The new government also enacted policies to tax systems and money, with the agricultural tax reforms providing its primary source of income. The new government faced series of rebellions in mid-1870s from disgruntled samurai, but they received repression from the newly formed army. Peasants also showed their distrustfulness of the new regime and dissatisfaction with its agrarian policies took to the streets as well (Huffman, 2010). Consequently, a growing popular rights movement encouraged by the introduction of western culture called for the formation of a constitutional government that accommodates a wider civilian participation through deliberate assemblies. In response, the government issued a communication in 1881 promising constitution in 1890. In 1885, the government constituted a cabinet system and a year later the constitutional making commenced. In 1889, the official promulgation of the constitution took place. It established a bicameral parliament (Diet), elected through a limited voting franchise. The Meiji period witnessed a great leap in economic transformation. Industrialization remained the primary goal of the government despite the economy majorly dependent on agriculture. The government geared all its efforts towards the development of strategic industries, transportation and communications networks (Happell, & Koehn, 2010). These saw the building of the first railroad in 1872 and telegraphs linking major cities by 1880. The government also gave private firms financial support aided by institutions of a European-style banking system in 1882 in an effort to modernize Japan (Saito, 2010). These efforts also required western science and technological knowledge under the slogan civilization and enlightenment. From the trends at this time, Western culture was widely promoted. Westernization became a threat to the extent that is somewhat checked in the 1880s when renewed calls and appreciation for Japanese values emerged (Lublin, 2010). Such cases influenced even the education sector resulting into development of a modern educational system that despite influence by the Western practices put more emphasis on the traditional values of the samurai loyalty and social harmony. The same culture also influenced arts and literature sectors. Here, they first imitated Western styles then selectively blended with the Japanese to achieve taste. The Meiji restoration had greatly achieved its goals by early 20th Century. Japan was on the track to becoming a modern industrial nation. The revision of unequal treaties that had given foreign powers extraterritorial privileges in 1894, the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 and the Japanese victory in China and Russian wars gave her respect in the eyes of the Western nations. These introduced Japan to the world stage as a major world power. Under the reign of Tokugawa Shoguns (1600-1868), Japan enjoyed a 250 year of peace, tranquillity and order within its territories. The dramatic changes that occurred in this peaceful country particularly those related to commercial activities and developments saw the rise of the merchant class. It also led to the growth of modern cities, new urban cultures, as well as increased commercial activities. The prolonged period of Japanese peace fostered great economic growth and social transformations in the society’s culture, and the economy, setting the pace for rapid modernization that took place in Meiji period. The literature period in Tokugawa era gave voice to the emerging culture of the population in terms of arts and literature. Historian view Tokugawa period as Japan’s pre-modern period that defines Japanese modernization. The period built a strong foundation for the industrial and modernization take-off, a dream that the Meiji period accomplished. Bibliography Happell, B. & Koehn, S., 2010, ‘Attitudes to the use of seclusion: has contemporary mental health policy made a difference?’, Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(21-22), pp.3208-3217. Huffman, J., 2010, Japan in world history, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hunter, J., 2013, ‘Reviving the Kansai cotton industry: engineering expertise and knowledge sharing in the early Meiji period’, Japan Forum, 26(1), pp.65-87. Lee, J., 2011, ‘Understanding Japans International Development NGO Policy: Domestic Interpretations, Identities, and Interests’, Asian Politics & Policy, 3(4), pp.527-550. Lublin, E., 2010, Reforming Japan. Vancouver: UBC Press. McMullen, J., 2010, ‘Confucianism, Christianity, and Heterodoxy in Tokugawa Japan’, Monumenta Nipponica, 65(1), pp.149-195. Nakada, Y., 2010, ‘Tokugawa-koki no Gakumon to Seiji: Shoheizaka Gakumonjojusha to Bakumatsu Gaiko Henyo (Politics and Academia in Late Tokugawa Japan: Shoheizaka Confucians and Diplomatic Transformation’, Social Science Japan Journal, 13(1), pp.179-182. Saito, O., 2010, ‘An Industrious Revolution in an East Asian Market Economy? Tokugawa Japan and Implications for the Great Divergence’, Australian Economic History Review, 50(3), pp.240-261. Shogimen, T., 2008, ‘Treating the Body Politic: The Medical Metaphor of Political Rule in Late Medieval Europe and Tokugawa Japan’, The Review of Politics, 70(01). Zachmann, U., 2009, China and Japan in the late Meiji period. London: Routledge. Read More