Culture Changes During The Edo Period

The Japanese society was divided into four classes: samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants. The samurai was a class of warriors, emerged from Japan during the constant

Japan was in a state of isolation from the Western world since the Sakoku Edicts that were established in 1635, which cut off trade and relations with foreign entities. However, the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry changed this with his arrival at Edo

These sources tell readers that in the early Tokugawa period, the Shogun/Bakufu placed emphasis on the creation of a moral, secure, and precise suzerain/vassal state. With rigid rules, the Shogunate attempted to create a state of accountability where individuals and groups served their specific place in society. From these sources, readers learn that the Shogun place strict restrictions on almost all Japanese persons concerning many aspects of everyday life.

The Feudal Period in Japan ended in a decline of central power, which led to the centralized feudal system of government in the Tokugawa Period in late 1500. There were three main leaders who helped reunite Japan including Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Oda Nobunaga was successful to an extent, but was not successful in uniting the entire country. After the country once again became reunited from Tokugawa Ieyasu, a second wave of cultural diffusion occurred from the Europeans. They introduced guns and Christianity in early 1600.

The Tokugawa period or otherwise known as the Edo period has been recognised as an extremely significant aspect of Japanese history and left history changing effects on the country. In this essay, five primary aspects of the Edo period, which has helped produce present day Japan and had greatly impacted on the nation during this period will be addressed:

Edo is the old name for modern day Tokyo. Immediately upon Yoshinobu's rise as shogun, major changes were initiated. A massive government improvement was undertaken to initiate reforms that would strengthen the Tokugawa government. Strengthening the government can greatly help a countries economy and social structure. The armies of the Tokugawa bakufu were modernized by the French military, this happened during the reign of Yoshinobu. The national army and navy, which had already been formed under Tokugawa command, were strengthened by the assistance of the Russians. Yoshinobu organized and made both of these things happen, this is extremely impressive and is a great accomplishment. Also the Tokugawa purchased equipment from the United States. Many people had the outlook that the Tokugawa shogunate, Yoshinobu, was gaining ground towards renewed strength and

During the post classical period, 650 C.E to 1450 C.E, Japanese leaders were confronted with several issues that threatened political order in Japan. The problems that arose during that time included a lack of respect for Buddhism, for example, monks were not taking their vows seriously. Another problem included the division between classes in the social structure, one instance was when the lady-in-waiting in the temple showed disdain for the peasants in a lower class than her. Ultimately, one last problem was the lack of overall respect for the government. Samurais were not being properly trained and the Daimyo were fighting among themselves simply for power. The issues that presented themselves during this time period can be solved in many ways. Buddhism, a unified religion, reestablishing Confucian values and relationships, and properly training the Samurai are just

While differing ecomically and politically in their responses to western penetration, Japan and China had similarities in the way of geography. China only allowed Europeans to trade with it in a limited number of ports and cities, which limited the amount of goods Europeans were allowed to transfer overseas. Japan isolated itself as a whole from trade for an entire decade, and when it did open it was cautious towards westerners. Additionally, both were bordered by the ocean at least to a certain extent – Japan was surrounded entirely, being an island, by water, and a large percentage of China’s borders was water. It is because of this that the third similarity arose – both did trade by ocean. China with Britain, simply because it was the easiest, cheapest, and most efficient form of travel between the two, and Japan because there was obviously no choice considering Japan is an island. These geographical similarities arose purely from the coincidence that both were bordered by the ocean, which created the necessity for boats and by the time the opportunity for trade

Japan at the turn of the century was clearly trying to westernize and change is isolated society into one more intellectually and scientifically involved with the rest of the world. When the Japanese open their ports to the western civilization food and merchandise were not the only things being traded. When ports were open the western way of living was integrated with the Japanese culture which gradually changed the way the

The Japanese were not unknown to attempts to have them enter the consumerist world of the 19th century. Michael R. Austin bring this up in his book Negotiating with Imperialism, “The boundary’s physical manifestation was the trading complex at Nagasaki, on the southern island of Kyushu…Nagasaki first and foremost was closed to whom the bakufu wished to keep out of Japan.” The bakufu was basically the government of the time that was command by the Emperor. He later describes how Japan slowly rolled out their trade to other countries prior to the west that were mostly in Asian. He later describes how that the Japanese were uneasy to open to the west due to cultural boundaries instead of the aforementioned physical

The government than also led in the way of building railways and shipping lines, telegraphs and telephone systems, three shipyards, ten mines, fifty-three consumer industries. The Meiji Government opened their borders, allowing japan to improve their basic infrastructure, improving communication and to be able to travel from city to city easier. The markets were often based on main roads/path ways, rivers and special temples so that the local sellers are able to easily bring their items to the markets, according to (The Program for Teaching East Asia 2008). In doing this Japan was able to become more richer and Emperor Meiji was able to turn Japan into a modern world power as we see it

There are four-class systems, which are samurai, peasant, artisan and merchant, during the Tokugawa period in Japan. I will choose merchant class to learn more about this class system. Unlike the merchant class in Europe feudal society, the merchant class was ranked at the bottom class in feudal society in Japan, and the samurai is the top class. The merchants are the most despised people during the Tokugawa period, such as trader and shop-keeper. Unless for the business, it’s prohibited that higher class mix with the merchant class.

As individual European countries scrambled to gain more territory to add to their Empires, Japan feared the changes that visiting countries brought. When other countries visited Japan with imports to trade they also brought with them a new religion, Christianity. Japanese Emperors feared the chaos that a new religion would bring and decided to shut the rest of the world out. Only the Dutch were allowed to trade with the Japanese as a need remained to be informed of the rest of the world and medical advances.

Commercially and culturally, Western Europe had many global interactions with regions surrounding them. In this era, Europeans expanded and built many new empires. They established more trading companies, like the Dutch East Trading Company, for instance. This company flourished and survived for two centuries and succeeded in bringing trade between Asia and Europe. Also, empires like the British Empire provided new trading posts and slave laborers. Overall, Europe was busy making advancements in trans-regional and global trade networks, which resulted in spreading of religion, migration of people, and other elements of culture. This is a vast difference from Tokugawa Japan of this time period. Japan began its self-imposed isolation around the

The Edo period in Japan was the result of strict social control and economic growth resulting in a burgeoning artistic scene. Art was a way of expressing the feelings and desires that was denied by social norms imposed by an authoritarian government. As a result, there was a clash of ideas that pushed artists to focus on subtle refinement of traditional styles and the values therein. This sentiment not only applied to religious art, but to secular art forms as well due to the wealthy patrons being a part of the systems that restricted society. However, this restriction created a unique environment that birthed art and ideas that are unique to their time and place as the lack of outside influences forced all to turn inwards for inspiration. Therefore, the balance between the visible and the invisible is represented in the design of the art.