Tokugawa Ieyasu And The Imperial Rule Of Japan

Japan first started out as an isolated nation, but soon it would become one of the most powerful countries during WWII. But before Japan was a powerful Nation, it needed to modernize. According to document 1, Japan was isolated from 1635-1853.1853 to 1854.This was when US Commodore Perry visited Japan and forced them to open their ports(document 1, N.d, timeline. As a result of this, the Japanese create the Meiji Restoration. According to document 5, the emperor is given the power to command the Army and the Navy end to rule over Japan, but the citizens too have a house of representatives( Alfred Stead,1904, Doc 5).

Political, social, and economic aspects influenced the rise of the Empire of Japan, and their effects created the ways in which Japan interacted with its people and the world around it. Politically, the Meiji Restoration of the mid-1800s to the early 1900s set the stage for the growth that took place to make Japan an Empire, including the transformation of the views on the emperor. These views on the emperor helped to create a social change: the anger of the Japanese government and people about the lack of representation for Japan in world treaties and in the League of Nations. This caused extreme patriotism. Japan was economically changed by the advancements into China after Japan’s Great Depression. This military advancement opened the door for much more and was based on the Japanese’s intense nationalistic views.

The samurai, or bushi (warrior), are well-trained cavalrymen that serve a particular lord. The first recorded history of the samurai was about the 9th century A.D. At that time the capitol of Japan was Kamakura, a military installation. Japan was ruled by an emperor who controlled his empire through the use of shoguns. Shoguns were generals that ruled over

The occupations were ranked by how essential they were to Tokugawa Japan. Ieyasu created hereditary classes based on occupation. The samurai were the most essential to the shogun because the warriors protected the land of the daimyos, who were hand picked by the shogun and made sure taxes were paid for the land they owned. The peasants, making up most of the population, were farmers and fishermen. They were necessary to work the daimyos land and yield food for the nation. Artisans were less essential because they were more mobile, not owning land. Merchants, similar to artisans, did not own land and were even less valuable because Ieyasu did not view the salespeople as directly benefiting

Before an American naval commander “opened” Japan, the country was extremely isolated. Interaction with other nations was limited. Trade was discouraged in society due to Neo-Confucian

the practice by which powerful nations or social orders hope to create and keep up control or effect over weaker nations or society. By the 1800 's, the Western powers had central focuses in this technique. They drove the world in creative advances, giving them a quality while vanquishing distinctive countries. The European Imperialists made tries to vanquish China and Japan. In this methodology, they succeeded by affecting Japan immensely. In any case, they were not as productive with China.

The Japanese and European feudal systems such as hierarchies and status, although there were many similarities many differences took part over the time in the Japanese and European time line. Japanese feudalism had some key differences to European feudalism in terms of social structure. The status and power of all roles in bother European and Japanese feudalism was very important and leaving a position for a higher role was quite hard.

From 1450 to 1750, both Russia and Tokugawa Japan faced incoming influence from western Europe. They handled this in both similar and different ways in the aspects of culture, government, and global interaction.

The late nineteenth century culminated centuries of progress for the prominent Asian societies of Qing China and Tokugawa Japan, defining their economic strength and influence in foreign affairs. Each society encountered taxing struggles from internal rebellions to external pressures from outside nations. The Qing dynasty in China survived the crises of the 1850s-1860s, while the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan did not (i.e., collapsed) because of a number of important historical differences. Distinct political, social, and foreign policy differences caused seemingly parallel societies to spiral off in opposite directions. With the aid of a highly centralized government, a stable social and political order, and an amicable nature towards foreign policy, the strength of the Chinese government prevailed against both internal and external challenges. Tokugawa Japan ran a course completely opposite of Qing China and ultimately collapsed in the 1860s. Three significant factors leading to this failure resided in its decentralized government, static and hereditary social order, and hostile nature towards foreign affairs. Reviewed first are the factors

Medieval Europe and Tokugawa Japan have many similarities to the way that they run their kingdom. These include that they both use castle's e But they also have many differences. These differences include the soldier system which is the Knights vs the samurais. The class system for Medieval Europe which goes King, Barons,Knight, peasant and the Tokugawa era which goes Emperor, Shogun, Daimyo, Farmers, Artisans, Merchants.

Both Western Europe and Japan used the feudal system from the 800s to the 1700s. The two regions show economic similarities, but differ greatly with respect to politics and society.

The Tokugawa shogunate was a transition period in which Japan began to modernize and began trading due to the arrival of Commodore Perry. Society during this period was based on strict class hierarchy with tight restrictions for social mobility. With urbanization, came an increase reliance on markets and merchants for funds which increased the need and want for trade with the Western nations. The images displayed in chapter two show the progress of events and how the Western nation influenced Japan. It begins with images of how the Japanese viewed the world, moving on towards the arrival of Commodore Perry, to the modernization of the port cities where a lot of trade occurred, to the beheading of the domain lord by anti-foreign Japanese citizens,

The death of emperor Hideyoshi and subsequent ascension to the throne of Hideyori in 1598 set into motion events that would alter the political landscape in Japan for the next two hundred and fifty years. Tokugawa Ieyasu, in his quest to become absolute ruler of Japan defeated Hideyori loyalists in the battle of Sekigahara and was appointed Shogun by Hideyori in 1603. This military “coup d’état” effectively gave Tokugawa complete control of Japan and reduced the emperor to little more than a figurehead in the governing of Japan. As history would show, the feudal system of government that Tokugawa created ultimately led to

Between 1968 and 1912, Japan was going through a reformation called Meiji Restoration in order make the country strong as western countries. It had caused changes in many parts of Japan such as society, government, military, etc. Some of these changes still can be seen in the Japanese society today such as emperors are honored by Japanese citizens and seen as a special figure. Since this reformation had a great impact on development of Japan, it can be consider as a very important part of Japanese history.This study will seek to answer the question: To what extent did the Meiji Restoration succeeded to reform and strengthen Japan? In order to answer the question, the investigation will analyze military reform and economic reform caused by

The Meiji Era in Japan is known as a time of rapid industrialization and Westernization where many institutions of society were realigned in one form or another to be consistent with their Western counterparts. Ironically, at the same time, it was a period of growing nationalistic feelings that began to develop in Japanese society. However, besides being a reactionary or nostalgic feeling experienced by the population, this nationalist ideology was also actively promoted by the Meiji leadership. Central to this ideology was the emperor who was effectively and successfully used as a tool for legitimizing the Meiji government.