Tokugawa Leyasu: A Powerful Person In Japan

The samurai were the feudal warriors of ancient Japan. For thousands of years they upheld the code of bushido, the way of the warrior. Samurai were around for thousands of years, but when did they disappear? Does the code of bushido still exist to this day? Exploring the history of the samurai will give an explanation to what has happened to these formidable warriors.

Three important historical figures of Japan history are the Japanese warlords Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The three of them put an end to the civil wars by uniting Japan as one. Nobunaga was born in 1534 and died in 1582. When he was only twenty years old, his father died. The Kiyosu Castle was taken over by him, and he used his new forces to launch an assault towards his brother. Nobunaga succeeded and his brother was killed. His goal was to “Rule the Empire by force.” He fought and took over a territory near today’s Nagoya, won the Battle of Okehazama, and took over Inabayama Castle in his early adulthood.

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

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.

Every leadership position was hereditary, passing the same titles down the lines of esteemed Japanese families. Only the Shogun could give favor and titles to families, completely cutting off any chance at social mobility. This strategic move kept daimyo competing with each other to please the Shogun, losing the chance to band together and overthrow the government instead (Lecture, 2013 Feb 12). This decentralized government was inefficient for any kind of domestic and foreign affairs to be handles quickly. There was no sense of nationalism and profits circulated only among the elite, who controlled trade. The large degree of separation between the domains ultimately resulted in civil war, permanently bringing down Tokugawa

Ieyasu’s early life was not one that went smoothly. He was born in a castle in the Okazaki Castle Mikawa to his parents, Matsudaira Hirotada and Odai-no-kata, or Lady Odai. He lived from 1543 to 1616. Ieyasu was born for greatness from the beginning. His father was the daimyo, meaning powerful ruler, of Mikawa and his mother Odai-nokata was the daughter of a nearby samurai lord. Ieyasu’s mother and father were step-siblings and had him at a very young age. They separated shortly after his birth due to his mother being sent back to her family. After a few years both Lady Odai, and Hirotada remarried and had children giving Tokugawa eleven half siblings total.

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.

A war had been raging, even before The United States got involved with the conflict, in Asia and Europe. Germany had been suffering, ever since they were defeated by the allies in World War 1, and it needed a leader to come to power and push the country in the right direction. Someone did come to power, his name was Hitler, and he wanted to control all of Europe and perhaps the world. However, Hitler was not alone in his endeavor for world power, there were many like him. Someone had a similar idea to hitler, he was known as Emperor Hirohito, The Emperor of Japan. Emperor Hirohito wanted to rule the Pacific, and as early as 1931 he had attacked and had battles with neighboring countries, most notably Manchuria. In 1939 however, Japan carried out one of their biggest invasions, the invasion of China, which

The Tokugawa shogunate was a very important and stable government in Japanese history. It was the connection of the feudalism and capitalism of Japan. For over two hundred years, challenges to Tokugawa authority were few, and this era was known as the time of Great Peace. In general, its appearance for the populace was grateful, because of a period of freedom from the warfare marked Sengoku, from the middle of 15th century to the end of 16th century. During that period, the chain of islands that makes up Japan was ruled by samurai and warlords. During the late sixteenth-century Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and finally Tokugawa Ieyasu took power in succession and finally united the whole Japan. However, the success of Tokugawa

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

In ancient Japan the imperial court became too large for the Emperor to control, to fix this the Emperor's men broke into different clans. However, because the leaders all wanted the most land civil wars soon broke out. 2 of the biggest clans (Taira and Minamoto) gained power due to the support of factions. By 1185 this lead the leader of the Minamoto people, Minamoto no Yoritomo formed a military gout, in which the people had to obey him as the shogun. Therefore the Emperor ruled over the Shogun, however the Shogun had the power over the people and made the decision. To conclude, the Emperor is the figurehead of the land much like the Queen in modern day society, and the Shogun is the Emperor’s speaker, much like the Governor General, in the 21st century. This solution to the civil wars of Japan was only meant to be a temporary solution, this was not however the case as for the next 700 years the Shoguns ruled Japan. How did the Shoguns

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

Yuzan Daidoji, Oscar Ratti, and Thomas Cleary. The Code of the Samurai. Boston: Tuttle, 1999. 10-44.