World History: The Tokugawa Shogunate

An Edo-era screen depicting Sekigahara

On October 21 1600 the Sengoku period of warfare ended with the Battle of Sekigahara. The deceased ruler of Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi had placed his son and heir under the care of five powerful daimyō. However, they all wanted power and at Sekigahara the most powerful won: Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu would found a new shogunate which would rule Japan for over two centuries with it coming to an end in 1868 with the Meiji Restoration. The Tokugawa bakufu (government) would greatly shape Japan with it putting into place many aspects of Japanese life which would continue to this day. We'll look at the world of the Tokugawa and how it changed over the course of its life.

Establishing Tokugawa Rule

Ieyasu

As mentioned Ieyasu established his shogunate after the Sengoku period which saw over a century of warfare in order to unify Japan by leading samurai. The unifiers, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, never declared themselves emperor or shogun ruling with the existing emperors and Ashikaga shoguns under their rule instead. Although the shogunate had been abolished in 1573 the shoguns lived on and luckily for Ieyasu the last one had died in 1598. However, he had to face the fact that Hideyoshi's son, Hideyori, was still around. Hideyori would remain a thorn in the side of the Tokugawa shoguns as he served as a potentially legitimate opponent to their rule and making it worse was that Hideyori lived in Osaka Castle which was one of the most fortified settlements. In 1602 one of the most powerful daimyo, Shimazu Yoshihiro of Satsuma, who had supported Hideyori at Sekigahara personally met with Ieyasu where he pledged his loyalty to Ieyasu. The next year Ieyasu was officially declared shogun and to ensure Tokugawa rule remained he transferred power to his son, Hidetada, in 1605 so he could rule behind the scenes. By 1611 most lords had declared their loyalty to the Tokugawa. In 1614 Hideyori and the shogunate finally came to blows as Ieyasu had Osaka attacked. Using treachery and diplomacy Hideyori agreed to a truce if some of his defenses were dismantled but Ieyasu's workers overzealously removed more of the defenses than initially agreed. In 1615 they attacked Osaka again and Hideyori, and his mother, commit suicide. 

There were also other ways the Tokugawa tried to establish their rule. Luckily for Ieyasu he had many children which he used to marry to into powerful families or established as major daimyō, and with Hidetada succeeding him as shogun. In 1610 as his adopted daughter was being married off to Tsugaru Nobuhira he sent as a dowry a pair of eight-fold screens depicting Sekigahara - your own wealth could be used to show your power. Later Hidetada married his daughter, Masako, into the royal family and her daughter became the Meishō Empress. From the Sengoku period regional leaders in the domains, han, had become powerful which the Tokugawa had to deal with. There were normally around 250 han but at one time there were just over 500 han meaning there were lots of potential opponents. As a result the Tokugawa has been described as 'centralized feudalism'. I should mention, however, that han and feudalism were applied to Tokugawa rule retroactively in the nineteenth century and most domains were actually fairly small. The Tokugawa used a system called kokudake where to hold the title of daimyō had to have land worth 10,000 koku, about US $6.4 million, and only sixteen domains had a koku rating of over 300,000. Even then only a few dozen, like Maeda, managed to retain their koku rating through the entirety of Tokugawa rule. After 1615 daimyō had to abide by the Code for the Military Houses which gave the domains power but also made them obey the bakufu. In 1622 it was amended to include a clause where daimyō had to leave a family member hostage in Edo but in 1636 this was expanded in a system called sankin-kōtai (alternate attendance). Daimyō were assigned plots of land in Edo for themselves to be kept hostage as their family remained at home and then the next year they would swap. As both their domain and their Edo plot (which could include three fully staffed mansions) had to be maintained this stripped the resources from potential rebels as well as dangling the threat of execution over their heads if they rebelled. 

A depiction of the Shimbara Rebellion - a rebellion by mostly Christian peasants

The Tokugawa also aimed to secure themselves with commoners, heimin, as well as their lords - a peasant uprising could potentially be as dangerous as that by samurai. Making matters more serious in the mind of the bakufu was Christian subversion, something which Nobunaga and Hideyoshi had ruthlessly challenged before. The bakufu and domains conducted registers of population and livestock which were combined with hunting for Christians. Originally this was just in bakufu domains but in 1665 registers, done at Buddhist temples, were ordered to be done in all domains. Bans were also placed on samurai-commoner intermarriage but as we'll see this became blurred during the later Tokugawa period. However, if they wished samurai were granted the ability to kill rude commoners without repercussion. 

Foreign Policy

There is a common misconception that the shogunate was totally isolationist and this was largely due to a Western bias, and even then a flawed bias. Ieyasu was eager to rebuild relations with Korea and China which had been destroyed by Hideyoshi's invasion. He officially declared peace with Korea in 1605 and when Hidetada became shogun Korea sent a mission of 504 men to honor him before visiting Ieyasu. The 1609 Treaty of Kisu resumed trade allowing the Strait of Tsushima to become a wealthy trading zone again where Japanese silver was traded for Chinese silk. Chinese neo-Confucianism came to Japan via Korea through the writings of Yi Hwang (1501-1570), Korean potters in Saga started reproducing blue slipware porcelain, and Korean medicine attracted wide interest. However, Korean-Japanese relations never recovered from Hideyoshi's invasion. The Dutch in Nagasaki were told that the Korean missions were from a tributary state and they celebrated Hideyoshi's 'victory' over Korea; meanwhile, diarist Sin Yu-han while visiting in 1719 complained about the extravagance of Japan and the lack of respect to Confucius. Korean books also referred to Japan as pirates. Also, due to China's wealth Ieyasu was eager to reopen relations and Chinese merchants regularly ignored Ming bans on trade with Japan. In Kwagoe, Odawara and Kyushu 'Chinatowns' even formed to accommodate merchants and over 130 artists were at Nagasaki at the same time once. One of the available contemporary accounts on Chinese families in the early-eighteenth century comes from a Japanese scholar. Like with Korea Chinese-Japanese relations were still hostile - a Chinese book portrayed Japanese as being ape-like so when it was translated into Japanese it had to be heavily edited. Furthermore, Japan continued relations with states in Indonesia, the Philippines and South East Asia as a whole. The Ryukyuan islands and Hokkaido were not under Edo rule at this period and trade occurred with them as well until the 1630s.

A painting of Dejima

Starting in 1633 Tokugawa Iemitsu passed a series of edicts which have been called sakoku or 'closed country'. For this reason we have the image that the Tokugawa were totally isolationist but this is in fact incorrect. Europeans, mainly the Dutch, were limited to the port of Dejima in Nagasaki, Korea to Tsushima domain, Ryukyu to Satsuma, and Ainu trade to Matsumae. Japanese citizens were also barred from leaving. There were several reasons why this policy was implemented. This first is Christianity. Following the end of the Reconquista in Iberia in 1492 Portugal and Spain were eager to spread Christianity which encouraged them to spread their faith in Japan, especially after the Protestant Reformation began. As mentioned earlier Nobunaga and Hideyoshi had ruthlessly suppressed Christian converts which continued under the Tokugawa. In 1637 40,000 Christian peasants, as well as masterless samurai called rōnin, rose up in the Shimabara Rebellion thanks to famine and local misrule. The shogunate blamed Christian missionaries so started ruthlessly started persecuting Christians and banned Europeans from being outside Dejima. As Catholicism was far larger than Protestantism the blame was placed largely on the Iberians who were banned. When Portugal protested again in 1640 from Macao a captain and sixty others were executed. The English faced their own issues forcing the East Indian Trading Company out of Japan leaving their Dutch counterparts, the VOC, in control. As a result the VOC controlled European trade in Nagasaki remaining on their island in Dejima. Intellectual trade happened as well; in 1691 Engelbert Kaempfer published his book History of Japan and Japanese schools had courses called 'Dutch Studies'. Cunning merchants occasionally pretended to be Dutch in order to get trade. The bans on other states were due to how in the Sengoku period domains had utilized foreign trade becoming wealthy themselves; the Tokugawa feared this could allow a rebellious domain to become wealthy. The sakoku bans were ignored by both Japanese and foreigners repeatedly throughout Tokugawa rule as well show the limitations of the policy.

Culture under the Shogunate

Hokasai's Great Wave from the 1830s

Without the stress from war city culture boomed. This was particularly noticeable in Edo (modern Tokyo) thanks to the shogunate's sankin-kōtai policy. Normally the imperial court in Kyoto had been associated with culture but as the samurai, and their families, were confined to Edo they engaged in tea-drinking, poetry, art, and general literature. Under Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (r.1680-1709) we see the Genroku period known as a Golden Age of Edo culture due to peace and prosperity. We see a period where Edo became the center of Buddhist and Chinese studies as well as protection of animals. As Tsunayoshi opened the first kennels for stray dogs he became known as inu kubō, 'dog shogun'. In Edo we also see street gangs called kabukimono and the 'six gangs of Edo' made up of 'street knights' going around showing their machismo in fine clothes and garbings. The wealth of Tokugawa rule allowed merchants as well to take part in activities once reserved for the traditional samurai elite. According to R.H.P. Mason and J.G. Caiger the cities saw what they described as 'Japan's version of bourgeois individualism' through culture such as the novels by Ihara Saikaku (1642-93). Saikaku was the son of a wealthy Osaka merchant whose stories revolve around the theme of money and erotic love. One of Japan's greatest artists, Hokusai, made his mark during this period as well. Women could also engage in this culture by either making it themselves or consuming the arts. Rural culture was less vibrant compared to that of the cities, mostly as disposable wealth was less of a factor for a peasant compared to their urban counterparts. However, this does not mean that rural Japan was excluded from Tokugawa culture. The kabuki theater was extremely popular, so much so that they became popular in the cities, which is unusual. Travelers, among others, were seen as being at the bottom of society as they were not limited to their place of birth but the kabuki theater was popular. In a unique twist samurai and commoner sat together watching kabuki plays. Today kabuki remains a major part of traditional culture. Similarly rakugo gained popularity as much as their kabuki counterparts.

Society, Economy and Protest

A kabuki theater from the 1600s

In theory Japan based society on Confucian values with the samurai at the top then followed by peasants, then artisans, merchants and then a group similar to Indian Dalits called the eta, now known as burakumin. Women were in theory meant to be subservient to men. In practice this became much more blurred throughout Tokugawa rule. Wealthy women could produce arts and rural, poor women often escaped some of the more restrictive aspects of their wealthier counterparts. Compared to Meiji Japan which came later we see more acceptance to same-sex relations, although it was not accepted. The aforementioned Saikaku featured a bisexual main character in The Life of an Amorous Man (1692). Hokusai also portrayed same-sex relations in some of his paintings as well. As the Tokugawa required a widespread and lasting expansion of domestic trade merchants became wealthy and with them artisans did as well. In the cities guilds became fairly prosperous through a mixture of trade and stability following the Sengoku period. This prosperity benefited also from little taxation on urban merchants and artisans, and wealthier guilds could give 'thank-money' in return for licenses. Due to this boom in wealth many samurai chose to take up the abacus rather than the sword for a livelihood. For this reason the blurring of social boundaries happened. As we saw the kabuki theater became a place where social stratification was ignored but it became more evident elsewhere. As samurai became poorer and merchants/artisans became wealthier social distinctions blurred so a samurai could only be told apart by if they had a sword. Even then by 1853 some samurai had sold their swords to merchants, take loans from merchants or marry their children into merchant families. Some of the later major Japanese companies, like Mitsui, had their origins in the Tokugawa period. Sometimes shoguns would slap down too extravagant merchants - in 1705 Tsunayoshi had a lumber contractor's home confiscated for this reason.  

Protest from commoners did happen throughout the period, even before the shogunate's collapse, like many other contemporary societies. As mentioned earlier we had the Shimabara Rebellion thanks to famine, local misrule, and religious issues. Local misrule and problems in the countryside regularly caused protest among the peasantry, both violent and non-violent. Throughout the roughly two-hundred and fifty years of Tokugawa rule peasants 'rebelled' over 2809 times and 1000 riots took place. From 1621 to 1720 daihyō osso (direct petition) was the most common form of protest followed by gōso (violent collective action) and uchikowashi (smashing and breaking) after the 1730s. Often during the late Tokugawa peasants, tenants, artisans and day laborers would protest together ignoring social boundaries. Although Confucianism helped enforce conformity it could be used to validate protest. In 1726 a peasant rebel leader in Mimasaka said that their revolt was due to the local official misrule and in 1653 daimyō Hotta Masanobu crucified village elder Sabura Sōgorō for presenting a petition to the local lord. He was then seen as a martyr as he had presented his grievances in a respectful way but had been killed anyway. Even though peasants viewed themselves as righteous the bakufu did try and limit protest: 1622 collective protests were banned, 1633 justifiable grounds for a petition were narrowed, and 1721 the shogun revoked the rights of peasants to protest against misrule of lords. However, by the end of the shogunate merchants began funding peasant rebellions over disgruntlement that they were wealthy but seen as being below the samurai who had largely become bureaucrats or drunken brawlers in Edo.

Why did the shogunate decline?

A Japanese depiction of Perry's black ships

By the nineteenth century the economic boom of the shogunate had started to drop. Inflation rose and unrest began over general disgruntlement. Samurai were losing their wealth, merchants were angry that they were seen as being below others in society, certain samurai were disgruntled over their position, and generally the domestic trade was decreasing through inflation. The bakufu could likely have lasted longer than it did if not for the events of 1853. Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States with his 'black ships' demanding Japan open its ports for trade with the US, and later over European powers began signing the 'unequal treaties'. We'll discuss this with a later post so I'll summarize it hit. These treaties gave foreign powers preferable rights over Japan, including allowing foreigners to abide by their own laws rather than that of Japan. This caused what can be described by a nationalistic backlash called sonnō jōi (revere the emperor, expel the barbarian). Foreign powers used this to get more treaties from the bakufu fueling a bigger nationalist backlash. Meanwhile, samurai from Satsuma and Choshu, who had become wealthy but were not respected, decided to take control leading to the Meiji Restoration. However, that is a story for another day.

Conclusion

The Tokugawa shogunate greatly influenced Japanese history. Here the institutions and economic boom planted the seeds for the modern Japan. Samurai contributed to the emergence of a new Japanese culture as merchants benefited from a stable society allowing the old feudal order to begin to be challenged. Largely separated from the rest of the world it allowed a distinctive Japanese identity to emerge which would influence the future post-shogunate Japan. The later Meiji reformers would look at the Tokugawa and learn from them, and later Japanese governments would constantly look at them for inspiration. Similarly many aspects of Japanese popular culture have taken inspiration from the Tokugawa era ranging from kabuki plays to anime and manga.

The next World History post shall take us to China to look at the Qing dynasty. The sources I have used are as follows:

-R.H.P. Mason and J.G. Caiger, A History of Japan, (Melbourne: 1997)

-Marius B. Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan, (Cambridge, MA: 2000)

-Nishiyama Matsunosuke, Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions in Urban Japan, 1600-1868, trans. Gerald Groemer, (Honolulu, HI: 1997)

-Irwin Scheiner, 'Benevolent Lords and Honorable Peasants: Rebellion and Peasant Consciousness in Tokugawa Japan', in Tetsuo Najita and Irwin Scheiner, (eds.), Japanese Thought in the Tokugawa Period, (Chicago, IL: 1978)

-James White, 'State Growth and Popular Protest in Tokugawa Japan', Journal of Japanese Studies, 14:1, (1988), pp.1-25

-Chie Nakane and Shinzaburō (eds.), Tokugawa Japan: The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan, trans. Conrad Totman, (Tokyo: 1990)

Thank you for reading. For other World History posts please see here. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

World History: Sengoku jidai

The Sengoku period

Sengoku jidai, or Warring States period, was a period in Japanese history starting in around 1467 and ending over a hundred years later around 1603. The last time we looked solely at Japan was when we discussed the Heian period which saw the rise of Japan's first shogunate. Until 1868 the emperor held de jure power but the shogun was the de facto ruler. The Sengoku jidai threatened all of this and remains one of the most cultural significant parts of Japanese history. Key players in the Sengoku jidai remain the most well know samurai and even the ninja originated during this time. How though did the Sengoku jidai begin?

The Ōnin War

The Onin War

The Sengoku jidai started with the Ōnin War. Since the early-fourteenth century the Ashikaga shogunate had been ruling Japan but there were issues for them. Their capital, where the emperor also was, of Kyoto had gone over 100,000 people meanwhile over areas of Japan saw a population increase as well. Trade with China had made several areas very prosperous which gave the daimyo (regional lords answering to the shogun) increased autonomy. Meanwhile, periodic famines and earthquakes had caused peasant protests. However, central authority remained strong until arguably 1441 with the death of Ashikaga Yoshinori, the ruling shogun. Yoshinori was known for his bouts of tyranny and when he was visiting the Akamatsu family they feared they would be next so they killed him. Yoshinori was followed by two relatively weaker shoguns with the Ōnin War starting under the reign of Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Yoshimasa was not a military leader but as he was a great patron of the arts Ashikaga rule remained intact. By 1464 he did not have a heir so he asked his younger brother, Yoshimi, to end his life as a monk and instead become the shogun when he died. Things went downhill when Yoshimasa had a son in 1465, Yoshihisa. A squabble between the brothers developed between who would succeed Yoshimasa: Yoshimi or Yoshihisa. Japan's most powerful families waded into the debate with the Hosokawa, Yamana, Ōuchi, Hatakeyama, and Shiba clans wading into the debate where some - like the Hatakeyama - went into a civil war. In 1467 the debates turned into a full blown war. For the next ten years the clans went to war mostly around Kyoto with it being burnt several times. With the authority of the bakufu (shogun court) evaporating Yoshimasa stayed in his complex writing poetry to cope with what was happening. By 1477 both sides had become exhausted and eventually Yoshihisa became shogun under the thumb of the Hosokawa.

However, the bakufu was weakened and with Kyoto devastated central authority had practically ended in Japan. The war had allowed regional daimyo and shugo (constables) to become powerful as their overlords had lost their power fighting during the war. Peasants also became increasingly autonomous with the Ikkō-ikki which was a 'mob' of peasants, Buddhist monks, Shinto priests and local nobles to defend their communities. In particular they followed the teaching of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism - which taught that all believers can be saved by the Amida Buddha's grace. Now that regionalism had surpassed the power of the court in Kyoto (under Hosokawa rule) the bakufu had little direct control. If one of the regional daimyo could control Kyoto this would therefore give them legitimacy to conquer the rest of Japan. To make this confusing we have the emperor in theory exercising power but they really answered to the Ashikaga shoguns who answered to the Hosokawa, and those fighting were originally just fighting to control the Ashikaga.

Economy and Culture

One would imagine that with daimyo in control cultural and economic life would have disintegrated but in reality it didn't. First off we'll look at the economic life during the Sengoku jidai. As the bakufu went into decline powerful clans took over the economy - so much so that in 1500 the funeral rites of Emperor G-Tsuchimikado had to be postponed. Regional daimyo instead stopped sending taxes to the bakufu and instead kept resources for themselves. Gold, silver and copper could be mined and traded between different regions, and miners would become so valuable that daimyo used them as sappers when attacking enemy fortifications. There was also the growth of the jōkamachi - towns-below-the-castle - which became the center for local trade in Japan. As mentioned when we looked at Heian Japan society was heavily based on Confucian values, imported from China, which placed samurai and peasants at the top, followed by artisans, and finally the merchants (who were seen as parasites). At the jōkamachi samurai offered protection to merchants and artisans as it helped enrich their own coffers - social values could be set aside in favor of profit. Meanwhile, the larger families of the Hosokawa and Ōuchi could replace the bakufu as the center of trade with China. Being powerful clans and having bases on the sea - like Sakai and Hakata - they were the prime position to take control of the Chinese trade until the Ming emperor ended it 1549. Traders from Sakai and Hakata developed an intense rivalry which lead to fighting in the Chinese port of Ningpo in 1523. Something which we'll discuss later is the origins of trade with Europe.

An example of suiboku painting

Cultural life flourished during the Sengoku jidai. Kyoto had been for generations dominated Japanese cultural life but like with the economy it expanded outside the city. A priest Sesshū (1420-1506) had been in China during the Ōnin War and when he returned to Japan he brought a new style of painting with him called suiboku - here black ink and water are used to produce varying shades on white absorbent paper. After finding Kyoto ravaged Sesshū traveled west getting patronage from the Ōuchi. One scroll which he drew was fifteen meters long showing rural scenes through spring to winter. Sesshū and other suiboku painters drew heavily from Zen Buddhism. The tea ceremony is one aspect of Japanese culture best known in the West and owes much of its history to daimyo patronage during the Sengoku jidai. It had originated in ancient times but it developed during this period. 

Japan and Europe

Francis Xavier

History enthusiasts or those who have read the previous World History posts will notice that the Sengoku jidai coincided with when Europe colonialism began. At this stage Europe was the weaker partner as they came into contact with India, China and Japan. However, Europeans, in particular Iberians, had slowly started establishing themselves in Asia - Portugal established itself in 1556 while Spain did so in Manila in 1571. From the 1540s Europeans traded with Japan and for the most part Japan used Iberians as an intermediary. China had blamed Japan for the wakō, pirates, so had been barred from trading whereas the Europeans were free to trade. In exchange for silver Iberians would bring back Chinese silks which were seen as possibly the best in the world. Meanwhile, Japan was largely disinterested in European goods so originally it was just luxury goods like clocks which were traded. However, later on, although it remained limited, Japan exported swords, lacquer ware, and copper in return for gold, certain plants and most importantly guns. Tobacco was first taken from the Americas and planted in Japan by 1600, cotton was reintroduced, and potatoes and sweet potatoes got the name jaga-imo (Jakarta potatoes) as they came to Japan via Dutch settlements in Indonesia. Tempura is believed to be of Portuguese origin while the Japanese for bread is the same in Spanish and Portuguese (pan). Christianity was also introduced by Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier. The Portuguese poet Camões even wrote in his poem Lusiadas:

O Japan, land of fine silver, In future you will shine with the Divine Law.

It would decades though for Christianity to become so important that Japanese rulers were to notice it, or see it as a threat. Missionaries were largely limited to north Kyushu where it did not displace Buddhism or Shintoism. 

Oda Nobunaga

We'll focus the reunification of Japan on the three 'Unifiers of Japan' as the wars of the Sengoku jidai can be extremely confusing at times - just like the Chinese Warring States period or the War of the Roses in England. The first figure is Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga has left as complicated legacy in Japan: some see his military prowess and see him as a great figure, whereas others look at his intense brutality to enemies and Buddhists. A change in his personal history could have drastically changed Japan's history. At the age of 25 Nobunaga became head of the Oda clan in Owari after an eight year succession conflict in 1559. Just a year later Nobunaga decided to take part in the wars for Kyoto and therefore Japan as a whole. Daimyo of Suruga and Totomi, Imagawa Yoshimoto, also had designs on Kyoto so he decided to go through Owari to get there. With a much smaller force at the Battle of Okehazama Nobunaga's force of 3,000 defeated Imagawa's force of 25,000. Nobunaga split his army in two and sent one half into a mountain temple where they set up a dummy army. Imagawa was certain of his abilities and began his siege, and Nobunaga launched a surprise attack. Imagawa even thought the attack was his own forces being rowdy so gave an order to keep it down as he watched a play. He was soon killed by some of Nobunaga's soldiers. Before marching west to Kyoto he decided to secure his east flank by making alliances with important clans including the Hojo in Sagami, Tokugawa Ieyasu in Mikawa, and Takeda Shingen in Kai. Using European firearms Nobunaga began easily winning battles until he captured Kyoto in 1568 where he put the shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, and the emperor, Ogimachi, under his control. 

Oda Nobunaga

Nobunaga could be brutal when he wished. In 1573 Yoshiaki resented the apparent upstart from Owari so started intriguing against him. Nobunaga soon discovered this and chased him from Kyoto where Yoshiaki was forced to become a Buddhist monk. Thus the Ashikaga shogunate came to an end. Nobunaga lived by the motto 'Rule the Empire by Force' and he firmly lived up to this with his attitude to Buddhists. Periodically through Japan's history rulers have begrudged the important role of Buddhists in society and during this period many had become important through the collapse of central power. One group included the Tendai monks who lived in the Hieizan mountain overlooking Kyoto and due to it being a sacred site it had often been spared from attack as a result. Nobunaga didn't care about this. In 1571 he set fire to the thickets around the mountain and had soldiers massacre everyone there. Ten of thousands of monks, women and children were slaughtered while burning to the ground a major site of religion, art and culture. He also began a siege in 1570 of Shinshu temple on an island in Osaka which was virtually impregnable as long as the monks could get supplies. Nobunaga refused to budge so much that it took until 1580 for the defenders to surrender. Not even a year later he sent an expedition to wipe out the Buddhists in the Shingon monasteries in Koyasan until the emperor personally intervened to spare them.

While Nobunaga was waging war in the west against independent daimyo he actually started ruling. He opened trade with Europe, Siam, the Philippines, and Indonesia while continuing trade with China and Korea. Domestically he wanted to preserve the jōkamachi economy by banning monopolies and banned guilds in an early version of the free market - although I would not apply the idea of the free market as we now know it to Sengoku jidai Japan. Meanwhile, Nobunaga was eager to preserve this military gains by having a series of fortifications made, as well as securing musket factories to ensure he had the superior firepower. Furthermore, he changed the warrior system so those who had proved their loyalty and prowess, including those from a lower class, could become retainers. However, in 1582 this did not stop one of his best generals, Akechi Mitsuhide, from sieging Nobunaga's palace. He was forced to commit seppuku (suicide) as his son died in battle. This was not the end of the story.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Hideyoshi

The second unifier is Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Like Nobunaga he has a mixed legacy where the brutality of the last years of his life has overshadowed the successes of his early life. We know little of Hideyoshi's life before 1570 indicating that he must have been from a lowly family, likely the son of a peasant, from Owari. It would take until the late-1800s for someone to rise as rapidly as he did again. Through his loyalty and military prowess he rose to be Oda's second-hand-man so he was sent west with Akechi. When he heard about Akechi's coup Hideyoshi made a quick peace to return east where he destroyed Akechi's force, and Akechi himself, at the Battle of Yamazaki. Over the next eight years Hideyoshi finished the reunification of Japan but he did so strangely more peacefully than Nobunaga. Although he often was ready to fight Hideyoshi he rather laid siege to castles and forts with a huge force forcing the defenders to surrender. Unlike Nobunaga who brutally treated those who surrendered Hideyoshi spared them but reduced their lands instead. Even with his allies he was cautious not to let them become too power: he got Tokugawa Ieyasu to surrender his ancestral lands (to redistribute among over loyal subjects) in return for new rich lands. The only time he did not spare those who surrendered was with his final battle. In 1590 the Odawara castle in Sagami of the Hojo family finally fell so Hideyoshi had them commit suicide and gave their lands to Tokugawa. This has been interpreted in two ways: one being Hideyoshi losing his mind and becoming more violent, or that the Hojo had plenty of chances to surrender but always refused to. After the unification of Japan finished.

Hideyoshi effectively became the new shogun - although he did offer the last Ashikaga to be shogun but he refused. European kings wrote to him on the same level as the Chinese emperor saw him as de facto emperor. It is hard to imagine a peasant son becoming so important. In 1590 he also finished Nobunaga's construction of a castle in Osaka. Now with central authority secure Hideyoshi ordered a census and wanted to return back to tradition. During the Sengoku jidai many peasants had decided to arm themselves but traditionally only the samurai were meant to hold swords. To rectify this and make society more clear cut Hideyoshi passed a decree in 1588 called the 'sword hunt'. Peasants had to chose whether to be a warrior or a farmer. The metal from the collected swords were melted down to form the Buddha statue in the Asuka-dera monastery in Nara. Finally, Hideyoshi banned slavery but did allow indentured labor to continue. We mentioned the tea ceremony earlier and one reason why it became so important was due to Hideyoshi: he used the ceremony to show his own power.

In later life Hideyoshi became more brutal and erratic. In 1587 he banned Christian missionaries as he feared they would create an alternate form of authority for Christian daimyo - something especially dangerous in Japan as the emperor was believed to be descended from the goddess Amaterasu. For a long time he overlooked individual Christians until 1597 he had 26 Christians (including three children) publicly crucified in Nagasaki. Then in 1592 he began an invasion of China. Historians still do not understand why whether it is due to fulfilling a dream of Nobunaga, delusions of grandeur, or a desire to renew trade with China. He wrote letters to Ryukyu, the Philippines, Goa, and Taiwan detailing his honors and importance. One even said 'When my mother conceived me, she was given a miraculous omen with respect to the sun, and on the very night I was born the room was suddenly aglow with sunlight, thus changing night to day.' As Korea refused to give Hideyoshi access (being a vassal of China) so his forces could quickly move onto Beijing the Japanese empire became bogged down in Korea. His forces easily won battles but the Sengoku jidai had few naval battles meaning the Korean navy easily destroyed the Japanese one. Also, the tactic of sieging castles into submission didn't work well in Korea as they were an invading force so couldn't rely on a possibly loyal population. Meanwhile, there was a succession crisis. Hideyoshi had made his nephew his heir but then in 1593 he had a son, Hideyori. Due to his nephew's public brutality and corruption Hideyoshi could have easily disinherited him but instead he chose to have his nephew's entire family executed. In 1598 he finally died.

The Creation of a new Shogunate

The Battle of Sekigahara on a screen commissioned by Tokugawa Ieyasu

Before his death Hideyoshi appointed five leading daimyo to a regency council called the Council of Five Elders: Tokugawa Ieyasu, Ukita Hideie, Maeda Toshiie, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and Mōri Terumoto. All swore to respect Hideyori as much as they respected Hideyoshi but in reality each vied for power. Ieyasu had a large family and the largest domain making him the best placed to move in. A son, an adopted daughter, and two granddaughters were married into strategically placed families creating lots of powerful allies. Maede was in ill health before Hideyoshi died and died himself in 1599 causing accusations of foul play. Soon Ieyasu was challenged by a group led by the young Hideyori and leading daimyo Ishida Mitsunari. In 1600 the two sides, both professing loyalty to Hideyoshi, fought at the Battle of Sekigahara. Tokugawa won a decisive victory beginning the Tokugawa shogunate. Although it would take until 1615 the Tokugawa would reshape Japanese history.

Conclusion

The Sengoku jidai shaped Japan greatly. Thanks to a breakdown of central authority during the Ōnin War new social structures emerged to cope. Then the 'Unifiers' of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu went on to change how politics worked in Japan. Meanwhile, this period has greatly influenced thought in Japan, and also how the West views pre-Meiji Japan. As mentioned earlier the ninja were active during this period but they were mostly peasants acting as spies and mercenaries. The current view on ninjas evolved through a romanticism of this era during the nineteenth-century. When you hear the names of many famous samurai they often refer to this period. Despite being over a hundred years of being fractured Japan was greatly shaped by the Sengoku jidai.

The sources I have used are as follows:

-R.H.P. Mason and J.G. Caiger, A History of Japan, Revised edition, (Singapore: Tuttle, 1997)

-Marius Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000)

-Philip C. Brown, 'Unification, Consolidation, and Tokugawa Rule', in William M. Tsutsui, (ed.), A Companion to Japanese History, (Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2009)

-H. Paul Varley, The Ōnin War: History of Its Origins and Backgrounds with a Selective Translation of The Chronicle of Ōnin, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967)

-John Whitney Hall, Nagahara Keiji, and Kozo Yamamura, (eds.), Japan before Tokugawa: Political Consideration and Economic Growth, 1500 to 1650, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981)

-Conrad Totman, A History of Japan, Second Edition, (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2005)

Thank you for reading. Before we look at the Tokugawa we'll be heading west to look at the Three Gunpowder Empires. The first of which we'll look at is the Ottoman Empire. For future World History posts please see our list. For future blog posts please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby. 

World History: Taika Reforms and Heian Japan

An example of Heian Art

In studying history it is advisable not to focus solely on the elites and politics but to also focus on culture and the general masses to better understand the past. However, when looking at the Taika Reforms and the Heian period we hit a paradox: we focus much on culture and the arts but it is all centered around the elite. The literature, art, and system of governance created during the Heian period would drastically influence the rest of Japanese history, and the style of government set up at the end of the period in 1185 would exist in one form or another until 1868. Before we look at the Heian period we have to look at the Taika Reforms to see their influence on Japanese history.

Taika Reforms (and Japan pre-reform)

In the sixth century the first motions to a unified Japanese state started to emerge. From the Nihon shoki written in 720 we learn that after 550 Japan began a period of centralization. In 587 the Soga clan managed to impose Buddhism onto Japan. Key to this was Prince Shotoku whose history has been so romanticized that we find it hard now to determine what was fact about his life and what is just legend. Shotoku proclaimed principles to centralize the Japanese state under imperial rule borrowing from Chinese Confucianism. Buddhism was seen as a way to aid this. Indirectly the implementation of Buddhism helped define what Japan's native religion, Shintoism, was and in later years Buddhism and Shintoism would blend increasingly together so much so that Shinto and Buddhist shrines are often the same shrine. Unfortunately for Shotoku he died before his Confucian and Buddhist principles could be implemented, and the member of the Soga clan, Umako, who had been helping him died a few years after. In something straight out of Game of Thrones the Soga clan under Umako had been ruling and influencing the throne from behind the scenes. After the death of Umako his son and grandson decided to emulate Cersei Lannister and try to influence the throne openly. This proved to be their downfall in 645 when imperial prince Naka no Oe and head of the Nakatomi clan, Kamatari, had the Soga ousted in a coup. 

Following the coup the conspirators began a series of reforms called Taika or 'Great Change'. Despite being called a 'Great Change' the reforms did not turn Japan into a centralized state, and the reforms themselves had been started by the Soga. Starting with an edict on New Year's Day 646 over the next fifty years Japan would slowly be transformed. A major aspect of the Taika reforms was to make Japan more like China. China was seen as the ideal form of government for the fledgling Japanese state. Among this the Chinese alphabet was adopted, the book about the formation of the gods (kami) and the Japanese islands called Kojiki was written, Buddhism was used to create legitimacy, and it was decreed that the emperor was the true ruler rather than the clans. Also a new system of land ownership based off of Tang China's system was implemented called shoen, or manors. The various land reforms curtailed the large amounts of independence which local leaders had exercised, as well as creating an administrative service to implement the will of the central state. Buddhism was increasingly promoted with immigrant monks given gifts; Buddhist ceremonies were implemented at court; there were restrictions on hunting, fishing, and eating meat; and many Buddhist temples were built. In 685 provinces were informed that:

in every house a Buddhist shrine should be provided, and an image of Buddha with Buddhist scriptures placed there. Worship was to be paid and offerings of food made at these shrines.

Another key reform was the creation of an imperial palace. Beforehand the emperor would have several palaces in each region for himself, family, 'summer' residences, and various regional palaces for when the imperial court traveled. It was customary for a new emperor or empress coming to power to move to a new palace and make that their capital. China and the Korean kingdoms in contrast had one imperial capital. The Taika reforms started implement having one capital as it would help formalize political centralization, and it was expensive maintaining several palaces, especially as they were made of wood so had to be repaired more often than stone ones. However, it would take several emperors before having one capital was implemented. From here we can now start discussing the Heian period.

Heian Politics

1696 map of Kyoto

In 794 the fiftieth emperor of Japan, Kanmu, moved the capital to Heian-kyo, (in modern day Kyoto), and here the capital would remain until 1185 earning the period the name Heian. During Kanmu's reign and that of some of his successors the imperial court saw increased authority to the emperor with the household treasury office, (kurando-dokoro), being created in 810. From 794 the emperor also expanded his territorial rule as well by sending Otomo Otomaro and Sakanoue Tamuramaro north to conquer the Ainu on the largest island of Honshu. As a result the last remaining free Ainu lived only on Hokkaido until the nineteenth century. Otomo returned and was awarded the title barbarian-quelling-great-general (sei-i-tai-shogun). However, the strength of the emperor politically would soon be reduced and the Taika reforms of having no clans ruling the emperor would soon be undone. In a very Game of Thrones manner the Fujiwara clan managed to maneuver their way into controlling who sat on the throne. Fujiwara Yoshifusa managed to place his son-in-law Montoku on the throne, and eventually was made regent for his grandson, Seiwa, following Montoku's death in 858. The Fujiwara's had future emperors marry into their family allowing them to become regents. This system of rule lasted until 1068 when an emperor of non-Fujiwara birth came to the throne, Go-Sanjo. Go-Sanjo confiscated all shoens awarded after 1045, and had a system called insei (cloistered government) where abdicated emperors would help rule. This was done to curb Fujiwara power. Slowly a new clan named the Minamoto would start to replace the Fujiwara as the most powerful family in Japan but we shall speak of that later.

Heian Art and Literature

Some Heian Art

Cultural historians who focus on Japanese history love the Heian period because of how rich the high culture was at this time. It is often regarded as a golden age of art and literature. Although it should be mentioned that only the elite could engage in this culture. Court culture best describes only those in the Heian court could engage in the culture. Historian H.Paul Varley even calls this period 'the court at its zenith'. The elite were expected to be interested and sensitive in the culture produced at this time with a quote from The Tale of Genji perfectly exemplifying this by showing what a man needs to do to be seen as a man 'with his gentle nature, his sensitivity and his wide range of artistic skills who represented the ideal of  the age and set the tone for the social and cultural life of the good people'. Melancholy and gloom were expected from the aristocracy as well as ideas of impermanence. This fit in perfectly with the rise in Buddhism as in Buddhist teachings life is suffering which one has to escape from. By pondering on the impermanence of life this fit well with these teachings. Although, a YouTube comment summed this melancholy and sensitivity up rather humorously 'So the Heian aristocrats were basically emos'. The best examples of Heian art happen to exist in Buddhist temples so already we see a connection to Buddhism which the Heian aristocrats felt. Again we see inspiration from China with them using curved lines, soft colors, and images of a religious style. However, linking this to a growth of a sense of Japanese identity in the later Heian period a distinctly Japanese style of painting called Yamato-e developed using angular lines and more decoration than the previous art style.

Depiction of Murasake Shikibu

Some of the most well known pieces of Japanese literature come from the Heian court, and all the major ones are written by women. The earliest are nikki or court diaries. One of the early ones include Tosa Nikki written by Ki no Tsurayuki around 935 where many entries are simply poems, haikus, or some brief comments. The better known one is The Gossamer Years written between 954 and 974, and unlike the Tosa Nikki there are large gaps between entries. It has been more like an autobiography than a diary of an unnamed woman calling herself 'mother of Michitsuna'. All we know is that she was married to Fujiwara no Kaneie who eventually became regent. The diary shows a sad tale of the author's husband initially loving her to the point of them having a child, (Michitsuna), and her late resentment and sadness over her husband's shifting attention to other women made worse by the sequestered existence at court. The final of the nikki reads: I thought of how quickly the years had gone by, each with the same unsatisfied longing. The old, inexhaustible sadness came back, and I went through the rites of my ancestors, but absent-mindedly. The Heian period also produced two of the most famous examples of Japanese literature: The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book. The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon is similar to a nikki but instead reflected on what she saw, heard, and did at court. What made the book famous was Sei's wittiness and distinct personality reflected in her writing. Written around the same time is The Tale of Genji by Murasake Shikibu which is possibly one of the oldest novels in not only Japan but the world. The novel is about Prince Genji going through life in Heian court dealing with his romances with women, and also his place in existence going from a lighthearted adventurer to a seeker looking for the truth. It deals with the impermanence of life, and relationships between the sexes as friends, lovers, sons, fathers, and protectors.

Women in Heian Court
Thanks to the nikkis, The Tale of Genji, and The Pillow Book we can grasp women's place in court society. Historians are lucky in the fact that women, and not men, are writing as we can from there grasp better what role women had in Heian society. Often people write about the world immediately around them so as almost all societies in history have been patriarchal women are often ignored from historical sources, or are subjected to a virgin-whore dichotomy. We know that women did have various rights. Many women ruled shoens and could be given a shoen on the same basis as a man. Husbands were also barred from hitting their wives, at least at court, which is quite significant in women's rights considering that at the time in Europe this was not the case. However, this was not an egalitarian society in terms of gender relations. Heian Japan was clearly patriarchal. Women were expected to be beautiful at all times which included having hair so long that it almost touched the ground, painting their faces white, dying their teeth black, painted their mouth red, and had to wear formal dress called a junihitoe which was a several layered robe which limited movement. Women at court were educated but only in 'feminine' subjects like calligraphy, poetry, and music where subjects like history and law were forbidden. Even how women could write was determined. Men were instructed to write in Chinese while women had to write in Japanese. At the start of Tosa Nikki the author opens with 'It is said that diaries are kept by men, but I shall see if a woman cannot keep one'. This speaks volumes about women's place in Heian society. Of course this is only the elite women. We have little sources describing Japan outside of the court to see what life was like for an average woman.

Hierarchy
As you can imagine Heian society was rigidly hierarchical. Again we have few sources discussing the world outside of Heian but we can make estimates about society based on later and earlier sources. Japanese society was partially based on a Confucian idea that society was structured in a hierarchical system. At the top would be the royals, below them the shoen and landowners, then the farmers, below them the artisans, at the bottom would be merchants, (at the bottom as they weren't seen as making anything just acting as parasites on the rest of society), and below the bottom were the 'eta' or 'burakumin'. These were seen as 'unclean' and consisted of homeless, vagrants, prostitutes, and people who did not 'fit in' with society. This system was seen around the world in one form or another: the Chinese Confucian system, the Estates in Europe, caste in India, the social structure of the Mayan city states etc. The court itself was also extremely hierarchical. The court was split into thirty grades where the top four were reserved for the royal family, and the top three, (the kugyo), had special privileges like governmental posts, land which produced more rice, the ability to send your children to university, and light sentences for crimes. These top four positions were reserved for barely a tenth of one percent of the population so the mega elite. To get into a higher position in society you had to be born into it. At court your position meant everything: what you could do, who you could speak to, and even what type of fan you could use. You now may perhaps be wondering why there are hardly any sources from outside the Heian court? The simple answer is they stopped caring; this is what we shall talk about next.

End of the Heian

Minamoto no Yoshinaka

After 850 with the conquest of the Ainue, the end of Ainu resistance, and the reduction of contact with China there were no issues facing Japan. The Fujiwara clan at this time were efficient rulers and the shoen were loyal so there were no political issues. People accepted society, and the shoen ensured that there were no issues. No issues in a 'Medieval' society means you have little to do so the Heian court started painting, writing, and pondering existence. No problems emerged until the next century. By the mid 900s population growth, food shortages, and competition for resources between the great families  undermined the authority of the Fujiwara clan. By the eleventh century the Fujiwara, Taira, and Minamoto clans had started to fight over land, and Emperor Go-Sanjo's replacing of the Fujiwara regency meant the Minamoto clan could easily replace them as the dominant family in Japan. In 1156 there was a clash between the Fujiwara and, the Taira and Minamoto resulting in the Fujiwara's power being destroyed. Although in 1159 the Taira managed to almost destroy the Minamoto like the Fujiwara they got complacent and the Minamoto started to gain more power. In 1183 the Minamoto attacked Kyoto. The Empress Dowager tried to drown herself and the seven year old emperor but only succeeded in drowning her son. Head of the Minamoto, Yoritomo, created a new emperor but he created a new system of government. Called the bakufu the emperor would technically be ruler but Minamoto no Yoshinaka would be the real leader, called shogun. The shogun would appoint lords called daimyo to rule, and they in turn would have samurai fight and collect taxes for them. A new system of government, called a shogunate, had been established in Japan and this system would exist in some form until 1868.

Conclusion
Heian Japan shows us a new way in studying history. By studying literature, art, and poetry we manage to better understand a society centered on the court, where Game of Thrones style political maneuvering was a reality, and how people fit into this society. Often people refer to this time of history as 'the Dark Ages' based on the apparent lack of culture going on in Europe. Although this idea is in of itself untrue by looking at Heian Japan even if there was a 'Dark Age' it is exactly the opposite case in Japan. Thank you for reading and next World History we will be back in Europe looking at Vikings.

The sources I have used are as follows:
-A History of Japan by R.H.P. Mason and J.G. Caiger
-Japanese Culture by H. Paul Varley
-A History of Japan by Conrad Totman
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnZEoOJ-cxE

For a list of other World History posts please see here