Tokugawa Shogunate

Lore & Background

The Tokugawa shogunate organized Japanese society under the strict Tokugawa class system and banned the entry of most foreigners under the isolationist policies of sakoku to promote political stability. Japanese subjects were also barred from leaving the country. The Tokugawa shoguns governed Japan in a feudal system, with each daimyō administering a han (feudal domain), although the country was still nominally organized as imperial provinces. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan experienced rapid economic growth and urbanization, which led to the rise of the merchant class and Ukiyo culture. The bakuhan system split feudal power between the shogunate in Edo and the daimyō with domains throughout Japan. The shōgun and the daimyō were all feudal lords with their own bureaucracies, policies, and territories. Provinces had a degree of sovereignty and were allowed an independent administration of the han in exchange for loyalty to the shōgun, who was responsible for foreign relations, national security, coinage, weights, measures, and transportation.

Reader's Guide

Society in the Tokugawa period, unlike in previous shogunates, was supposedly based on the strict class hierarchy originally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The daimyō were at the top, followed by the warrior-caste of samurai, with the farmers, artisans, and traders ranking below. The largely inflexible nature of this social stratification system unleashed disruptive forces over time. Taxes on the peasantry were set at fixed amounts that did not account for inflation or other changes in monetary value. As a result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners increasingly declined over time. A 2017 study found that peasant rebellions and desertion lowered tax rates and inhibited state growth in the Tokugawa shogunate. In total, historians have documented approximately 3,000 such outbreaks of peasant unrest and violence against authority between 1590 and 1871. By the mid-18th century, both the shōgun and daimyō were hampered by financial difficulties, whereas more wealth flowed to the merchant class. Peasant uprisings and samurai discontent became increasingly prevalent. Some reforms were enacted to attend to these issues such as the Kansei reforms (1787–1793) by Matsudaira Sadanobu. He bolstered the bakufu's rice stockpiles and mandated daimyō to follow suit. He cut down urban spending, allocated reserves for potential famines, and urged city-dwelling peasants to return to rural areas. By 1800, Japan included five cities with over 100,000 residents, and three among the world's twenty cities that had more than 300,000 inhabitants. Edo likely claimed the title of the world's most populous city, housing over one million people.

Did You Know?

• The sankin-kotai policy mandated the housing of wives and children of the daimyō in the capital as hostages to prevent rebellion.
• The Tokugawa shogunate was overthrown by supporters of the Imperial Court in the Meiji Restoration in 1868.