TOKUGAWA

TOKUGAWA

1. The Tokugawa State

   • EMPEROR
     • Never abolished >> semi-god, descendent of sun God
     • Imperial institution = powerful symbol >> Shogunate continued financial support to court = legitimacy
     • Baku-han System: Tokugawa leyasu [1603-5] | Tokugawa Hidetada [1605-23] | lemitsu [1623-51]
   • CONTROL OF DAIMYO
     • Settlement >> leyasu forced daimyo to swear oath loyalty
     • Divided into enemies/allies >> all marriages receive approval >> contribute to projects
     • Fudai > loyal Daimyo | Tozama > enemy Daimyo
     • Lemitsu reconstructed Daimyo lands — military circle of defence Edo
   • SAMURAI
     • Roughly 6-7% of pop. >> controlled portions of lands [fiefs] allegiance to Daimyo
     • Stipends based upon tax value of land | Paid in Koku of rice
     • Retained right to wear swords, subjects to domain law > hereditary status = now administration only
   • FOREIGNERS
     • ‘Sakoku’ — chain the country: isolation policy
     • ‘No Japanese ship ... whoever acts contrary to this, shall die’
     • 36 views of Mount Fuji — views from different places around Edo, popular woodblock prints, 1830-2 by Hokusai
     • Kokugaku ‘national studies’ — based on Neo-Confucian, pop in china = rationality of nature >> Japanese & ancient studies...Shinto beliefs with ancient literature
   • COMMONERS
     • Around 25mil peasants
     • Taxed heavily | No surplus | Close surveillance
   • CONTEXT
     • National Road Network — national transportation network, market & merchant class >> Ōsaka & Edo = major trading centres
     • Pop & Urbanisation — 1603 = 10mil >> 1720 = 27.7mil

2. The Decline of Tokugawa

   • POPULATION
     • 1720-1840 = stagnant, roughly 30mil
     • Natural disasters | birth control | economic chaos = informed decision
     • Fudai/Tozama Daimyo = outside no power >> monopolised inside, own lands & people
       • Tokugawa lenari (11th) = 1st to marry from demoted Daimyo
     • Peasants: village autonomy, not official surplus but own economy = cash crops
     • Merchants: bottom of society = increasing importance, money & wealth
   • PROTESTS
     • Samurai: gradual decline >> loss of morale & purpose | jealousy of wealth | fixed stipends decline [10% 1820s >< 50% 1830s]
     • Ikki: villages = autonomous, tax’s paid = order maintained
       • Those judged responsible = punished harshly >> protest about fairness >> not rev but evidence for change
     • Famine & natural disasters = Tenpo Famine 1833-8 = 100,000 dead
     • 1830s Oshio Heihachiro Manifesto
   • REFORMS
     • Tenmei 1781- 1786 >> Tanuma: faction with Bakufu | increase resources | production for trade & export | promote ‘Dutch’ studies
     • Kansei 1789-1801 >> Sadanobu: purge officials, reshuffle, emphasis of frugality, abolish monopolies | promote controlled ‘Dutch studies’
     • Tenpo 1842 >> Tadakuni: recast policies of previous eras, frugality, heavy tax, control of mobility | lands returned | less restrictions on weapons

3. Unequal Treaties

   • CHALLENGING SAKOKU
     • Chain on country >> Dutch only = tiny island Nagasaki, ‘Dutch Studies’ continued throughout regime
     • Britain: Napoleonic War 1799-1815 >> Phaeton enters Nagasaki in 1808 = threatens attack Dutch ship >> visited again 1819, near Edo demanded trade
       • Opium War 1839-1842 with China >> Treaty of Nanjing = full access to trade, low tariff & export, indemnity
     • U.S: 1837 ship Morrison plea for trade = met with canon fire, Matthew Perry >> Jul 1853, fleet in Edo, negotiate trade >> Feb 1854, returned 10 black ships
       • Treaty of Kanagawa 1854: 23 days negotiate >> America dock 2 harbours (Edo & Hokkaido) | assistance to shipwrecked
   • RESPONSE
     • Tighter control of frontier >> 1799-1807. Bakufu attempts to bring all Hokkaido under direct control | New legal code established | 1821 returned to [Tozama] Daimyo of Matsumae
     • Intellectual prep >> The Mito School: pioneered neo-Confucian scholarship, recognised Japan as ‘perfect nation’ | Nariaki [Daimyo of Mito] ‘New Thesis’ Shinron 1825 by Aizawa Sesishisai
     • Expulsion Edict 1825: expel by force any foreign ship — ‘shoot first, ask alter’ >> relaxed by 1842, fuel & provisions, building up defence
   • CIVIL WAR
     • 1858: Bakufu in crisis — domestic & diplomatic >> EXTERNALLY = pressure from US | INTERNALLY = succession crisis
     • Treaty of Amity & Commerce 1858 >> treaty port Edo & Nagasaki | US citizens live & trade | fixed low-import | purchase ships & weapons
     • 1854: Kanagawa Treaty, invites opinions of Daimyos = share blame >> 1858: chief councillor Hotta visits Emperor for treaty = REFUSES
       • Signed nonetheless = Bakufu selling country to foreigners [Hotta replaced by li Naosuke]
     • EMPEROR > ROYALISTS > TOZAMA DAIMYO > RAD SAMURAI [‘shishi’ men of high purpose]
       • Royalists regrouped = Satsuma-Choshu secret alliance >> Sakamoto formed 1866 >> Shogun attacked Choshu = defeated >> Sat-Cho alliance won military campaign 1868
     • BAKUFU > SHOGUN > FUDAI DAIMYO
     • Sonno Joi [revere Emperor > expel barbarians] supported violent, assassinate foreigners, western technologies, new system with Emperor
     • Bakufu = ‘anti-foreign’ >> 1862. System ended, sent Shogun to Kyoto discuss formal request ‘expel barbarians’