Japan: shogunate and restoration history 1192-1869

For the earlier history of Japan, see Japan: prehistoric and ancient history to AD 400 and Japan: early feudal history 400-1192.

The period 1192 to 1869 began with the establishment of the shogunate system, a form of government that would last until 1868, and in which effective control over Japan lay with the hands of the hereditary shoguns. The major shogunates included the Kamakura (1192-1333), the Ashikaga (1338-1573), and the Tokugawa (1603-1868). In 1869, following internal conflict over the reopening of Japan to the outside world, the emperor Mutsuhito Meiji (reigned 1867-1912) recovered the full powers of the emperors and took control of the government.

Relations with Europe had been open in the early Tokugawa period, when Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English traders rivalled each other for trade, and Catholic missionaries were sent to convert the Japanese. However, from the mid-17th to the mid-19th centuries, the Tokugawa shoguns adopted a policy that severely restricted relations between Japan and the outside world.

The Kamakura shogunate In 1185 the Minamoto, a powerful military family from east Japan, had defeated the Taira, their rivals for control of the Japanese emperor. The Minamoto leader, Yoritomo, set up a feudal government in Kamakura, near present-day Tokyo. The Yamato imperial government was left to carry on, but it no longer had any power. In 1192 Yoritomo obtained from the abdicated Yomoto emperor the title of Sei-i-tai-shogun. This was the beginning of the shogunate system which was to rule Japan until 1868, and in which real power was in the hands of the hereditary shoguns. The emperor was regarded as a sacred and religious figure during this period, and was worshipped and flattered but had no power.

Yoritomo died in 1199 and the family of Hōjō, who acted as stewards to the shoguns, became the most powerful. The Mongol emperor of China, Kublai Khan, demanded in 1268 that Japan should recognize his power and rights over the country, but the Japanese refused. Kublai Khan sent large fleets in 1274 and 1281, both of which were destroyed in typhoons (kamikaze, Japanese ‘divine winds’) after fierce fighting in Kyushu. Although the Japanese believed themselves to be under divine protection, the high costs of these wars severely damaged the Kamakura shogunate.

The Ashikaga shogunate The Hōjō family soon lost control over ambitious samurai, and an organized revolt succeeded in driving it out and restoring power to the Yamato emperor Go-Daigo in 1333. By 1336, however, he was forced to abdicate and fled to the south pursued by the soldiers of Ashikaga Takauji. After a period of chaos, a new emperor was installed from another branch of the imperial family; once again, he had no power over the shoguns. The Ashikaga family held the shogunate from 1338 until 1573. The local government of this period was dominated by samurai fiefs (land-holdings), generally held by the favour of a daimyō (feudal lord); the old system of tax-free land-holding (shoen) disappeared.

Later shoguns of the Ashikaga period supported the arts, including the development of Nō drama, flower-arranging, the tea ceremony, and garden design. At the same time war raged between powerful families keen to gain control over Japan.

The foundation of the Tokugawa shogunate A century of confusion in Japan was ended towards the end of the 16th century, in the Momoyama period, by three great military leaders. The first of these, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), was killed just as he won power. He was replaced by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who conquered the whole country in 1590 with the aid of Tokugawa Ieyasu, another daimyō.

On the death of Hideyoshi, Ieyasu fought for control of Japan and finally gained it in the great Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. In 1603 he claimed the title of shogun, soon passing the title on to his son Hidetada while keeping real power for himself. This led to the creation of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan until 1868. By 1615 the Tokugawa shoguns secured complete control of Japan after defeating the former supporters of Hideyoshi, who now followed his heir Hideyori. Osaka Castle was also destroyed by the Tokugawa during this war.

Ieyasu made Edo (the former name for Tokyo) his capital and centre of power, although the old city of Kyoto in theory remained the capital of Japan. Ieyasu was an effective and strong leader of Japan. He reformed the government and held tight control over his officials. This helped greatly to increase the wealth of the country. The Tokugawa kept about a quarter of all land in Japan for themselves as well as important resources such as silver mines. Under the Tokugawa shogunate the daimyō and samurai were subject to the closest inspection. The daimyō generally held a castle occupying a commanding position, but they had to spend every other year in Edo. This law was introduced by Iemitsu, Ieyasu's grandson, to prevent rebellion. From time to time they were forced by the shogun to carry out public works at great cost, so as to restrict their wealth within safe limits.

Trade with Europeans and introduction of Christianity Under the early rule of the Tokugawa shoguns foreigners were welcomed, and regular meetings between Japanese and Europeans began in the 16th century. Trading relations began in about 1542 with the Portuguese, who soon took control over trade between China and Japan. The Portuguese brought gunpowder and new weapons such as guns and cannons to Japan. This led to an increase in the building of defensive castles in Japan, many of which developed over centuries into the centres of modern Japanese cities. The Europeans also introduced clocks, tobacco, and sweet potatoes.

The Roman Catholic Church sent a group of Jesuit missionaries to Japan to try to win converts among its people. The mission was headed by the Spanish Jesuit St Francis Xavier. The Jesuits, who were mainly Portuguese, were well received and converted many Japanese to Christianity. However, the activities of the Jesuits eventually led them into conflict with local Japanese leaders, and they were accused of disturbing the peace and stirring up trouble. Some Spanish Franciscans arrived and quarrelled with the Jesuits, and following this the Dutch began trading with Japan; they, being Protestant, were unfriendly to both Spanish and Portuguese.

Ieyasu welcomed the Dutch as a way of balancing the power of the Spanish and Portuguese. He then welcomed the English as rivals to the Dutch. He placed great reliance on the English ship pilot William Adams (Miura Anjin) (1564-1620), who was responsible for the introduction of Western shipbuilding and mapping techniques, and was the only foreigner appointed to samurai rank.

Ieyasu's successors Hidetada and Iemitsu adopted an antiforeigner line, prompted by Japanese merchants resentful of foreign competition. They became concerned about the disruptive effects of Christianity upon feudal loyalty, and also about the possibility of foreign invasion or political interference. As a result of this change of policy, the Spaniards and Portuguese were expelled in 1624 and 1638 respectively. The Japanese Christians who refused to give up their religion were killed (except for some 20,000 who survived, clinging to the faith in secret). The final tragedy took place at the castle of Hara, known as the revolt of Shimabara. The Dutch traders were not expelled, but were subjected to severe restrictions. No general dealings with foreigners were allowed, Japanese people were forbidden to leave the country, and ocean-going ships were not allowed to be built. Firearms, which the highly skilled Japanese swordsmiths had begun to make in imitation of guns introduced by the Europeans, fell largely into disuse from this point. The country now enjoyed years of peace and increasing prosperity under the Tokugawa shoguns, in a period known at its height as the Genroku era (1688-1704). By 1720 Edo had a population of over 1 million, making it twice as large as London, Europe's biggest city. Arts, crafts, and theatre flourished (ukiyo-e prints, haiku poems, and kabuki drama were innovations of the 17th-18th centuries), as did the internal economy. The Tokugawa period is, in fact, the era of bourgeois economic control, which produced its own pattern of life and culture, though political power was firmly held by the samurai class. It was also a period of almost complete isolation (sakoku) from the rest of the world, although from 1722 the restrictions on the importation of foreign books were relaxed, giving rise to a minor (but subsequently very influential) group of rangaku (Dutch learning) scholars.

Opening up to the West Slowly but inevitably, however, dissatisfaction began to be felt, especially among low-ranking samurai, whose payments of rice were often cut when their daimyō got into financial difficulties. Many who had shown ability at school resented the fact that high government office could only be held by samurai of high hereditary status. At the village level rural merchants often found their profits threatened by their daimyo's demands. The Tokugawa regime also faced problems caused by a series of natural disasters in the 1780s and 1830s; the unavailability of imported food, forcing agriculture to its ecological limits; and rising pressure from the population against these limits, leading to rebellion.

In the 19th century the Tokugawa system faced strong threats from outside foreign powers. This encouraged internal opposition to the government to make itself known. In 1853 the USA sent Commodore Matthew Perry with four ships of war to open diplomatic relations with Japan. The USA wanted to increase its trade with China as well as open trade with Japan, and Japan was on the route to China, so contact and friendship was seen as essential. Perry managed to get Japanese agreement to helping any US sailors who were shipwrecked. A Russian ship arrived in the same year with the same requests. The Japanese finally recognized the problems caused by trying to cut themselves off from the changes in the world. Japan had become isolated and had fallen behind the developments of other nations.

The success of Perry's visit led to further demands for the opening of Japan to trade. The shogunate had seen Britain's victories against China in the Opium Wars over the issue of trade, and did not want to suffer the same fate. It therefore decided to sign a foreign trading agreement, even though most daimyo and samurai opposed such action. Opponents of contact with the outside world put pressure on the Tokugawa government by getting the emperor to issue a statement against opening up Japan to the outside. Although this statement carried great symbolic weight, it was not viewed as binding by the Tokugawa shogunate, as the emperor had had no political power for centuries.

In July 1858, faced with the arrival of a British fleet, Ii Naosuke, the daimyō of Hikone and the leading figure in the shogunate, decided to sign a far-reaching trade treaty without the permission of the emperor. Many opponents of the treaty were arrested, and this increased opposition to the Tokugawa government. In 1860 Ii Naosuke was murdered by supporters of one of the arrested daimyō. This was the first of many attacks by radical samurai justifying themselves with the slogan ‘revere the emperor, repel the foreigner’. There were also a number of attacks on foreigners. In 1862 a British trader named Richardson was murdered by the followers of the daimyō of Satsuma, and in revenge the city of Kagoshima belonging to the Satsuma was bombarded and utterly destroyed by British ships.

The Choshu chief who commanded the entrance to the inland sea at Shimonoseki fired upon foreign ships, the emperor having given him an edict granting permission to do so without the knowledge of the shogun. The united fleets of the USA, France, Britain, and the Netherlands bombarded Shimonoseki in 1864 and a fine of $3 million was imposed upon Choshu.

The Meiji restoration The early 1860s saw conflicts and difficulties in the Tokugawa government. After Ii Naosuke's assassination, the shogunate had adopted a completely different policy. It tried to mend relations with the imperial court and the daimyō by giving them some power in government and promising to expel the foreigners. However, in 1864 it returned to its former policy of conducting talks with foreign nations, and forced Choshu to agree to it.

However, in 1865 Choshu was taken over by radical samurai and in 1866 it entered into an alliance with Satsuma, whose daimyō no longer supported the Tokugawa shogunate. These two southwestern regions feared that, with the help of the French advisers who from 1865 were creating a naval dockyard and training the shogun's officers in military techniques, the Tokugawa government would recover its strength and attack Choshu and Satsuma. On 3 January 1868 they and their court allies secured an imperial order authorizing them to overthrow the Tokugawa shogun. After a civil war lasting a year and a half they achieved this with the help of some other domains. The shogunate disappeared, and in 1869 government power was put into the hands of Emperor Mutsuhito, who moved his capital from Kyoto to Tokyo (as Edo was renamed). Mutsuhito adopted as his throne name the name ‘Meiji’, meaning ‘enlightened government’, and the name is also applied to the period of his reign (1867-1912). During the Meiji era Japan embarked on an astonishingly rapid period of Westernization, modernization, and industrialization, that was to turn it into a power capable of defeating the might of Russia by the early years of the 20th century.

For subsequent history, see Japan: history 1869-1912, Japan: history 1912-41, and Japan: history 1941-45. For the history of Japan since 1945 see Japan.