Tokugawa Shogunate Japan (1603-1869)
Directions: Use the numbers on the left to match the CAUSE statement with the correct EFFECT. The causes on the left are in chronological order, according to the homework reading
CAUSE
1. In the 1500s, Japan was ruled by fragmented political entities called Daimyo, who controlled small personal armies.
2. Japan’s size is fairly small and its population homogenous.
3. Hideyoshi was a successful warlord.
4. Japan invaded Korean in 1592, in the hope of conquering the peninsula and then moving on to China. Korea’s “turtle boats” partially defeated them.
5. In 1603, the Tokugawa Shogun took total control and centralized Japan.
6. The Tokugawa Shoguns moved the capital of Japan from Heian (Kyoto) to Edo (Tokyo).
7. The Tokugawa government practiced alternate attendance, which means that daimyos rotated and spent every other year at the Shogun’s court.
8. The samurai moved from being involved in constant warfare to becoming educated bureaucrats that helped to run affairs of state.
9. Merchants provided the Japanese population, and especially the elite samurai, with consumer goods (silk, sake, fans) and household amenities that were in high demand.
10. Contact occurred with Western sea-based powers, brining new military weaponry.
EFFECT
The conflict between traditional Confucian and samurai values versus new centralized laws and the emerging modern ideas of Japan can be seen in this true samurai tale.
Korea suffered, and the Ming Dynasty’s military was weakened, leaving room for the new Manchu (Qing) Dynasty to conquer and control China.
The government could not exploit the great innovations being made by their dynamic economy.
Persecutions broke out and trade between Japan and Europe was entirely eliminated. In addition, people had to have certificates from Buddhist temples showing that they followed traditional Japanese religion.
The government tried to control the wealth and activities of the merchants, who used their money and influence to try and remain autonomous. Also, they laid the foundations for Japan’s industrial success during the late 1800s.
Japan became another of the gunpowder empires.
The Samurai became more interested in consumption of luxury goods provided by merchants, decreasing their own power and wealth, and giving more to the developing merchant class.
Christianity became a suspect religion and persecutions began. Desires of the government to close off Japan to foreign influence rose.
CAUSE
11. Catholic missionaries from the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) came to Japan
12. In 1614, the suspicious Shogun issued a decree charging the 300,000 Japanese Christians and European missionaries with intention to overthrow the Japanese way of life and change the government.
13. The Japanese government wanted to be entirely rid of the “corrupting foreign influences” of Christianity and felt the need to close off Japan from foreigners.
14. Japan is a land mass with limited natural resources.
15. After 1700s, merchants controlled much of the wealth in the nation, even though Confucianism held the merchants were unproductive members of society.
16. A story called The 47 Ronin was published about some warriors who had to avenge their master, despite laws against murder, and were then allowed to honorably die by seppuku (hara-kiri), or suicide.
17. Japan began to have a modern economy, but their government was old-fashioned.
EFFECT
Tokyo became a bustling metropolis with good infrastructure extending out to other areas of Japan.
Japan’s unification was a simpler process and took less time than unification in other areas.
As populations increased during the 1700s, after Japan was “closed” to foreigners, stress on agriculture, land, wood, and other resources rose as well, causing rice prices to go up and conflict to increase.
It would be difficult to neighboring Daimyo to plan uprisings and take over the Tokugawa government.
Merchants became a powerful force in Japanese society and, despite the government’s desire to control them based on Confucian ideas that merchants should hold low social positions; they had a lot of power.
In the 1400s and 1500s, Japan was involved in long civil wars and had little centralized power.
A greater amount of unity was brought about by Daimyo Hideoyoshi’s ability to centralize.
Japanese reception of these new foreigners and their religion was mixed: some found the new religion very meaningful, but others felt it was “disruptive and foreign” and would not be good for the Japanese population and government.
Japan was finally unified and the Tokugawa Shogunate Period began.