Interaction in Tokugawa Japan
Like Western Europe after the fall of Rome, Japan was broken up into many feudal kingdoms. These kingdoms were ruled by regional lords called daimyo. Feudal warfare among the daimyo created instability and ongoing conflict in Japan. During the 1500s, daimyo Tokugawa Ieyasu, finally succeeded in uniting Japan under one ruler. He established the Tokugawa Shogunate, and his descendents ruled Japan until 1867. The capital city was moved to Edo, later named Tokyo, and years of constant warfare ended. Peace and stability enabled Japan to prosper, grow, and interact more in world trade. New interactions impacted Japanese culture in three distinct ways: a Dutch learning movement, traditional Chinese influences, and renewed interest in traditional Japanese culture.
Interaction: Spread of Chinese Ideas
Chinese influence on Japanese culture began centuries before the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Japanese “borrowed” from the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618–970 CE) political methods, city design, written language, poetry, and calligraphy. The spread of Confucianism and Buddhism to Japan from China through Korea had also been going on for centuries. The Japanese had adapted these belief systems, even creating their own branches of Buddhism such as Zen Buddhism.
Tokugawa leaders benefited from these past cultural interactions. They used Confucianism and Buddhism to unify the country and gain legitimacy for their authority. Confucian teachings included loyalty to family and obedience to authority. These ideas supported the power of a centralized government.
Interaction: Spread of European Ideas
The silver trade brought European ships to Japanese shores in the late 1500s. These ships carried both merchants and missionaries. At first, they were welcomed for the muskets and gunpowder they brought with them. Trade expanded with European nations, and thousands of Japanese converted to Christianity. However, the Spanish and Portuguese began to ally themselves with daimyo that opposed the ruling Tokugawa Shogun. The Tokugawa authorities became concerned and began to restrict European activities in Japan. Missionaries were closely watched and at times attacked. In 1639, the Tokugawa government limited trade to only the Dutch because they did not engage in missionary activity. Thriving trade with China and Korea continued, but Dutch trade was restricted to one ship a year under supervision of Japanese authorities. The Tokugawa government restricted its own people as well. Japanese were forbidden to travel abroad, and foreign books were outlawed.
Japan did not entirely cut itself off from Europe. A few select Japanese were allowed to learn Dutch and study European shipbuilding, medicine, and technology. These few scholars shared their knowledge in what became known as the “Dutch learning” movement. After 1720, the shogun allowed Japanese to buy European books (there was even a Japanese-Dutch dictionary) as long as the books weren’t about Christianity. These European books brought about more positive attitudes toward Europeans and European ideas. In the late 1700s, some Japanese writers suggested that even more European ideas should be adopted, such as a European-style standing army and a mercantilist empire.
Interaction: Middle Class Popular Culture
Not all changes to Japanese culture came from new ideas. Japanese culture was also changed by new economic growth. As in other regions with significant international trade, a prosperous and growing middle class began to emerge. In Japan, this new class created a popular culture in urban entertainment districts known as “floating worlds.” In these cultural centers people found escape in teahouses, restaurants, theaters, brothels, and public baths. New types of literature and forms of theater began in Japanese cities, including popular fiction and kabuki and puppet theaters.
Interaction: Renewed Japanese Identity
Interaction among cultures brings many changes. These changes can bring conflict as traditional cultural ways are threatened. Some Japanese attempted to preserve and promote what seemed unique and special about being Japanese. They wanted to establish a feeling of Japanese identity separate from the traditional connections to China and new connections to Europe.
In the early 18th century, Kada no Azumamaro, a Shinto priest, initiated the “native learning” movement. This movement promoted Shintoism, a traditional Japanese religion, and Japan’s imperial political system as being morally superior to beliefs of Confucianism adopted from China.
Evidence of a renewed interested in Japanese culture can also be seen in books and art that focused on Japanese history, highlighted Japanese landscape, celebrated Shintoism, and emphasized the belief that the emperor was a descendant of the sun goddess. Ukiyo-e prints were one type of art that emerged at this time. These showed reverence for Japan’s culture, landscape, and daily life in the cities. Hokusai, a famous ukiyo-e artist, created over 30,000 book illustrations, prints, sketches, and paintings of Japanese landscapes, people, birds, fish and insects. His work later influenced French Impressionist artists.