Exclusion Laws in Japan

Exclusion Laws in Japan

In 1534, the first Portuguese ship arrived in southern Japan bringing a cargo that included firearms. For the next hundred years, Japanese-Western trade flourished and Christian missionaries converted many Japanese to Catholicism.

However in 1636 strict isolation laws were enforced, foreigners were expelled, Japanese Christians were compelled to renounce their religion on pain of death, and Japanese were forbidden to leave the country. These strict exclusion laws would last until 1854.

The Japanese had known about gunpowder since the 13th century. However in the midst of extensive civil wars in the 16th century, Japanese feudal lords were immediately impressed by the accurate firing aquebuses and cannons the Portuguese traders introduced and immediately began to buy and then make them in Japan. These new weapons changed the nature of the warfare and led to the building of heavily fortified castles.


Catholic missionaries followed merchants. Francis Xavier, associate of Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, arrived in Japan in 1549. Franciscan and Dominican missionaries soon followed. Many feudal lords, anxious to increase trade with European merchants, and seeing the deference Portuguese and Spanish merchants showed to priests, welcomed missionaries to their domains; some converted and even ordered their subjects to convert also.

Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful military leader of Japan, became a patron of the Jesuits. The number of converts increased dramatically, to 150,000 and two hundred churches by 1582 and perhaps to as many as 500,000 by 1615.

The very success of the Catholic missionaries created a backlash against Christians. Some opponents were Buddhists. Significantly political leaders began to fear the political loyalty of their Christian subjects. Thus Oda’s successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–98) banned Christianity in 1587 but did not strictly enforce his edict until 10 years later.

It was Hideyoshi’s successor Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616) who seriously persecuted Christians, beginning in 1612 when, as shogun, he ordered all Japanese converts to renounce Christianity on pain of death and then to be registered in a Buddhist temple.

He also executed some missionaries and expelled all others. His policies were ruthlessly carried out, with military force where there were large Christian communities. Tens of thousands were killed and only isolated clandestine communities remained.

The Tokugawa Bakufu, or Shogunate, expanded the ban on missionaries to include all Spanish, Portuguese, and English traders also. Only the Dutch among Europeans were allowed to send two ships annually to Nagasaki under strict supervision. Chinese ships were also allowed under license.

In 1636, another law was promulgated that prohibited all Japanese from leaving Japan and members of the sizable Japanese communities in Southeast Asia from returning. Shipbuilding was limited to small coastal vessels to prevent Japanese from secretly trading with foreigners.

Fear and insecurity motivated the newly established Tokugawa Shogunate (1603–1868) to ban Christianity and foreign contacts. Seclusion became Japan’s national policy.

Edo Period in Japan

Edo Period in Japan

The Edo period in Japanese dates between 1600 and 1867. It denotes the government of the Tokugawa Shogunate from Edo. The shogunate was officially established in 1603 with the victory of Tokugawa Ieyasu over supporters of Toyotomi Hideyori in the Battle of Sekigahara (1600). The Tokugawa shoguns ruled Japan for more than 250 years with iron fists and tight discipline.

Ieyasu had centralized control over the entire country with his strategic power sharing arrangement between daimyo (feudal lords) and samurai (warriors). Daimyos were ordered to be present every second year in Edo to give an account of their assigned work.

Tokugawa Ieyasu promoted economic development through foreign trade. He established trading relations with China and the Dutch East India Company (Indonesia/ Batavia). While Osaka and Kyoto became emerging centers for trade and handicraft production, his capital Edo became the center for supply of food, construction, and consumer items.


To ensure its control, the shogunate banned all Japanese people from travel abroad in 1633. Japan thus was isolated except for limited commercial contact with the Dutch in the port of Nagasaki. All Western books were banned in Japan.

Despite Japan’s cultural isolation from the rest of the world, new indigenous art forms such as Kabuki theater and ukiyo-e, woodblock prints and paintings of the emerging urban popular culture, gained increasing popularity. Intellectually the most important state philosophy during the Edo period was Neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism stressed the importance of morals, education, and hierarchical order in the government.

A rigid class system also took shape during the Edo period with samurai at the top, followed by the peasants, artisans, and merchants. Below them were outcasts (burakumin) or pariahs or those who were deemed impure. Neo-Confucianism contributed to the development of kokugaku (national learning) that stressed the study of Japanese history.

In 1720, with the lifting of the ban on Western literature, some Japanese began studying Western sciences and technologies, rangaku (Dutch studies). The fields that drew most interest were related to medicine, astronomy, natural sciences, art, geography, languages, as well as physical sciences including mechanical and electrical engineering.

External pressure on Japan grew toward the end of the 18th century. The Russians tried to establish a trade link with Japan to export their Russian goods, particularly vodka and wine. Other European nations also became interested.

Finally the United States forced Japan to open to the West when Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Edo Bay with a flotilla of warships. Meanwhile, anti-Tokugawa sentiments had been growing that demanded the restoration of imperial power.

In 1867–68, the Tokugawa government collapse was partly due to foreign threat and to tensions that had been growing against a political and social system that had outlived its usefulness. The shogunate surrendered power in 1867 to Emperor Meiji, who began the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Christian Century in Japan

Christian Century in Japan

Francis Xavier, a founder of the Society of Jesus, arrived in Japan in 1549, inaugurating a century of Catholic Christian missionary activity in that country. After enjoying enormous success, Christians suffered brutal persecution and were almost eliminated a century later.

Japan was ruled by warring feudal lords in the mid-16th century who sought to wrest power from the failing Ashikaga Shogunate. These lords eagerly welcomed the newly arrived Portuguese to their domains in order to purchase European firearms.

Observing the respect the Portuguese merchants showed toward Catholic priests, many Japanese lords converted to the new faith and ordered their subjects to convert also. Some Japanese even mistakenly thought that Christianity was a variant form of Buddhism. Jesuit missionaries came under the protection of the Portuguese Crown and were soon joined by the Franciscans, who came via Spain’s colony the Philippines and were under the protection of Spain.


The southern island of Kyushu as well as the imperial capital Kyoto became centers of Christian missionary activity. Japan became the most successful area of Christian conversion in Asia. By 1582, an estimated 150,000 had become Christians, with the number rising to 300,000 by the century’s end, and 500,000 at its height in 1615.

Japan was ruled by warring feudal lords in the mid-16th century who sought to wrest power from the failing Ashikaga Shogunate. These lords eagerly welcomed the newly arrived Portuguese to their domains in order to purchase European firearms. Observing the respect the Portuguese merchants showed toward Catholic priests, many Japanese lords converted to the new faith and ordered their subjects to convert also.

Some Japanese even mistakenly thought that Christianity was a variant form of Buddhism. Jesuit missionaries came under the protection of the Portuguese Crown and were soon joined by the Franciscans, who came via Spain’s colony the Philippines and were under the protection of Spain.

The southern island of Kyushu as well as the imperial capital Kyoto became centers of Christian missionary activity. Japan became the most successful area of Christian conversion in Asia. By 1582, an estimated 150,000 had become Christians, with the number rising to 300,000 by the century’s end, and 500,000 at its height in 1615.

Christian missionaries were welcomed as allies by Japan’s first aspiring unifier, Oda Nobunaga (1534–82), in his military confrontation with powerful Buddhist sects. Oda destroyed his formidable Buddhist opponents and their castles, but was assassinated. He was followed by Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1536–98), who continued the wars of unification.

Hideyoshi was ambivalent toward Westerners, on the one hand welcoming their trade. He also feared their influence, both the authority of the pope and Spain’s colonial ambitions, which had made the Philippines a colony. Thus he banned all missionary activities in 1587, but did not enforce the law until 1597, when he ordered nine missionaries and 17 Japanese Christians executed.

Hideyoshi died in 1598. Another succession struggle ensued until another nobleman, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616), won a definitive battle in 1603, after which he was confirmed shogun by the emperor, thus inaugurating the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603–1868).

The newly victorious and as yet insecure Tokugawa Ieyasu regarded Christians as potentially subversive and began to move against them in 1606. His son and successor continued his policies, expelling missionaries and ordering noblemen and ordinary people in his domain to renounce Christianity; he went so far as to execute those who remained Christian clandestinely.

The shogunate then forced all lords throughout Japan to conform to anti-Christian laws. Suspected Christians were forced to trample on the cross or other Christian symbols while those who refused were tortured to death.

Persecution climaxed in 1637–38 when oppressed Christian peasants revolted in western Kyushu. They were put down and slaughtered. A law in 1640 compelled all Japanese to register at a local Buddhist temple. Christianity was wiped out in Japan except for a few small underground communities.

The Catholic Church recognized 3,125 Japanese martyrs between 1597 and 1660, several of whom were beatified by Pope John Paul II. The Tokugawa Shogunate enacted other laws that banned trade with Europeans except for two Dutch ships annually and took other measures that almost totally isolated Japan from the Western world until 1854.

Thus between 1549 and 1640, Japan presented the paradoxical picture of success and then total prohibition of the Christian missionary movement.

Bushido, Tokugawa Period in Japan

Bushido, Tokugawa Period in Japan

When Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated Ishida Mitsunari at the Battle of Sekigahara in October 1600, Bushido, the “way of the warrior,” which his victorious samurai followed, was just reaching its apogee. (Bushi, which means “warrior,” is another term used interchangeably with samurai, which means “one who serves [a lord].”)

It is an unwritten code that governed the lives of the upper-class warrior and was more severe than the law code governing the common people. In 1603, Tokugawa was recognized as the shogun, or military ruler of Japan, by Emperor Go-Yozei.

A samurai served in the household of a daimyo, or lord. A samurai whose lord’s line was extinct became a ronin, or masterless samurai. As a result of prolonged warfare between lords before 1603, there were many ronin in Japan.


Bushido’s origins can be traced to the first appearance of Zen Buddhism in Japan in the 12th century. Zen Buddhism was widely adopted by an emerging warrior class.

Zen gave samurai the adab and intellectual strength to follow a demanding calling in life, for which only death could free the true warrior. Bushido emphasized strict loyalty to one’s lord, even to the point of death in battle. And, if faced with disgraceful surrender, Bushido called for the samurai to meet death by his own hand.

In seppuku, commonly called hara kiri in the West, a samurai disemboweled himself with a short dagger, after which a trusted friend or comrade, acting as his second, would sever his head with a blow of his sword.

Bushido also demanded the samurai lead a clean and honorable life, protect the weak, abstain from riotous living and drunkenness, conscious that he was the representative of the daimyo he served, whose heraldic badge was always displayed prominently on his clothing.

Aside from giving him a code of honor, Bushido made the samurai a fearsome warrior with his sword. He strove for mental discipline achieved through swordsmanship akin to that achieved through the pursuit of Zen.

Perhaps the greatest statement of Bushido and the sword in the Tokugawa period is found in 1716’s Hagakure, or “hidden leaves.” It is a compilation of the philosophies of Yamamoto Tsunetomo that was sanctioned by the Tokugawa shoguns for its accurate representation of the prevailing philosophies during its reign. It blended the discipline and insight of Zen with the ancestor worship taught by Confucianism.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi - Japanese General

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a Japanese lord who completed the unification of Japan begun by Oda Nobunaga and launched two invasions of the Korean Peninsula.

Hideyoshi was born the son of a peasant and became a soldier in the army of Oda Nobunaga and fought in many of his major battles. In 1573, after destroying two daimyo, Nobunaga made him a lord of Nagahama, in Omi province. In 1587, he assumed a surname, Toyotomi, which means “wealth of the nation.” He continued to serve with distinction in Oda’s campaigns.

Oda was assassinated by a lieutenant in 1582, followed by a power struggle during which Hideyoshi defeated his rivals in successive campaigns, winning selesai victory in 1590. As a result, Japan became a unified nation after centuries of divisive wars and an ineffectual shogunal government.


Despite his power, Hideyoshi did not assume the title of shogun because by tradition that office had been held by a member of the Minamoto clan. However, with a faked geneology, he assumed high court posts, including that of chancellor, ruling from Kyoto, but also building a formidable castle at Osaka.

Hideyoshi next decided to attack Korea as a base to invade China. In 1592, he launched his first invasion of Korea, landing his forces at Pusan. The Koreans were taken by surprise and offered only token resistance. Seoul, the capital, and Pyongyang in the north fell in rapid succession. Korea was saved by the Ming government, which eventually sent about 200,000 soldiers to repel the Japanese invaders.

Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin, who built the world’s first metal-plated ships, wreaked havoc on Japanese supply lines, compelling Hideyoshi to abandon his invasion. Since peace negotiations failed, Hideyoshi renewed his attack in 1597, but with his sudden death, the invading forces withdrew in 1598.

Hideyoshi left a young son, Toyotomi Hideyori. Hideyoshi attempted to ensure the boy’s survival by appointing a council of five regents. But by 1600, one regent, Tokugawa Ieyasu, had defeated his rivals to become shogun and in 1615 exterminated all of Hideyoshi’s heirs.

Hideyoshi implemented several important domestic policies. One was to take a general survey of the land as basis to assign jobs to his allies and supporters. To prevent future civil wars he ordered the confiscation of all swords from peasants and ordered that all Japanese remain in their current occupation (warriors, peasants, advisers, merchants). He also issued a ban on Christianity and attempted to regulate foreign trade; these policies would be made effective by his successor.

Tokugawa Ieyasu - Japanese Ruler

Tokugawa Ieyasu was granted by the Japanese emperor, the title of shogun in 1603; his family was to rule Japan until 1867. In 1605, his son, Tokugawa Hidetada, officially took the office of the shogun, but Ieyasu remained the ruler from behind the scenes until his death.

Reared in an atmosphere of unrelenting civil war among different clans of Japan during the Warring States Era, Ieyasu was a remarkable unifier of competing interests among warring vassals, and a leader who brought relative peace to a land torn by centuries of civil war.

Ieyasu is remembered for his brilliant stratagems, his compassion for those enemies who accepted his authority, his skill in managing the rivalries of his generals, his commitment to keep Japan united, and his patience. He laid the foundations of a political, economic, and social system that was to lead to a century of dynamic growth in Japan.

Ieyasu started his political career as a vassal of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, from whom he learned about governance, military planning, and management of state affairs. After Hideyoshi’s death, Ieyasu led a coalition of vassals against a rival group in the bloody Battle of Sekigahara, where he was victorious in 1600. He later got rid of Hideyoshi’s young heir. He already was the master of vast tracts of military holdings in eastern Japan.


Entirely ignoring the authority of the imperial court, he established his central headquarters in edo (Tokyo); thus, the Tokugawa period is also known as the Edo masa in Japanese history. He built a massive fortified castle with huge concentric moats in Edo; it is the Imperial Palace today. From here, Ieyasu used his military strength to reorganize Japan and to establish a government system called the bakufu.

Centralized Rule

The system of rule that Ieyasu established was begun by his two predecessors in the 16th century. Because it was based on centralized control over daimyo (vassal) domains, it is called a feudal structure, though uniquely Japanese.

Ieyasu sought stability for Japan and dominance for himself among the landed aristocracy. He demonstrated administrative skill that matched his military abilities. First, he redistributed the lands of the vassals. His enemies’ lands were confiscated and distributed to his allies as rewards in an organized way.

He kept about a quarter of the confiscated domains under his family, the remainder distributed depending on the seniority and allegiance to other clans. The reallocation of about 265 domains ensured allegiance to the Tokugawa clan and stability.

Tokugawa Ieyasu as supreme command at the battle of Sekigahara

Moreover, he placed his most trusted vassals to keep a close eye on others whose allegiance was undependable. Ieyasu issued a code of behavior called Buke Sho-Hatto, or Ordinances for the Military Houses, which limited the power of the feudatories in personal, civil, and economic spheres. It required them to seek permission from the shogun or his representative for all important activities.

Shogun Ieyasu amassed a huge fortune for the Tokugawa clan. This included property rights over commercial cities and trading ports such as Nara, Nagasaki, Osaka, Kyoto, Edo, and Yamada. He also owned profitable gold and silver mines and controlled the circulation of all the gold and silver coinage in the country.

In a surprising turn of events between 1611 and 1614, Ieyasu issued ordinances prohibiting all teaching and practice of Christianity in Japan, deeply affecting political and economic relations of the Japanese, Portuguese, and Dutch, and moved toward seclusion. However, this seclusion did not hurt Japan’s economy, as domestic commerce was robust and vigorous.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was a wealthy but frugal man. His sense of discipline directed his efforts in ensuring calm and peace for Japan after the civil war. By the time he died at 74, he had established his family’s de facto rule, which was to last for over two centuries. In so doing, he completed the process of reestablishing national unity by a combination of military and civilian talent that amounted to genius.

Tokugawa Hidetada - Japanese Ruler

The second shogun of the Tokugawa family, Hidetada lived in his powerful father’s shadow until the latter’s death in 1616. He was Tokugawa Ieyasu’s third son; his two older brothers had died, making him Ieyasu’s successor.

Hidetada nominally assumed the title of shogun in 1605 when his father voluntarily retired, but as long as Ieyasu lived, Hidetada’s role was to learn from and implement the policies of his father. He was a careful student, who watched his father build his realm for the family and the bakuhan system.

Among Hidetada’s achievements were the continued organizing of the Bakufu and development of domestic commerce. Both of these ensured the Tokugawa family’s political and economic dominance in Japan.


In 1614–15, Hidetada helped his father in leading a victorious campaign against Osaka castle that ended the residual power of the Toyotomi family. From 1616 onward, he boldly tamed the domains of vassals who might challenge his authority.

Domestic commerce grew with the expanded control of Hidetada’s government. However, he was highly suspicious of foreign traders, missionaries, and those Japanese who had converted to Christianity.

Tokugawa Hidetada reinforced Ieyasu’s ban on Christianity. In 1617, he had four missionaries executed. He later ordered the execution of 120 missionaries and Japanese Christians and banned any import of books related to the Christian religion.

Hidetada’s severe reservations about all things foreign extended to their trading ships as well. In order further to regulate foreign presence, he ordered all foreign ships, other than Chinese, to dock only in the ports of Nagasaki and Hirado.

The British had already pulled out of Japan because of nonprofitable trade relations. Hidetada severed all relationships with the Spanish, of whom he was highly suspicious because of their Christian influence. Hidetada effectively isolated Japan, a stance his son terminated when he became shogun.

Hidetada had established a relationship with the imperial family through the marriage of his daughter to a member of the royal family. This relationship further solidified the base of the Tokugawa family. In 1623, Hidetada abdicated in favor of his son Iemitsu but continued to influence policy of the bakufu as retired shogun until his death.

Japan Tokugawa Bakuhan System

Tokugawa Bakuhan System

The Tokugawa shoguns were the de facto rulers of Japan from 1603 to 1867, when emperors, symbolic rulers of the country, bestowed the title of shogun on the Tokugawa clan. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the first shogun, Ieyasu, instituted a form of government that established the dominance of the Tokugawa family completed under his grandson Iemitsu.

They enacted laws to control Japan’s polity, society, and economy under the Tokugawas’ centralized authority. The center of the Tokugawa power was the Kanto Plain around Edo (Tokyo). The bakufu that they instituted unified Japan after the Warring States Era, brought peace to the land for 250 years, and created a vibrant domestic economy that flourished in a strict hierarchical society.

Social Order

Ieyasu’s policy to establish Tokugawa hegemony began with freezing the social order. Adapting population. Since peace prevailed, the samurai became educated to perform bureaucratic tasks of administration and tax collection.


They were the only men allowed to carry a sword, which became a symbol of their social superiority. They were paid a stipend according to their rank by the lord, or daimyo, in whose domain they lived. Samurai were supposed to cultivate and follow a strict ethical code of behavior called Bushido, of duty to the shogun, disciplined lifestyle, and frugal living.

Peasants were to live and work on the land and could not marry with samurai. Peasants were not allowed to sell their land. Artisans worked their crafts orgainized in guilds, and merchants belonged at the lowest levels of society, despised for an unproductive life.

There was some mobility between artisans and merchants. Tokugawa Ieyasu created their strictly hierarchical society to preempt social chaos and rebellion. Their stability may have been welcomed by the Japanese themselves as it created stability after a protracted period of warfare.

Social live in tokugawa period

Government Structure

The basis of Tokugawa power was control of the land. Under the shogun were daimyo or feudal lords, who governed land given to them by the shogun, called han. Since powerful daimyo could pose challenges to the Tokugawa, Ieyasu immediately set about shuffling the domains of various daimyo; these numbered 295 but after the reallocation of lands there were reduced to 267.

About a quarter of the han lands were put under direct Tokugawa family control. Ieyasu redistributed the remainder among the daimyo on the basis of their allegiance to him. Ieyasu, Hidetada, and Iemitsu then created a structure by which Tokugawa hegemony was ensured.

Daimyo were classified into three categories:

1. Shimpan were members of the Tokugawa family,
2. Fudai (hereditary nobles) were those daimyo who had been allied with the Tokugawa before the Battle of Sekigahara, and
3. The tozama (outside nobles) were those who had surrendered to Tokugawa dominance after the battle. Since tozama were least reliable, their han were strategically placed the farthest from Edo or between two fudai domains; the intent was to watch for any signs of rebellion.

The Buke Sho-Hatto, or Ordinances for the Military Houses, was first passed by Ieyasu in 1615 and then firmly reiterated by Iemitsu in 1635. These ordinances were a code of conduct for the daimyo. They included the sankin kotai system, which required that every daimyo live in Edo every other year for a full year; if he could not do so then he had to send his family to Edo.

Also, a daimyo’s chief wife and heir had to be left in Edo at all times as permanent hostages. The requirement was expensive for the daimyo because they had to travel back and forth with large retinues and also had to maintain two residences, one in their own domains, another in Edo.

Marriages between daimyo families could not take place without the shogun’s permission. The impressive castle-towns in which the daimyo resided, called the jokamachi, were put under shogunal surveillance and repairs or improvements to the castles needed permission from the shogun. Notably, the tozama daimyos were excluded from playing any active role in the bakufu.

The daimyo were required to model their government on that of the bakufu. A collective form of government developed. The shogun was assisted by councilors in administration. Usually four or five roju were selected from among the fudai daimyo who controlled the finances, made policy decisions, and dealt with officialdom.

Theoretically, the daimyo were free to manage their local affairs and retain their own vassals, who received stipends in kind from them. Initially, the bakufu closely supervised the daimyo. In the first 50 years of Tokugawa rule, there were 281 cases of daimyo moved from one han to another, and 213 of domain confiscation because of misrule or lack of an heir. Later, the daimyo replicated the shogunal system of government in their han. The bakufu’s interference in the hans was reduced.

The main task of the civil officials in both bakuhan was to collect taxes. Rice was the primary form of taxation; the unit of rice, called koku, was equal to 4.97 bushels. The bakufu’s landholdings yielded 7 million koku out of the total 30 million koku produced nationwide; hence it enjoyed the most revenue.

The common people lived on five koku of rice per capita per annum. The bakufu reserved the right to control all matters related to foreign affairs, minting and distribution of gold and silver coins, and interhan transportation.

The machinery for collecting taxes was small and efficient. The bakuhan levied taxes on an entire village; it was decided within the village what each household paid as taxes. Junior-ranking samurai oversaw the collection of taxes. Nearly all the taxes were deposited to the bakufu and han treasuries.

The bakufu is military force. It consisted of samurai recruited from Tokugawa lands. These were divided into two categories: 5,000 standard-bearers who enjoyed high rank, and 18,000 middling rank and foot-soldiers. In addition, the daimyo were required to provide armies and ammunition whenever the shogun needed them, which was infrequent.

Samurai were used more for policing than as active warriors throughout the era. Fudai and Shimpan daimyo, and their samurai, kept watch over the tozama domains for a possible challenge to Tokugawa authority.

The bakuhan system remained largely unchanged from the 1600s into the 1860s, an periode of stability, economic growth, and peace internally and externally. There were only local rebellions, easily suppressed. However, the shogunate was never able to tame the tozama daimyo and it was the han of Choshu, Satsuma, and Tosa who eventually challenged the Tokugawa in the 1860s, bringing the Edo periode to an end.

Shimabara Rebellion

remain of castle destroyed in shimabara rebellion

The Shimabara Rebellion of 1635 was the last major uprising against the Tokugawa Shogunate, which Tokugawa Ieyasu had established after his victory at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600). He was appointed shogun, or supreme military ruler, by the emperor Go-Yozei in 1603.

The first Jesuit missionaries had arrived in Japan in 1549 and enjoyed enormous success until about 500,000 Japanese had been converted. Success, however, proved its undoing, resulting in the banning of Christian missionary activities in 1587 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His death in 1598 brought an end to the persecution for a time.

However it was resumed by newly appointed Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1606 and enforced by his son Tokugawa Hidetada in 1614. He ordered the banishment of all missionaries. Persecution of Christians continued also under the third shogun Iemitsu.


Persecution climaxed in 1637, when a popular rising of disaffected peasants and ronin took place in a heavily Christian area near Nagasaki. The force soon numbered some 37,000 rebels, who seized an old castle in its Shimabara Peninsula.

A Tokugawa force of 100,000 men was sent against the rebels but made surprisingly little headway against them. Finally, Shogun Tokugawa had to call on the help of some Dutch warships at Nagasaki to fire on the rebels.

Since at this time, the Protestant Dutch were enemies of Catholic Spain, they were happy to aid the Tokugawa army. Finally, the castle fell after a three-month siege and the holdouts were massacred, ending the revolt and Christian resistance.

The results of the Shimabara Rebellion were far-reaching. The Tokugawa Shogunate moved to seal Japan off from foreign contact. All Portuguese were expelled in 1639. In 1640, all members of a Portuguese embassy sent to negotiate with the shogun were executed.

All Europeans were expelled except the Dutch, who were allowed to send to ships to Nagasaki annually. Every Japanese person who attempted to leave Japan, and then returned, was executed. For nearly 250 years, Japan was sealed off from contact with the outside world.

Sengoku Jidai

Sengoku Jidai

The 100 years from the end of the 15th to the end of the 16th century is known in Japan as the Sengoku Jidai, the Warring States Era (or Era of the Country at War), named after a period in China during the third century c.e. The Ashikaga Shogunate, established in 1338, and headquartered in Kyoto, enjoyed approximately a century of power.

The shogunal government, or bakufu, was, however, unstable because it depended on deputies to look after its interests in the provinces and became ineffective when the original bonds between the shoguns and their deputies loosened with time.

The deputies, who were hereditary military governors, consolidated their holdings by appointing a single heir (a son, not necessarily the eldest) rather than letting all sons inherit a portion of their holdings, organized local warriors as military officers, and recruited peasants as soldiers.


The nature of war changed during this period. Individual combat between heavily mounted aristocrats was replaced by large armies of foot-soldiers armed with pikes, and, after the appearance of Portuguese in 1543, with muskets.

The widespread use of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Born a peasant, he rose to unify Japan through ambition and treachery. General lawlessness also led to the emergence of armed and powerful religious sects, the most powerful being the True Pureland Buddhists, who controlled a province on the Sea of Japan and strongholds in the Kyoto-Osaka region.

Onin War (1467–77) fought between two claimants seeking to be Yoshinori’s successor, championed by two factions of the ruling family.

Samurai Commanders of the early Sengoku period.

The war destroyed the remaining authority of the shogunate, ended the system on which it was built, and led to a century of endemic warfare called the Sengoku Jidai. The wars continued because no single family or leader emerged to unify the country. The needs of war led the successful contenders to consolidate their holdings and form alliances by pledging allegiance to more powerful lords in a pattern similar to feudalism in Europe during the Middle Ages. The territorial lords were called daimyo.

Early Europeans who traveled to Japan mistakenly called the daimyo kings or princes. In the second half of the 16th century, the process of unification would advance under three leaders, Oda Nobunaga (1534–82), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1542–98), and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616).

The Sengoku abad was also culturally brilliant and economically vibrant. The imperial court, also in Kyoto, was both powerless and poverty stricken. The shoguns continued to use their great wealth to patronize the arts, building magnificent palaces and temples in Kyoto and sponsoring dramatic presentations.

Poetry and painting flourished, influenced by Zen Buddhism, as did landscaping and the tea ceremony, all influenced by the aesthetics of Song (Sung) dynasty China. Similarly many daimyo also patronized the arts. The economy grew, despite as well as stimulated by the wars.

Agricultural advances produced surpluses that generated trade, mainly with China and Korea. Widespread piracy led the Ming government of China to negotiate a system of officially sanctioned and regulated trade with the shoguns, which was unsuccessful because the bakufu lacked the power of enforcement.

Japan imported porcelains, paintings, books, medicine, and copper coins from China and exported raw materials, such as copper and sulfur, as well as finished products such as swords, decorative screens, and folding fans, indicative of sophisticated manufacturing and craft industries in Japan.

Towns and ports flourished—for example Hataka in Kyushu (the destination of Qubilai Khan’s invading fleet)—the center for trade with Korea. Money was replacing tukar barang trade, initially in the form of coins imported from China, later also in the form of bills of exchange.

The Sengoku abad was important in Japanese history as a transition period from a decentralized estate and feudal system to a centralized feudal state. It was also an abad of cultural brilliance and economic growth.