History - Kyoto - page 348

PEACE & SECLUSION
The supporters of Hideyoshi's young heir, Toyotomi Hideyori, were defeated in 1600 by
his former ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu, at the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in Gifu prefecture.
Ieyasu set up his bakufu (literally, field headquarters) at Edo, marking the start of the Edo
(Tokugawa) period (1600-1868). Meanwhile the emperor and court exercised purely nom-
inal authority in Kyoto.
Samurai William , by Giles Milton, is one of the most interesting accounts of the early Tok-
ugawa period. It tells the story of William Adams, a shipwrecked English sailor, who gains
the confidence of Shōgun Ieyasu.
There emerged a pressing fear of religious intrusion (seen as a siphoning of loyalty to the
shōgun) and Tokugawa set out to stabilise society and the national economy. Eager for
trade, he was initially tolerant of Christian missionary activities but, fearing the Christians
would support Hideyori's efforts to resist the bakufu military government, he took steps to
prohibit Christianity before destroying the Toyotomi family. Japan entered a period of
sakoku (national seclusion) during which Japanese were forbidden on pain of death to
travel to (or return from) overseas or to trade abroad. As efforts to expel foreign influences
spread, only Dutch, Chinese and Koreans were allowed to remain, under strict supervision,
and trade was restricted to the artificial island of Dejima at Nagasaki.
The Tokugawa family retained large estates and took control of major cities, ports and
mines; the remainder of the country was allocated to autonomous daimyō . Foreign affairs
and trade were monopolised by the shōgunate, which yielded great financial authority over
the daimyō . Tokugawa society was strictly hierarchical. In descending order of importance
were the nobility, who had nominal power; the daimyō and their samurai; farmers; and, at
the bottom, artisans and merchants. Mobility from one class to another was blocked; social
standing was determined by birth.
To ensure political security, the daimyō were required to make ceremonial visits to Edo
every alternate year, while their wives and children were kept in permanent residence in
Edo as virtual hostages of the government. At the lower end of society, farmers were sub-
ject to a severe system of rules that dictated in minute detail their food, clothing and hous-
ing and land surveys which were designed to extract the greatest tax yield possible.
The Coming of the Barbarians , by Pat Barr, is perhaps the most interesting account of the opening
of Japan in the mid-19th century.