Edo period

[citation needed] Ieyasu's victory over the western daimyo at the Battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600, or in the old Japanese calendar, on the 15th day of the ninth month of the fifth year of the Keichō era) gave him control of all Japan.

The political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han (domains) to describe the government and society of the period.

[citation needed] The Tokugawa shogunate not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, but also had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all daimyo, and the religious orders.

The code encompassed private conduct, marriage, dress, types of weapons, and numbers of troops allowed; required feudal lords to reside in Edo every other year (the sankin-kōtai system); prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships; restricted castles to one per domain (han) and stipulated that bakufu regulations were the national law.

Although the daimyo were not taxed per se, they were regularly levied for contributions to military and logistical support and for public works such as projects as castles, roads, bridges, and palaces.

It is at the beginning of the Edo period that Japan built its first ocean-going warships, such as the San Juan Bautista, a 500-ton galleon-type ship that transported a Japanese embassy headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga to the Americas and then to Europe.

The upper strata was much given to elaborate and expensive rituals, including elegant architecture, landscaped gardens, Noh drama, patronage of the arts, and the tea ceremony.

Economic development during the Tokugawa period included urbanization, increased shipping of commodities, a significant expansion of domestic and, initially, foreign commerce, and a diffusion of trade and handicraft industries.

However, the Neo-Confucian ideology of the shogunate focused the virtues of frugality and hard work; it had a rigid class system, which emphasized agriculture and despised commerce and merchants.

He raised taxes, denounced luxuries and tried to impede the growth of business; he failed and it appeared to many that the continued existence of the entire Tokugawa system was in jeopardy.

Increased demand for timber resources for construction, shipbuilding and fuel had led to widespread deforestation, which resulted in forest fires, floods and soil erosion.

[19] Beyond kanji (Chinese characters), the Confucian classics, calligraphy, basic arithmetics, and etiquette,[25] the samurai also learned various martial arts and military skills in schools.

Because of the technical originality and sophistication of his Myriad year clock and karakuri puppet, they are difficult to restore even today, and are considered to be a highly mechanical heritage prior to Japan's modernization.

The paintings and crafts of the Rinpa school are characterized by highly decorative and showy designs using gold and silver leaves, bold compositions with simplified objects to be drawn, repeated patterns, and a playful spirit.

Ukiyo-e is a genre of painting and printmaking that developed in the late 17th century, at first depicting the entertainments of the pleasure districts of Edo, such as courtesans and kabuki actors.

The Edo period was characterized by an unprecedented series of economic developments (despite termination of contact with the outside world) and cultural maturation, especially in terms of theater, music, and other entertainment.

Particularly popular among ordinary people were stalls serving fast food such as soba, sushi, tempura, and unagi, tofu restaurants, teahouses and izakaya (Japanese-style pubs).

The cause for the end of this period is controversial but is often recounted as resulting from the forced opening of Japan to the world, by Commodore Matthew Perry of the US Navy, whose armada (known by the Japanese as "the black ships") fired weapons from Edo Bay.

Historians consider that a major contributing factor to the decline of the Tokugawa was "poor management of the central government by the shōgun, which caused the social classes in Japan to fall apart".

[attribution needed][70] From the outset, the Tokugawa attempted to restrict families' accumulation of wealth and fostered a "back to the soil" policy, in which the farmer, the ultimate producer, was the ideal person in society.

The shōgun's advisers pushed for a return to the martial spirit, more restrictions on foreign trade and contacts, suppression of rangaku, censorship of literature, and elimination of "luxury" in the government and samurai class.

Others sought the overthrow of the Tokugawa and espoused the political doctrine of sonnō jōi (revere the emperor, expel the barbarians), which called for unity under imperial rule and opposed foreign intrusions.

Japan turned down a demand from the United States, which was greatly expanding its own presence in the Asia-Pacific region, to establish diplomatic relations when Commodore James Biddle appeared in Edo Bay with two warships in July 1846.

Lacking consensus, Abe decided to compromise by accepting Perry's demands for opening Japan to foreign trade while also making military preparations.

Opposition to Abe increased within fudai circles, which opposed opening bakufu councils to tozama daimyo, and he was replaced in 1855 as chairman of the senior councilors by Hotta Masayoshi (1810–1864).

At the head of the dissident faction was Tokugawa Nariaki, who had long embraced a militant loyalty to the emperor along with anti-foreign sentiments, and who had been put in charge of national defense in 1854.

The court officials, perceiving the weakness of the bakufu, rejected Hotta's request and thus suddenly embroiled Kyoto and the emperor in Japan's internal politics for the first time in many centuries.

By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868, the Japanese navy of the shōgun already possessed eight Western-style steam warships around the flagship Kaiyō Maru, which were used against pro-imperial forces during the Boshin War under the command of Admiral Enomoto.

A French military mission was established to help modernize the armies of the bakufu.Revering the emperor as a symbol of unity, extremists wrought violence and death against the Bakufu and Han authorities and foreigners.

There is a cultural theme park called Edo Wonderland Nikko Edomura in the Kinugawa Onsen area of Nikkō, Tochigi, north of Tokyo.