INTRODUCTION

● From years 1603 to 1869, the country of Japan was under the rule of the
Tokugawa Shogunate. During this period of Japanese history, the country
suffered from a feudal military dictatorship under the rule of the shoguns of
the Tokugawa family

● The Tokugawa Shogunate was the most effective government that Japan
had experienced so far in its history, but it was not a centralized monarchy.
The shogun shared power and authority with the local daimyo in a system
known as Bakuhan. Bakuhan was a combination of the bakufu, which
functioned as the central government, and the han, feudal domains under
the control of the daimyo. The Tokugawa family had direct control over one
quarter of the productive land in the country. The rest were dominated by
the daimyo, who had their own governments, castle towns, warrior armies,
tax and land systems, and courts.

● The Feudal period in Japan, also known as the Edo period, was a time
when the caste system was very firmly fixed and only the feudal lords and
the samurai stood on top. Japan also became isolated because of foreign
policies rejecting any offers from western nations to trade with the
exception of the Dutch. Eventually due to the strict social orders and the
exploitation of the peasant class by the government Japan became socially
unstable

● It was until the arrival of the United States naval ships led by Commodore
Matthew Perry that Japan was forced to end its isolation from the western
empires. This event created crisis within the country leading to the downfall
of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s Bakuhan. Opposition forces in Japan used
the humiliating intrusion of foreigners as an excuse to overthrow the
discredited shogun and the Tokugawa bakufu.
Distinctive Features of the Bakuhan System

–Centralized Feudalism: The Bakuhan system was a combination of the central

government (bakufu) led by the shogun and semi-autonomous regional domains
(han) governed by daimyos. This system allowed the Tokugawa Shogunate to
maintain control while granting local autonomy to the daimyos.

–Isolationist Foreign Policy (Sakoku): Japan adopted a policy of national

seclusion, severely limiting foreign trade and influence, primarily allowing trade
only with the Dutch through the port of Nagasaki.

–Sankin-kotai System: Daimyos were required to alternate their residence

between their own domain and Edo, where they had to leave their families as
hostages, ensuring loyalty to the shogunate.

–Rigid Social Hierarchy: Society was divided into four main classes (samurai,
farmers, artisans, merchants) with strict social mobility rules.

THESE IN TURN WERE ALSO DEVOLVED INTO WHAT CAUSED THE

DOWNFALL OF THE BAKUHAN

The economic weakening of the Tokugawa feudalism had been serious by the
early 18th century. Moreover, the Shogunate itself was on the whole better off
than most of the daimyo. It could debase the currency to its own advantage and it
controlled all the great cities and most of the economically advanced parts of the
country. This along with the increase of urbanization and problems of corruption
also could be the economic aspect of the downfall

However,It would be hard to argue that the Shogunate fell from the economic
difficulties, all the easier.The downfall of the Tokugawa regime was thus the result
of the conjunction of 2 processes:
• the internal decay of feudal society
• pressure from the Western nations
INTERNAL DECAY

The Tokugawa society was Confucian based. Confucian concepts of natural law
and social hierarchy were applied in determining not only social control and
status, but also a moral order and code of conduct for all classes.

This also became the basis of the four-fold class system, known as shi-no-ko-sho
(warriorfarmer-artisan merchant), which placed samurai, farmer, artisan, and
merchant in a natural order of merit and importance.

● Samurai were at the top stage of the social hierarchical order. The samurai
were part of the ruling class consisting of shogun, daimyo, and his
retainers. The samurai enjoyed consistency of status, wealth, and power.
There were three ranks of samurai — upper, middle, and lower.

● Below them were the peasants, who were accorded second place in
society because they produced the basic essential food. However, they
were exploited and were deprived of many privileges\They were even
forbidden to drink tea of superior quality.

● The peasants were followed by artisans. The carpenter, the mechanic, the
weaver, artist, sculptor, crafts-worker, were all included in this class. The
artisans mostly were in the same kind of predicament as the peasants.

● The chonin (merchants) were at the lowest stage of the social ladder. The
chonin were not given a high status because according to Confucian
ethics, a trader lived on the labour of others. They were not allowed to
used palanquins, wear silk or carry swords.

All the four classes were assigned their distinct roles and were not allowed to
interact with each other. Each class was facing social, economic, and
psychological problems and were unhappy in the Tokugawa regime.
1-DAMYOS(sanken kotai)

The sankin kotai system which was a powerful system of check on daimyos
further fuelled the money economy. Under this system the daimyos had to
undertake substantial expenditure to maintain his annual journey to and from Edo
and maintain his life both in Edo and his own domain. The daimyo had to finance
his whole staff that travelled with him to the capital and this slowly started
becoming an area of competitive display among the daimyos. The daimyo was to
also entertain the shogun. He was to keep his castles in good condition and pay
for irrigation and other land projects back in his own domain.
During war of Sakihabara those against the Tokugawa were placed the furthest
away from edo thus it was even more expensive for them,example the TOZAWA,
thus resentment was high.

Thus now the taxes in form of rice was being sold to the Chonins by the Damyos
in order to finance their entourage, high price fluctuations landed damyos in
heavy debts while also social upward mobility for the Damoyos

● Samurai was unhappy because he held superior social status but had
declined financially. In order to cope up with the increasing economic
difficulties, the daimyo-samurai had become dependent upon the rich
peasants and merchants for loanss

This indebtedness of the top social class to the lowest class obviously
undermined the whole theory and spirit of the Tokugawa system.

● Artisans and peasants were unhappy because of poverty and shortage of

food.

● The chief cause of chonin's discontent was their inferior social status and
the richest of them suffered from various interferences, high taxes and
other restrictions by the bakufu.
Thus, the rise of a daimyo-ronin-chonin alliance with a distinct anti-bakuhan
character and a common cause to end the Tokugawa regime,according to
Barrington Moore Jr.,
and represented a breakdown of the rigid social hierarchies that was part of the
system of what John K. Fairbank called ‘centralized feudalism’.

Nathaniel Peffer claimed that the nice balance of the Tokugawa clan, the lesser
feudal lords and their attendant samurai, the peasants, artisans and merchants
could be kept steady only as long as all the weights in the scale were even.
However, according to him, the emergence of the Japanese version of the
European bourgeoisie from amongst the merchant classes was the real
dealbreaker in the entire precariously balanced equation

EXTERNAL THREAT

● The United States, by taking California in the Mexican War (1846-48), had
become a Pacific power practically overnight. In 1853, a fleet of American
warships commanded by Commodore Perry delivered a conciliatory letter
from the president to the Japanese head of state and a more belligerent
letter written by Perry himself. The gist of Perry's message was that Japan
had better open its doors to the West or the United States would kick down
those doors and force Japan to trade.

● According to J.W.Hall, “the western pressure was acutely felt first as a

threat to national security and secondly as a stimulus to reform”. The
Japanese at that time felt that seclusion from foreign policies was good
because they needed nothing from the western nations. They also feared
that the western nations would invade their nation and colonize their
territory. The Japanese knew what happened to the Chinese and how they
were forced to sign unequal treaties during the Opium Wars. For these
reasons, the people of Japan saw this western invasion as dangerous for
their country and they blamed the Tokugawa Shogunate for being weak.
 ● On March 31st 1854 called the Kanagawa Treaty of Friendship. The
opposition became more vocal and the two slogans of Son-no Jo-i revere
the emperor and expel the barbarians) began to echo throughout Japan.
Expelling the barbarian almost acted as a licence to openly engage in
anti-shogun movements.

CHOSHU SATSUMA
The Treaties had infuriated the aristocracy. It was the last nail on the
Tokugawa coffin. The Tozama daimyos took the lead in the movement to
replace the Tokugawa rule. The first crucial step in this direction was by the Toza
clan demanding the resignation of the Tokugawa shogun in 1867. The
Satsuma-Choshu alliance of 1866 was an important political development
of the period. In 1867 armed contingents from Satsuma and Choshu
moved towards Kyoto. They stormed the imperial premises on 3rd January,
1868