World History: Tokugawa Shogunate (Feudal Japan) Reading & Graphic Organizer Standard: SSWH11 Examine political and social changes in Japan and in China from the fourteenth century CE/AD to mid-nineteenth century CE/AD. a. Describe the impact of the Tokugawa Shogunate policies on the social structure of Japan.

Tokugawa Ieyasu set up a feudal style government in Japan which lasted from 1600 to 1868. The political & social structure of feudal Japan had the emperor at the top. He had little political power but was a national figure head for Japan as it was believed he was descended from the gods. The real power in Japan was held by political leaders called shoguns. Below the shoguns was a group of nobles called daimyos who governed an area of land and received taxes from peasants. To keep their power and influence over the daimyos, the shoguns forced daimyos to live during part of the year in the capital of Edo (later Tokyo). This put a large financial burden on the daimyos because they had to maintain 2 households and travel long distances.

The next social class below the daimyo were the samurai warriors. They were similar to knights in medieval Europe. Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, however, they were forced to serve as bureaucrats (civil servants) and were paid a salary by the shogun. Ronin, or paid soldiers were under the samurai and made up the warrior class along with shoguns, daimyos, & samurai. Among the other common people in the Tokugawa Shogunate, the peasants were the next highest class and made up 75-90% of the total population. They were mainly farmers & fishermen. Artisans or crafts people then merchants (sales people) made up the lowest two classes.

Tokugawa period in Japan was a time of peace and stability. Internal trade was successful, road systems improved, merchants & artisans became wealthy, and cities prospered and expanded. The Tokugawa Shoguns also encouraged a policy of isolation by kicking out Christian missionaries, setting strict trade restrictions, and limiting contact with foreigners.

By the 1800’s (19th Century), the Tokugawa Shogunate was overrun with corruption. Daimyos struggled financially because of having to live part time at Edo and their wealth was tied up in land and not cash. The Samurai did not like being bureaucrats and were tired of not having wealth even though they were nobles. Peasants were taxed heavily and merchants were at the bottom of the social structure and had not real power in spite of their wealth. Finally, Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States influenced the Tokugawa Shogunate to end Japan’s isolation by a show of force in the 1850’s. Opponents of the deals made by the Tokugawa Shogunate with the Americans and other foreign nations overthrew the Shogunate and reestablished the Emperor in the Meiji Restoration.