A Closed Society

Edo Japan

In what ways might a country’s choice to remain isolated both reflect its worldview and result from its worldview?

Worldview Inquiry

In the early 1500s, Japan had welcomed Portuguese traders.

By 1848, Japan was driving away outsiders.Why?

Locking Out the World

By late 1500s and early 1600s, the ruling shogun came to consider foreigners threat to his military control (daimyo might challenge the shogun’s authority with European weapons)

Shogun felt loyalty to a Christian God and the Church were threats to his authority

1614, ordered all Christian missionaries to leave the country; destroyed churches; Japanese Christians executed

Persecution lasted until 1640 – estimated many thousands of Japanese Christian and about 70 missionaries were put to death.

Threats from the West:

When the shogun ordered the Christian daimyos to give up their new religion, they usually followed his orders.

Converted ronin and peasants were more defiant.

Why do you think the lower classes were more likely to defy the shogun’s orders and keep their new religious beliefs?

Why did missionaries risk death to try to convert the Japanese?

Missionaries continued to come to Japan disguised as traders.

Because of this, shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu passed isolation, or exclusion, laws.

The penalty for breaking any of these laws was death.

Cutting off Contact

All Christian missionaries and foreign traders were forced to leave Japan. Newcomers were no longer allowed to enter.

The Japanese were not allowed to go abroad.Ships large enough to make long voyages could no

longer be built and exiting ones were destroyed.Japanese who were out of the country were

forbidden to return.Most foreign objects were forbidden. All foreign

books containing a Christian message were banned; scientific books were forbidden.

Terms of the Exclusion Laws:

In addition, the shogunate tightened controls on movement within Japan. Needed special documents to travel from one

domain to anotherCurfew (night)Wheeled transport was banned

In 1639, the shogun banned Portuguese ships in Japan and expelled all foreigners except for Dutch, Korean, and Chinese traders.

The isolation policy was for national security (eliminate threats to his power and protect Japanese culture).

Honour and duty in our lives:Very important in Edo society (Lord Asano

and the 47 ronin)Honour and death were more important than

law.

Honor and Duty

Tokugawa used the social structure to support his rule (feudalism)

Social Controls: the rules and customs in a society that regulate people’s behavior - purpose: to maintain order

Confucianism: important role in the acceptance of class distinctions (taught everyone they had a proper place in society)Modest/work and study hard/proper

behavior/compassion

Toward a Harmonious Society

Ruler Subject

Father Children

Husband Wife

Older brother Younger brother

Friend Friend

Duties and Obligations:•To be a wise and just leader•To support and provide for the other•To protect the other

Duties and Obligations:•To obey•To respect•To honour

Five Basic Relationships

Samurai were masters of farmers, artisans, and merchants

Used power to keep orderOrganized lower classes into groups of five

families called goningumi (members were to help each other)

Group members were responsible for the behavior of others in the group – all could be punished if one person was disobedient, disrespectful to a superior or did not work hard enough.

Group Responsibility and Shame:

Shogunate used military and social controls to shape Edo society (developed a strong sense of identity)

1534 Age of European Exploration(50 years before Tokugawa Ieyasu united Japan)

1543 a Portuguese ship wrecked off the shore of a small Japanese island (traders)

Came from a southerly direction so became known as “southern barbarians”

Soon followed by Spanish, Dutch and British Traders and Christian missionaries.

First contact With the West

First contacts were favorable however they had many cultural and religious differences.

Portuguese society had been influenced by Renaissance values and ideals which favored competition/individuality/more flexible social structure

Francis Xavier, a Jesuit, arrived in Japan in 1549 to start missions to convert the upper classes, the daimyo and the samuai, to Christianity.

Both the Japanese beliefs and Christianity had ethical codes (rules about right and wrong behavior)

The Christian idea of one God was a new idea to the Japanese

The Japanese believed in loyalty to daimyo, emperor, and the shogun

Christians taught that a person’s spiritual loyalty should be to God in Heaven.

New Kind of Belief