I read about the Tokugawa period, and how the period was governed by a shogun. The shogun was at the top of the social class. However, there were daimyo, lords, who had their own lands and what they said go. Japan was not exactly unified because each lord decided there currency, tax systems, and even had military forces. The book did not go into much detail about these military forces, which were the famous samurais. We know they were at the top in society, however it did not go into depth about their daily lives. I did some research about the samurais, and found an article The Samurai Class of the Tokugawa Period. During the Tokugawa period it was very peaceful, meaning there was no need for samurais bring them down financially. Samurais' would generally work for a daimyo and some would even work for the shogun. The samurais' who worked for the shoguns' lived a better life, financially, some were extremely rich. But there were some samurais' who just roamed called Ronin and they did not have a stable income. They found employment wherever and sometimes they would work for farmers or teach. There was a wide range of where a samurai was in a social structure, however their loyalty, and honor was admired. That is why during the Tokugawa period many of the samurais learned about poetry, art, and teaching. Tokugawa was a peaceful era which had not much need of samurais' and they promoted education among the samurais. As you can see, the peace also increased the amount of educated people along with Confucianism.
ARTICLE:
Lain. "The Samurai Class of the Tokugawa Period". Associated Content News. November 17,2009.
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Karla, I did a a little research and was wondering if you could answer this question. If the samurais which represented the Japanese army for numerous years, why they stood down in the 1840s when European and American powers threatened their ways and did not fight back. I was just curious on your input of this question.
ReplyDeleteCarson, I think I can answer your question. Based on the research I've done, it seems that samuari had already lost their role as warriors by the early 17th century. They had become upper class bureaucrats, and administrators, and generally stopped fighting in any kind of army.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, Japan was never really attacked by the Europeans or Americans, so they had no need to defend themselves against these external threats, because the threats did not exist.
Japan was an isolationist country for about 200 years, from the early 1600s until 1844; in 1844, William II of the Netherlands asked Japan to open its borders to international trade, however this request was rejected by the shogunate. On July 8, 1853, Japan came in contact with Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy, who also wanted Japan to end its era of seclusion. Perry's massive black ships were enough to intimidate Japan's military forces (including the samurai), and convince the Japanese leaders (also, including many samurai) to open their borders.
So, to get back to your original question, Japan was essentially bullied into opening their borders. They feared the immense force of the US, with their high level of military technology, and chose to go along with the commodore's requests.