《最新更新日: Nov 12, 2022》
徳川の江戸時代 (Tokugawa Edo Period)
《見出しが太字以外は参考までに載せています》
Preface
Chronology/ Major events of the Edo Tokugawa shogunate
↑英語と日本語を併記しているので、覚えるのに便利と思います。
歴史的現在…歴史上の事柄などは現在時制で表す
私のブログ/ My blog
徳川家康と徳川慶喜の墓/Graves of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Yoshinobu
↑参勤交代制度、江戸の文化や娯楽、人口、年号について
↑江戸時代の関連地震についてもこちら
Preface
Last month (May, 2022) I happened to see the graves of Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa Shogun, and Yoshinobu, the last Shogun.
I recently came to think that the relatively peaceful times of Edo Period wad so precious. In Japan, there were almost no major wars in the Edo period for about 250 years. Isn't this surprising from a global perspective?
In this article, I would like to summarize the Edo period expecially focusing on the outstanding points.
(Articles are mainly from Wikipedia.)
初めに
私は先月(2022年5月）たまたま初代徳川将軍の家康と最後の将軍の慶喜の墓を見ました。
最近になって、江戸時代の平和な時代はとても貴重だったと思うようになりました。 約250年、ほぼ大きな戦争がなかった江戸時代の日本。これって、世界的にみて凄いことでは？
ここでは、江戸時代の優れたところを中心に、江戸時代についてまとめておきたいと思います。 （記事は主にウィキペディアより）
Edo period and the Relationship between the Shogunate and Domains
The Edo period (江戸時代i) or Tokugawa period (徳川時代) is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional daimyo (大名）.
On March 24, 1603, the shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu （徳川家康）. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration （明治維新）on May 3, 1868, after the fall of Edo with Yoshinobu (慶喜）, a bloodless surrender of Edo Castle (江戸城無血開城).
In the early 17 century, a code of laws was established to regulate the daimyo houses. 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-koutai system 参勤交代制度); prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships; proscribed Christianity; restricted castles to one per domain (han 藩) and stipulated that shogunate (bakufu 幕府）regulations were the national law.
*code=ｺｳﾄﾞｩ=法典、規則
*encompass=～を取り囲む(=surround)、～を包含する(=include)
*reside=住む、駐在する
*proscribe=ﾌﾟﾛﾌｸﾗｲﾌﾞ=～を法律で禁止する（=forbid)
*stipulate=～を規定する、明記する(=state)
The han, once military-centered domains, became mere local administrative units. The daimyo did have full administrative control over their territory and their complex systems of retainers, bureaucrats and commoners.
Consolidation of the shogunate
Ieyasu's victory over the western daimyo at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyo houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, and redistributed the spoils of war to his family and allies. Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyo, but his assumption of the title of shōgun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his power base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada as shōgun and himself as retired shōgun in 1605. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication. In 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka.
The Tokugawa (or Edo) period brought 250 years of stability to 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.1 In the bakuhan, the shōgun had national authority and the daimyo had regional authority. This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The Tokugawa became more powerful during their first century of rule: land redistribution gave them nearly seven million koku, control of the most important cities, and a land assessment system reaping great revenues.
The Tokugawa shogunate not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, they also had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all daimyo and the religious orders.
The emperor was held up as the ultimate source of political sanction for the shōgun, who ostensibly was the vassal of the imperial family. The Tokugawa helped the imperial family recapture its old glory by rebuilding its palaces and granting it new lands. To ensure a close tie between the imperial clan and the Tokugawa family, Ieyasu's granddaughter was made an imperial consort in 1619.
Foreign trade relationse: Sakoku
Like Hideyoshi, Ieyasu encouraged foreign trade but also was suspicious of outsiders. He wanted to make Edo a major port, but once he learned that the Europeans favored ports in Kyūshū and that China had rejected his plans for official trade, he moved to control existing trade and allowed only certain ports to handle specific kinds of commodities.
The beginning of the Edo period coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade period during which intense interaction with European powers, on the economic and religious plane, took place. 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. Also during that period, the bakufu commissioned around 720 Red Seal Ships, three-masted and armed trade ships, for intra-Asian commerce. Japanese adventurers, such as Yamada Nagamasa, used those ships throughout Asia.
The "Christian problem" was, in effect, a problem of controlling both the Christian daimyo in Kyūshū and their trade with the Europeans.
By 1612, the shōgun's retainers and residents of Tokugawa lands had been ordered to forswear Christianity.
More restrictions came in 1616 (the restriction of foreign trade to Nagasaki and Hirado, an island northwest of Kyūshū), 1622 (the execution of 120 missionaries and converts), 1624 (the expulsion of the Spanish), and 1629 (the execution of thousands of Christians).
Finally, the Closed Country Edict of 1635 prohibited any Japanese from traveling outside Japan or, if someone left, from ever returning.
In 1636, the Dutch were restricted to Dejima, a small artificial island—and thus, not true Japanese soil—in Nagasaki's harbor.
The shogunate perceived Christianity to be an extremely destabilizing factor, and so decided to target it.
The Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–38, in which discontented Catholic samurai and peasants rebelled against the bakufu—and Edo called in Dutch ships to bombard the rebel stronghold—marked the end of the Christian movement, although some Christians survived by going underground, the so-called Kakure Kirishitan.
Soon thereafter, the Portuguese were permanently expelled, members of the Portuguese diplomatic mission were executed, all subjects were ordered to register at a Buddhist or Shinto temple, and the Dutch and Chinese were restricted, respectively, to Dejima and to a special quarter in Nagasaki.
Besides small trade of some outer daimyo with Korea and the Ryukyu Islands, to the southwest of Japan's main islands, by 1641, foreign contacts were limited by the policy of sakoku to Nagasaki.
The last Jesuit was either killed or reconverted by 1644 and by the 1660s, Christianity was almost completely eradicated, and its external political, economic, and religious influence on Japan became quite limited. Only China, the Dutch East India Company, and for a short period, the English, enjoyed the right to visit Japan during this period, for commercial purposes only, and they were restricted to the Dejima port in Nagasaki.
Other Europeans who landed on Japanese shores were put to death without trial.
Edo Society
During the Tokugawa period, the social order, based on inherited position rather than personal merits, was rigid and highly formalized.
At the top were the emperor and court nobles (kuge), together with the shōgun and daimyo. Below them the population was divided into four classes in a system known as mibunsei (身分制): the samurai on top (about 5% of the population) and the peasants (more than 80% of the population) on the second level. Below the peasants were the craftsmen, and even below them, on the fourth level, were the merchants.4 Only the peasants lived in the rural areas. Samurai, craftsmen and merchants lived the cities that were built around daimyo castles, each restricted to their own quarter. Edo society had an elaborate social structure, in which every family knew its place and level of prestige.5
Outside the four classes were the so-called eta and hinin, those whose professions broke the taboos of Buddhism. Eta were butchers, tanners and undertakers. Hinin served as town guards, street cleaners, and executioners. Other outsiders included the beggars, entertainers, and prostitutes. The word eta literally translates to "filthy" and hinin to "non-humans", a thorough reflection of the attitude held by other classes that the eta and hinin were not even people.
In the 19th century the umbrella term burakumin was coined to name the eta and hinin because both classes were forced to live in separate village neighborhoods. The eta, hinin and burakumin classes were officially abolished in 1871. However, their cultural and societal impact, including some forms of discrimination, continues into modern times.
Economic development
The Edo period passed on a vital commercial sector to be in flourishing urban centers, a relatively well-educated elite, a sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, a closely unified nation with highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads.
Economic development included urbanization, increased shipping of commodities, a significant expansion of domestic and, initially, foreign commerce, and a diffusion of trade and handicraft industries. The construction trades flourished, along with banking facilities and merchant associations.
Increasingly, han authorities oversaw the rising agricultural production and the spread of rural handicrafts.
*diffusion=拡散、普及、伝播
*banking=堤防、銀行業 bank=土手、堤、～に堤を築く/ 銀行、銀行業を営む
Samurai and daimyos, after prolonged peace, are accustomed to more elaborate lifestyles To keep up with growing expenditures, the bakufu and daimyos often encouraged commercial crops and artifacts within their domains, from textiles to tea. The concentration of wealth also led to the development of financial markets.
As the shogunate only allowed daimyos to sell surplus rice in Edo and Osaka, large-scale rice markets developed there.
Each daimyo also had a capital city, located near the one castle they were allowed to maintain. Daimyos would have agents in various commercial centers, selling rice and cash crops, often exchanged for paper credit to be redeemed elsewhere. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, and currency came into common use. In the cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services.
Agriculture
Rice was the base of the economy. The Tokugawa era brought peace, and that brought prosperity to a nation of 31 million, 80% of them rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control the all-important flow of water to their paddies. The daimyos operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade.
*locus (複loci)=ろｳｶｽｩ(ろｳｻｲ）=（活動の）中心、中枢
Large-scale rice markets developed, centered on Edo and Ōsaka. In the cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants, while low in status, prospered, especially those with official patronage. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, currency came into common use, and the strengthening credit market encouraged entrepreneurship.
The daimyo collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, often at around 40%-50% of the harvest. The rice was sold at the fudasashi market in Edo. To raise money, the daimyo used forward contracts to sell rice that was not even harvested yet. These contracts were similar to modern futures trading.
It was during the Edo period that Japan developed an advanced forest management policy. Increased demand for timber resources for construction, shipbuilding and fuel had led to widespread deforestation, which resulted in forest fires, floods and soil erosion.
In response the shogun, beginning around 1666, instituted a policy to reduce logging and increase the planting of trees. The policy mandated that only the shogun and daimyo could authorize the use of wood.
By the 18th century, Japan had developed detailed scientific knowledge about silviculture and plantation forestry.
Artistic and intellectual development
Education
The first shogun Ieyasu set up Confucian academies in his shinpan domains and other daimyos followed suit in their own domains, establishing what's known as han schools (藩校, hankō).
Within a generation, almost all samurai were literate, as their careers often required knowledge of literary arts These academies were staffed mostly with other samurai, along with some buddhist and shinto clergymen who were also learned in Neo-Confucianism and the works of Zhu Xi. Beyond kanji (Chinese characters), the Confucian classics, calligraphy, basic arithmetics, and etiquette, the samurai also learned various martial arts and military skills in schools.
The chōnin (urban merchants and artisans) patronized neighborhood schools called terakoya (寺子屋, "temple schools").
Despite being located in temples, the terakoya curriculum consisted of basic literacy and arithmetic, instead of literary arts or philosophy.
High rates of urban literacy in Edo contributed to the prevalence of novels and other literary forms.
In urban areas, children are often taught by masterless samurai, while in rural areas priests from Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines often did the teaching. Unlike in the cities, in rural Japan, only children of prominent farmers would receive education.
In Edo, the shogunate set up several schools under its direct patronage, the most important being the neo-Confucian Shōheikō (昌平黌) acting as a de facto elite school for its bureaucracy but also creating a network of alumni from the whole country.
Besides Shoheikō, other important directly-run schools at the end of the shogunate included the Wagakukōdansho (和学講談所, "Institute of Lectures of Japanese classics"), specialized in Japanese domestic history and literature, influencing the rise of kokugaku, and the Igakukan (医学間, "Institute of medecine"), focusing on Chinese medicine.
One estimate of literacy in Edo suggest that up to a third of males could read, along with a sixth of women. Another estimate states that 40% of men and 10% of women by the end of the Edo period were literate.
According to another estimate, around 1800, almost 100% of the samurai class and about 50% to 60% of the chōnin (craftsmen and merchants) class and nōmin (peasants) class were literate.
Some historians partially credited Japan's relatively high literacy rates for its fast development after the Meiji Restoration.
As the literacy rate was so high that many ordinary people could read books, books in various genres such as cooking, gardening, travel guides, art books, scripts of bunraku (puppet theatre), kibyōshi (satirical novels), sharebon (books on urban culture), kokkeibon (comical books), ninjōbon (romance novel), yomihon and kusazōshi were published.
Philosophy and religion
Buddhism and Shinto were both still important in Tokugawa Japan.
Buddhism, together with neo-Confucianism, provided standards of social behavior. Although Buddhism was not as politically powerful as it had been in the past, Buddhism continued to be espoused by the upper classes. Proscriptions against Christianity benefited Buddhism in 1640 when the bakufu ordered everyone to register at a temple.
The rigid separation of Tokugawa society into han, villages, wards, and households helped reaffirm local Shinto attachments. Shinto provided spiritual support to the political order and was an important tie between the individual and the community. Shinto also helped preserve a sense of national identity.
Shinto eventually assumed an intellectual form as shaped by neo-Confucian rationalism and materialism. The kokugaku (国学）movement emerged from the interactions of these two belief systems. Kokugaku contributed to the emperor-centered nationalism of modern Japan and the revival of Shinto as a national creed in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Kojiki (古事記）, Nihon Shoki (日本書紀）, and Man'yōshū (万葉集）were all studied anew in the search for the Japanese spirit. Some purists in the kokugaku movement, such as Motoori Norinaga (本居宣長 1730-1801), even criticized the Confucian and Buddhist influences—in effect, foreign influences—for contaminating Japan's ancient ways. Japan was the land of the kami and, as such, had a special destiny.
During the period, Japan studied Western sciences and techniques (called rangaku 蘭学, "Dutch studies") through the information and books received through the Dutch traders in Dejima (出島）. The main areas that were studied included geography, medicine, natural sciences, astronomy, art, languages, physical sciences such as the study of electrical phenomena, and mechanical sciences as exemplified by the development of Japanese clockwatches, or wadokei, inspired by Western techniques.
Among those who studied mechanical science at that time was Tanaka Hisashige (田中久重 1799-1881), the founder of Toshiba (東芝） 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.
End of the shogunate; Bakumatsu
Decline of the Tokugawa
The end of this period is specifically called the late Tokugawa shogunate. The cause for the end of this period is controversial but is recounted as the forcing of Japan's opening to the world by Commodore Matthew Perry of the US Navy, whose armada (known by Japanese as "the black ships") fired weapons from Edo Bay. Several artificial land masses were created to block the range of the armada, and this land remains in what is presently called the Odaiba district.
The Tokugawa did not eventually collapse simply because of intrinsic failures. Foreign intrusions helped to precipitate a complex political struggle between the bakufu and a coalition of its critics. The continuity of the anti-bakufu movement in the mid-19th century would finally bring down the Tokugawa.
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". 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 standard of living for urban and rural dwellers alike grew significantly during the Tokugawa period. Better means of crop production, transport, housing, food, and entertainment were all available, as was more leisure time, at least for urban dwellers.
The literacy rate was high for a preindustrial society (by some estimates the literacy rate in the city of Edo was 80 percent), and cultural values were redefined and widely imparted throughout the samurai and chōnin classes.
Despite the reappearance of guilds, economic activities went well beyond the restrictive nature of the guilds, and commerce spread and a money economy developed.
Although government heavily restricted the merchants and viewed them as unproductive and usurious members of society, the samurai, who gradually became separated from their rural ties, depended greatly on the merchants and artisans for consumer goods, artistic interests, and loans.
In this way, a subtle subversion of the warrior class by the chōnin took place.
*subversion=転覆、滅亡のもと
A struggle arose in the face of political limitations that the shōgun imposed on the entrepreneurial class. The government ideal of an agrarian society failed to square with the reality of commercial distribution. A huge government bureaucracy had evolved, which now stagnated because of its discrepancy with a new and evolving social order.
Compounding the situation, the population increased significantly during the first half of the Tokugawa period. Although the magnitude and growth rates are uncertain, there were at least 26 million commoners and about four million members of samurai families and their attendants when the first nationwide census was taken in 1721.
Drought, followed by crop shortages and starvation, resulted in twenty great famines between 1675 and 1837. During the Tokugawa period, there were 154 famines, of which 21 were widespread and serious. Peasant unrest grew, and by the late 18th century, mass protests over taxes and food shortages had become commonplace. Newly landless families became tenant farmers, while the displaced rural poor moved into the cities. As the fortunes of previously well-to-do families declined, others moved in to accumulate land, and a new, wealthy farming class emerged. Those people who benefited were able to diversify production and to hire laborers, while others were left discontented. Many samurai fell on hard times and were forced into handicraft production and wage jobs for merchants.
Although Japan was able to acquire and refine a wide variety of scientific knowledge, the rapid industrialization of the West during the 18th century created a material gap in terms of technologies and armament between Japan and the West, forcing it to abandon its policy of seclusion, which contributed to the end of the Tokugawa regime.
Western intrusions were on the increase in the early 19th century. Russian warships and traders encroached on Karafuto (called Sakhalin under Russian and Soviet control) and on the Kuril Islands, the southernmost of which are considered by the Japanese as the northern islands of Hokkaidō. A British warship entered Nagasaki harbour searching for enemy Dutch ships in 1808, and other warships and whalers were seen in Japanese waters with increasing frequency in the 1810s and 1820s.
Whalers and trading ships from the United States also arrived on Japan's shores. Although the Japanese made some minor concessions and allowed some landings, they largely attempted to keep all foreigners out, sometimes using force.
Rangaku became crucial not only in understanding the foreign "barbarians" but also in using the knowledge gained from the West to fend them off.
By the 1830s, there was a general sense of crisis. Famines and natural disasters hit hard, and unrest led to a peasant uprising against officials and merchants in Osaka in 1837. Although it lasted only a day, the uprising made a dramatic impression. Remedies came in the form of traditional solutions that sought to reform moral decay rather than address institutional problems. 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. The bakufu persevered for the time being amidst growing concerns over Western successes in establishing colonial enclaves in China following the First Opium War of 1839–1842. More reforms were ordered, especially in the economic sector, to strengthen Japan against the Western threat.
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.
End of seclusion
When Commodore Matthew C. Perry's four-ship squadron appeared in Edo Bay in July 1853, the bakufu was thrown into turmoil. The chairman of the senior councillors, Abe Masahiro (1819–1857), was responsible for dealing with the Americans. Having no precedent to manage this threat to national security, Abe tried to balance the desires of the senior councillors to compromise with the foreigners, of the emperor who wanted to keep the foreigners out, and of the daimyo who wanted to go to war. Lacking consensus, Abe decided to compromise by accepting Perry's demands for opening Japan to foreign trade while also making military preparations. In March 1854, the Treaty of Peace and Amity (or Treaty of Kanagawa) opened two ports to American ships seeking provisions, guaranteed good treatment to shipwrecked American sailors, and allowed a United States consul to take up residence in Shimoda, a seaport on the Izu Peninsula, southwest of Edo. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce Between the U.S. and Japan (Harris Treaty), opening still more areas to American trade, was forced on the bakufu five years later.
The resulting damage to the bakufu was significant. The devalued price for gold in Japan was one immediate, enormous effect. The European and American traders purchased gold for its original price on the world market and then sold it to the Chinese for triple the price. Along with this, cheap goods from these developed nations, like finished cotton, flooded the market forcing many Japanese out of business. Debate over government policy was unusual and had engendered public criticism of the bakufu. In the hope of enlisting the support of new allies, Abe, to the consternation of the fudai, had consulted with the shinpan and tozama daimyo, further undermining the already weakened bakufu. In the Ansei Reform (1854–1856), Abe then tried to strengthen the regime by ordering Dutch warships and armaments from the Netherlands and building new port defenses. In 1855, a naval training school with Dutch instructors was set up at Nagasaki, and a Western-style military school was established at Edo; by the next year, the government was translating Western books. 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).
In the final years of the Tokugawas, foreign contacts increased as more concessions were granted. The new treaty with the United States in 1859 allowed more ports to be opened to diplomatic representatives, unsupervised trade at four additional ports, and foreign residences in Osaka and Edo.
It also embodied the concept of extraterritoriality (foreigners were subject to the laws of their own countries but not to Japanese law).
When the shōgun died without an heir, Tokugawa Nariaki appealed to the court for support of his own son, Tokugawa Yoshinobu (or Keiki), for shōgun, a candidate favored by the shinpan and tozama daimyo. The fudai won the power struggle, however, installing Tokugawa Yoshitomi, arresting Nariaki and Keiki, executing Yoshida Shōin (1830–1859), a leading sonnō-jōi intellectual who had opposed the American treaty and plotted a revolution against the bakufu), and signing treaties with the United States and five other nations, thus ending more than 200 years of exclusion.
Recently some scholars have suggested that there were more events that spurred this opening of Japan. Yoshimune, eighth Tokugawa shōgun from 1716 to 1745, started the first Kyōhō reforms in an attempt to gain more revenue for the government. In 1767, to 1786 Tanuma Okitsugu also initiated some unorthodox economic reforms to expand government income. This led his conservative opponents to attack him and take his position as he was forced from government in disgrace.65 Similarly, Matsudaira Sadanobu launched the Kansei Reforms in 1787–1793 to stabilize rice prices, cut government costs, and increase revenues. The final economic reform of the Tenpō era of 1841–1843 had similar objectives. Most were ineffective and only worked in some areas. These economic failings would also have been a force in the opening of Japan, as Japanese businessmen desired larger markets. Some scholars also point to internal activism for political change. The Mito school had long been an active force in demanding political changes, such as restoring the powers of the Emperor. This anger can also be seen in the poetry of Matsuo Taseko (a woman who farmed silkworms in the Ina Valley) from Hirata Atsutane's School of National Learning:
Bakumatsu modernization and conflicts
During the last years of the bakufu, or bakumatsu, the bakufu took strong measures to try to reassert its dominance, although its involvement with modernization and foreign powers was to make it a target of anti-Western sentiment throughout the country.
The army and the navy were modernized. A naval training school was established in Nagasaki in 1855. Naval students were sent to study in Western naval schools for several years, starting a tradition of foreign-educated future leaders, such as Admiral Enomoto. French naval engineers were hired to build naval arsenals, such as Yokosuka and Nagasaki. By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867, 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. Foreign naval retaliation in the Anglo-Satsuma War led to still another concessionary commercial treaty in 1865, but Yoshitomi was unable to enforce the Western treaties. A bakufu army was defeated when it was sent to crush dissent in the Satsuma and Chōshū Domains in 1866.
Finally, in 1867, Emperor Kōmei died and was succeeded by his underaged son Emperor Meiji.
Tokugawa Yoshinobu reluctantly became head of the Tokugawa house and shōgun. He tried to reorganize the government under the emperor while preserving the shōgun's leadership role. Fearing the growing power of the Satsuma and Chōshū daimyo, other daimyo called for returning the shōgun's political power to the emperor and a council of daimyo chaired by the former Tokugawa shōgun. Yoshinobu accepted the plan in late 1867 and resigned, announcing an "imperial restoration". The Satsuma, Chōshū, and other han leaders and radical courtiers, however, rebelled, seized the imperial palace, and announced their own restoration on January 3, 1868.
Following the Boshin War (1868–1869), the bakufu was abolished, and Yoshinobu was reduced to the ranks of the common daimyo. Resistance continued in the North throughout 1868, and the bakufu naval forces under Admiral Enomoto Takeaki continued to hold out for another six months in Hokkaidō, where they founded the short-lived Republic of Ezo.
A bloodless surrender of Edo Castle=江戸城無血開城
*the fall of～= (都市など）の陥落
*bloodless=無血の、流血のない
*surrender=降伏、明け渡し
The Fall of Edo (Japanese: 江戸開城, Hepburn: Edo Kaijō), also known as Edojō Akewatashi (江戸城明け渡し, Evacuation of Edo Castle) and Edo Muketsu Kaijō (江戸無血開城, Bloodless Opening of Edo Castle), took place in May and July 1868, when the Japanese capital of Edo (modern Tokyo), controlled by the Tokugawa shogunate, fell to forces favorable to the restoration of Emperor Meiji during the Boshin War.
Saigō Takamori, leading the victorious imperial forces north and east through Japan, had won the Battle of Kōshū-Katsunuma in the approaches to the capital. He was eventually able to surround Edo in May 1868.
Katsu Kaishū, the shōgun's Army Minister, negotiated the surrender, which was unconditional.
The Battle of Ueno was the final encounter leading to the Fall of Edo.
Some groups continued to resist after this formal surrender but were defeated in the Battle of Ueno in northeastern Tokyo, on 4 July 1868. The city was fully under control in July 1868. During that time, Tokugawa Yoshinobu had been under voluntary confinement at Kan'ei-ji temple.
The 16-year-old Meiji Emperor, moving from Kyoto to Tokyo, end of 1868, after the Fall of Edo
On 3 September 1868, the city was renamed Tokyo ("Eastern capital"), and the Meiji Emperor moved his capital to Tokyo, electing residence in Edo Castle, today's Imperial Palace.
A small monument has been erected at the location of the surrender meeting between Saigō Takamori and Katsu Kaishū, at Minato-ku, Shiba 5-33-1.
Major events in each generation of the Edo Tokugawa shogunate
江戸徳川幕府各代の主な出来事
歴史的現在(historical present)…歴史上の事柄などは現在時制で表す| 代 | 在職 (在位) | 将軍名 （享年 墓所） |
主な出来事 | 海外での 主な出来事 |
| A | B: B' | C (C' C'') | D | E |
| A= generation B=incumbent/Christian era B'=in office C=shogun's name C'=aged C''=graveyard D=major events in Japan E=major events abroad F=Japanese era name Red letters =Domestic disasters Blue lettes =Diplomatic relations between Japan and Overseas |
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| 1 | 1603-1605 :2年2ヵ月 |
Ieyasu 家康 (1616年逝去/75歳 日光東照宮・高野山ほか) |
1600 関ケ原の戦い Battle of Sekigahara: Tokugawa's victory 1603 家康が征夷大将軍に The emperor appoints Tokugawa Ieyasu as shogun 1605 慶長地震(南海沖の津波などで死者5000-1万？） Major earthquake Tokugawa Ieyasu resigns as shogun and is succeeded by his son Hidetada 1607 Korean Joseon dynasty sends an ambassy to Tokugawa shogunate 1611 Ryuku Islands become a vassal state of Satsuma Domain 1612 (1614?)キリスト教の禁教 Prohibition of Christianity 1614-15 大坂冬の陣・夏の陣 Osaka winter & summer battles: the Toyotomi clan dissolves 1615 武家諸法度・禁中並公家諸法度 1617 日光東照宮ができる Establishment of Nikko Toshogu Shrine (Ieyasu dies in 1616) |
1600 （英）東インド会社を設立 (English) Establishment of East India Company 1602 （蘭）東インド会社を設立 (Dutch) Establishment of East India Company 1610 英オーストラリア大陸発見 Discovery of Australian Continent 1618 （独）30年戦争起こる (Germany) Thirty years' war occurs |
| 元号 F |
Keichō 慶長 1596～1615 | |||
| 2 | 1605-1623 :18年3ヵ月 |
Hidetada 秀忠 (54歳 増上寺) |
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| 元号 | Genna 元和 1615～1624 | |||
| 3 | 1623-1651 :27年9ヵ月 |
Iemitsu 家光 (48歳 輪王寺) |
1635 参勤交代の制度を定める Establishment of a system of mandatory alternative residence in Edo 1636 長崎に出島ができる Dejima in Nagasaki is built. 1637 島原の乱 (-38) Shimabara Rebellion 1639 鎖国の完成 National Seclusion System is completed. All foreigners except Chinese, Koreans, and Dutch are banned from entering Japan. 寛永の大飢饉 Great famine |
1639 （英）清教徒革命(-60) (English) Puritan Revolution 1644 明が滅び、清が中国統一 Ming is destroyed and Qing unifies China |
| 元号 | Kan'ei 寛永 1624～1644 Shōhō 正保 1644～1648 |
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| 4 | 1651-1680 :28年9ヵ月 |
Ietsuna 家綱 (40歳 寛永寺) |
1651 慶安の変（由井正雪の乱） Yui Shousetsu Rebellion 1657 明暦の大火（振袖火事） The Great Fire destroys most of the city of Edo. 1657 水戸光圀（水戸黄門）が「大日本史」の編纂を始める(-1906) Mito Mitsukuni (Mito Komon) begins compiling the "History of greater Japan". 1662 寛文近江・若狭地震（京都盆地北部で被害） Major earthquake |
1661 (仏)ルイ14世の親政始まる The reign of Louis Xiv of France begins |
| 元号 | Keian 慶安 1648～1652 Jōō 承応 1652～1655 Meireki 明暦 1655～1658 Manji 万治 1658～1661 Kanbun 寛文 1661～1673 Enpō 延宝 1673～1681 |
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| 5 | 1680-1709 :28年5ヵ月 |
Tsunayoshi 綱吉 (64歳 寛永寺) 館林徳川家からの養子 |
1685 生類憐みの令発布 Ordinance of mercy for living cratures *元禄文化 Kabuki & Ukiyo-e become popular 1701 忠臣蔵（赤穂事件 -3） 1703 元禄地震（南関東、死者6700人以上） Major earthquake 1707 宝永地震 (東海道から南海道沖・津波などで死者2万人?) Major earthquake occurs and 20,000 people are killed? 宝永大噴火（富士山大噴火） Great eruption of Mt. Fuji |
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| 元号 | Tenna 天和 1681～1684 Jōkyō 貞享 1684～1688 Genroku 元禄 1688～1704 Hōei 宝永 1704～1711 |
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| 6 | 1709-1712 :3年5ヵ月 |
Ienobu 家宣 (51歳 増上寺) 家光の孫 |
1709 新井白石を登用 (-16) 生類憐みの令や酒税の廃止 Abolition of the ordinance of Mercy for living cratures and the liquor tax |
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| 元号 | Shōtoku 正徳 1711～1716 | |||
| 7 | 1713-1716 :3年1ヵ月 |
Ietsugu 家継 (8歳 増上寺) 家光の系統は断絶 |
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| 8 | 1716-1745 :29年1ヵ月 |
Yoshimune 吉宗 (68歳 寛永寺) |
享保の改革 1732 享保の飢饉（西日本） Great famine |
1733 アメリカ、東部13州成立 United States establishes 13 Eastern States |
| 元号 | Kyōhō 享保 1716～1736 Genbun 元文 1736～1741 Kanpō 寛保 1741～1744 Enkyō 延享 1744～1748 |
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| 9 | 1745-1760 :14年6ヵ月 |
Ieshige 家重 (51歳 増上寺) |
1758 宝暦事件（京都） |
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| 元号 | Kan'en 寛延 1748～1751 Hōreki 宝暦 1751～1764 |
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| 10 | 1760-1786 :26年4ヵ月 |
Ieharu 家治 (50歳 寛永寺) |
1772 老中・田沼意次 (-86) 印旛沼・手賀沼の開発 Development of Inbanuma Pond and Teganuma Pond 1774 解体新書刊行(杉田玄白、前野良沢） The anatomical text Kaitai Shinsho, the first complete Japanese translation of a Western medical work, is published by Sugita Genpaku and Maeno Ryotaku. 1778 ロシア船が国後島に来る Russian Ship comes to Kunashiri Island 1782 天明の大飢饉 (全国 -87or88) Great famine 1783 浅間山大噴火 Great eruption of Mt. Asama |
1775 アメリカ独立戦争(-83) American Revolution 1776 アメリカ独立宣言 Declaration of Independence |
| 元号 | Meiwa 明和 1764～1772 An'ei 安永 1772～1781 Tenmei 天明 1781～1789 |
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| 11 | 1787-1837 :50年 |
Ienari 家斉 (69歳 寛永寺) |
1787 老中・松平定信/寛政の改革 (-93) 人足寄せ場の設置 Kanei Reforms/ by Matsudaira Sadanobu, senior shogunal councillor 1792 （露）ラックスマンが根室に来る（ 伊勢の船頭・大黒屋光太夫帰国）Russian envoy Adam Laxman arrives Nemuro in Ezo (Hokkaido) 1800 伊能忠敬が蝦夷地を測量 Ino Tadataka surveys Ezo 1804 (露）レザノフ長崎に来航 Russian envoy Nikolai Rezanov reaches Nagasaki 1808 間宮林蔵が樺太を探検、英フェートン号長崎港侵入事件 Mamiya Rinzo explores Sakhalin, and the English Phaeton Incident at Nagasaki Port 1825 幕府、外国船打ち払い令を出す Bakufu issues the edict expelling foreign ships 1828 シーボルト（独）事件 Siebold incident happens 1837 大塩平八郎の乱 Rebellion of Oshio Heihachiro 米モリソ号事件 An American merchant ship, Morrison, is driven away by cannon fire. *化政文化（町人文化） 川柳、、滑稽本、浮世絵、歌舞伎 |
1789 フランス革命 French Revolution 1804 仏ナポレオン皇帝になる Napoleon becmes the emperor of Frane 1807 （米）蒸気船試運転 (American) Steamship commissionin 1814 ウィーン会議 (-15) Congress of Vienna、 （英）蒸気機関車試運転 Steam locomotive commissioning 1819 英シンガポール占領 British occupation of Singapore 1825 (英）鉄道開通 Railway opening 1830 (仏）7月革命 (France) July Revolution |
| 元号 | Kansei 寛政 1789～1801 Kyōwa 享和 1801～1804 Bunka 文化 1804～1818 Bunsei 文政 1818～1830 |
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| 12 | 1837-1853 :16年2ヵ月 |
Ieyoshi 家慶 (61歳 増上寺）) |
1833 天保の大飢饉 (全国 -37) Great famine 1841 老中・水野忠邦/天保の改革 (-43) Tenpo Reforms 遠山景元（遠山の金さんのモデル） |
1840 (中)アヘン戦争(-42) (China) Opium Wars 1842 南京条約/イギリスが香港を獲得 Treaty of Nanking/British capture of Hong Kong 1848 （仏）2月革命 (French) February Revolution |
| 元号 | Tenpō 天保 1830～1844 Kōka 弘化 1844～1848 Kaei 嘉永 1848～1854 |
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| 13 | 1853-1858 :4年8ヵ月 |
Iesada 家定 (35歳 寛永寺) |
1853 米ペリーの黒船が浦賀来航、（露）プチャーチンが長崎来航 US Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry's four-ship squadron appears in Edo (Tokyo) Bay. 1854 日米和親条約 The US forces Japan to sign a trade agreement which reopens Japan to foreigners after two centuries. 1854 安政地震 (東海から西日本にかけて地震頻発、「稲村の火」のエピソードは、その中の1つ） Major earthquakes & Famous Tsunami occur 1855 安政江戸地震 (死者4000-1万) Major earthquake 1855 Russia and Japan establish dipomatic relations 1856 米ハリスが下田へ Harris from the US goes to Shimoda, 島津斉彬の養女・篤姫(天璋院)が家定の正室になる Atsuhime (Tenshoin), an adopted daughter of Shimazu Nariakira, becomes the wife of Iesada. 1858 日米修好通商条約 Japan-US Treaty of Amity and Commerce 1859 安政の大獄 Ansei Purge 1860 桜田門外の変 Sakuradamon Incident 1861 皇女和宮が家茂に降嫁 Princess Kazunomiya gets married with Iemochi. 1864 禁門の変、蛤御門の変、第1回長州征伐 1864 下関戦争 British, French, Dutch and American warships bombard Shimonoseki and open more Japanese ports for foreigners. 1866 薩長同盟成立 Satsuma -Chousyu Alliance is established. |
1853 クリミア戦争 (-56) Crimean War 1858 ムガール帝国が滅びイギリスがインドを直接統治 Mughal Empire falls and Britain directly governs India 1861 （米）南北戦争 (-65) (US) Civil War |
| 元号 | Ansei 安政 1854～1860 | |||
| 14 | 1858-1866 :7年9ヵ月 |
Iemochi 家茂 (21歳 増上寺) |
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| 元号 | Man'en 万延 1860～1861 Bunkyū 文久 1861～1864 Genji 元治 1864～1865 Man'en 万延 1860～1861 Bunkyū 文久 1861～1864 Genji 元治 1864～1865 |
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| 15 | 1867-1868 :1年 |
Yoshinobu 慶喜 (77歳 谷中霊園) |
1867 大政奉還、王政復古の大号令 Restoration of the political administration to the emperor 1668 鳥羽・伏見の戦い、江戸城無血開城 Battle of Toba & Fushimi, Edo Castle bloodless surrender The Tokugawa dynasty ends |
1867 カナダがイギリスからの自治開始/Canada Day |
| 元号 | Keiō 慶応 1865～1868 | |||
歴史的現在(historical present)…歴史上の事柄などは現在時制で表す
Era names
The Japanese era name (年号 nengō, "year name"), also known as gengō (元号),
is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme.
The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era
(with the first year being "gan (元)"), followed by the literal "nen (年)" meaning "year".
The first era name to be assigned was "Taika" (大化), celebrating the political and organizational changes which were to flow from the great Taika reform (大化の改新) of 645. Although the regular practice of proclaiming successive era names was interrupted in the late seventh century, it was permanently re-adopted in 701 during the reign of Emperor Monmu (697–707). Since then, era names have been used continuously up through the present day
Prior to the Meiji period, era names were decided by court officials and were subjected to frequent change. A new era name was usually proclaimed within a year or two after the ascension of a new emperor.
A new era name was also often designated on the first, fifth and 58th years of the sexagenary cycle, because they were inauspicious years in Onmyōdō.
Era names were also changed due to other felicitous events or natural disasters.
*proclaim=ﾌﾟﾛｸれｲﾑ=～を宣言する、～を公布する(=announce)
*ascension=ｱｾﾝｼｮﾝﾇ=昇天、キリストの昇天/ ascension to the throne=即位
*inauspicious=ｲﾝｵｰｽﾋﾟｯｼｬｽ=不吉な（⇔auspicious=吉兆の、幸運な）
*felicitous=ふｪりｽｨﾀｽ=適切な（=suitable）、幸運な（=happy)
Era name/ Japanese Kanji/ approximate yeras
Keichō 慶長 1596～1615
Genna 元和 1615～1624
Kan'ei 寛永 1624～1644
Shōhō 正保 1644～1648
Keian 慶安 1648～1652
Jōō 承応 1652～1655
Meireki 明暦 1655～1658
Manji 万治 1658～1661
Kanbun 寛文 1661～1673
Enpō 延宝 1673～1681
Tenna 天和 1681～1684
Jōkyō 貞享 1684～1688
Genroku 元禄 1688～1704
Hōei 宝永 1704～1711
Shōtoku 正徳 1711～1716
Kyōhō 享保 1716～1736
Genbun 元文 1736～1741
Kanpō 寛保 1741～1744
Enkyō 延享 1744～1748
Kan'en 寛延 1748～1751
Hōreki 宝暦 1751～1764
Meiwa 明和 1764～1772
An'ei 安永 1772～1781
Tenmei 天明 1781～1789
Kansei 寛政 1789～1801
Kyōwa 享和 1801～1804
Bunka 文化 1804～1818
Bunsei 文政 1818～1830
Tenpō 天保 1830～1844
Kōka 弘化 1844～1848
Kaei 嘉永 1848～1854
Ansei 安政 1854～1860
Man'en 万延 1860～1861
Bunkyū 文久 1861～1864
Genji 元治 1864～1865
Keiō 慶応 1865～1868
