Power and Authority

Overview

Tokugawa Ieyasu

  • Founded new dynasty - claimed descent from 1100s Minamoto family
  • Tokugawa shogunate 1600-1868 - appointed shogun 1603

Warrior rule

  • Seii Tai-Shogun - "barbarian-conquering generalissimo"
  • Bakufu - "tent government" - general would oversee battles from tents
  • Heian era - 794-1189
    • Imperial rule - ruled from Kyōto/Heian-kyō
    • Culture eg Tale of Genji
    • Not united - tribes eg Kumaso, Hayato, Emishi
    • Samurai trained on Kantō Plain to go north and fight Emishi - shogun appointed to oversee them
  • Samurai
    • End of imperial rule
    • Conscript samurai army became private guards for shoen estates so gained power over courtiers/aristocrats
    • 1180-1185 - Genpei War between the Taira and the Minamoto - Minamoto Yoritomo gets the emperor to appoint him shogun

History/Fragmentation

  • 1192-1333 - Kamakura bakufu - Minamoto Yoritomo
    • 1200s - shugo/provincial generals appointed by shogun gaining power and influence
    • Late 1200s - Mongol invasions - shugo wanted rewards for defeating invasion
  • 1336-1573 - Muromachi bakufu - Ashikaga Takanji
    • 1300s - shugo marrying into aristocracy and starting dynasties, became shugo-daimyo
    • Development of rival courts and dynasties
  • 1460s onwards - rivalry escalates - becomes sengoku jidai/era of warring states - shugo-daimyo become sengoku daimyo/warlords
  • 1600/03-1867 - Edo bakufu - Tokugawa Ieyasu
  • 1868 - Meiji Restoration - emperor moves from Kyoto into shogunal palace at Edo, renames it Tokyo/Eastern Capital

Taking Power

  • Sengoku jidai
    • 300+ local warlords - powerless emperor, powerless shogun vs powerful temples with private armies and powerful sengoku daimyo
    • Extensive foreign contacts - daimyo trading with European contacts, wakō/Japanese pirates raiding South China Sea
    • Wanted tenka o toru - capture all under heaven - from China
  • The Three Unifiers
    • Oda Nobunaga - dies and leaves it to - Toyotomi Hideyoshi - dies and leaves it to - Tokugawa Ieyasu
    • Started with force, ended with patience
    • Nobunaga - huge expansion 1560-82 - controlled entire centre of Japan, collapsed shogunate - betrayed and committed suicide
    • Hideyoshi - general of Nobunaga, killed rivals - conquered Kantō Plain and gave it to his general Ieyasu - invaded Korea twice but hindered by cold winters and Chinese-Korean counter-attacks, controlled most of Japan
    • Hideyoshi dies during Second Korean Campaign - son Hideyori only five so calls Council of Five Elders/Toyotomi Regency - Tokugawa, Maeda, Mōri, Uesugi, Ukita - but breaks down within two years
    • 1600 Battle of Sekigahara - East for Tokugawa, West for Ishida - looked like Ishida going to win but Kobayakawa clan with 15,000 men betrayed Ishida and didn't act, pressured into prematurely attacking by Ieyasu, wiped out

Europeans

  • 1543 - Two Portuguese shipwrecked on a Chinese ship on Tanegashima, introduced firearms (Tanegashima guns)
  • 1549 - Francis Xavier brought Christianity to Japan, converted some daimyo who then converted subjects, claimed 300,000 converts
  • 1571 - Nagasaki created as a port by Ōmura Sumitada, a converted daimyo, for Portuguese ships
  • 1580 - Sumitada and Jesuit leader agreed to have Nagasaki under Jesuit control so it wouldn't be taken over by a non-Christian daimyo
  • 1587 - Hideyoshi distrusted Christians and appointed his own bugyō of Nagasaki
  • 1600 - William Adams and Dutchmen shipwrecked, interviewed by Ieyasu and favoured over Spanish and Portuguese because Protestant - Adams became official translator, built European-style ships, got VOC preferable terms - granted rank of samurai, married and settled in Japan with estate of 80 servants

Keeping Power

  • Tokugawa dynasty
    • 15 shoguns over 250 years
    • Ieyasu retired after two years but effectively in charge for first part of Hidetada's reign - ensures that living heirs around
  • Foundations
    • Orders sankin-kōtai homage
    • Orders regular manpower from daimyo to help build Edo Castle
    • Control over revenue - land tax, mines, mint
    • 1611 regulations on daimyo, expanded 1615
    • 1612 starts banning Catholics and missionaries because can rely on Dutch
    • Neo-Confucian learning creates ideological foundations eg Hayashi Razan
  • Destroying Toyotomi family
    • 1598 - Toyotomi Hideyoshi dies
    • 1600 - Ieyasu breaks promise to rule regency council
    • 1614 - Hōkōji temple incident - Hideyori rebuilds temple built by his father destroyed in earthquake - characters on bell for Ieyasu divided by character for peace, characters for Toyotomi not divided - pre-emptive attack or plot?
    • 1614 - Osaka winter campaign - ronin of executed daimyo support Hideyori, Ieyasu leads 164,000 men - November-January siege, stuck a deal but filled in the moat so they could attack later
    • 1615 - Hideyori an adult
    • 1615 - Hideyori's supporters attack Tokugawa allies in April - Ieyasu sends 155,000 men, battles May-June end with Osaka Castle alight and Toyotomi family committing suicide

Legacy

  • Made a god on death - Tōshō Daigongen with characters meaning light of the east or ultimate made manifest
  • Originally buried at Mount Kunō, reburied by Hidetada on Mount Nikkō
  • Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine built by grandson Iemitsu

JW Hall, 'Foundations of the Japanese Daimyo'

  • Sengoku obscured by lack of insight - called gekokujō/low overthrowing the high
  • Murdoch - mid-C14 golden age of turncoats and mediocrities, "lust for war and slaughter...utterly beyond human control", Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu saved Japan
  • Nakamura Kichiji - first historian to acknowledge brighter side - emergence of free cities and expanding foreign trade, ashigaru/footsoldiers becoming samurai
    • Means unifiers not progressive, less impressive - Hideyoshi conservative and feudal, had risen but prevented others - Ieyasu returning to feudal norms
  • Suzuki Ryōichi - actions of unifiers and feudal coalition were a betrayal of the peasants/farmers/nōmin
  • Periodisation of daimyo by eg Nagahara Keiji and Nakamura Kichiji
    • Mid-1300s-1490s - shugo-daimyō
    • 1490s-156/70s - sengoku-daimyō
    • 1560s-1600s - shokuhō-daimyō (under Nobunaga and Hideyoshi)
    • 1600s-1800s - kinsei-daimyō
  • Marked by pattern of government organisation etc
  • Possible sengoku jidai masked changes
    • Sansom - change from clan to family loyalty
    • Asakawa - changes in land tenure and fiscal administration

Shugo-daimyō

  • Second half of C14 - emergence of powerful local families, titled shugo appointed by shogun, military governers
  • Units of jurisdiction - discrepancy between authority and enforceable authority - imperial bureaucracy nearly dead but military bureaucracy not developed
  • Shogun relied on shugo-daimyō for local affairs - shugodai/representatives of shugo became too important in local government
  • 1467-77 - Ōnin War exhausted shugo families, submitted to shugodai, finally collapsed 1467-1530s

Sengoku-daimyō

  • Hold on power more secure than shugo-daimyō
  • Holdings less scattered - in contiguous domains won in battle, only held onto what they could control, no absentee interests
  • Lack of administrative and fiscal contact with Kyōto - essentially independent from emperor, can be compared with European decentralised feudalisation

Shokuhō-daimyō

  • 1530s-60s - wars for local and national hegemony - most sengoku families didn't survive, replaced by new dynasties
  • Gekokujō - traditional view of military upstarts betraying superiors but actually succeeded bc institutional advances
  • Able to impose control over men and resource - avoided weakness coming from having insubordinate vassals
  • 1560s-70s - relying entirely on fortification and subordinates, gave subordinates too much power
  • Most successful redistributed land and organised retainers in chain of command, higher officers had to live in castle and lower commanders led on yorioya-yoriko/father-son basis - minimised family identity and emphasised loyalty
  • Increased reliance on class legislation and bureaucracy to replace kinship and feudal allegiance

Kinsei-daimyō

  • Atmosphere of peace - needed new government based on sanctions of power, administration etc
  • Adopted Confucian principles of sovereignty and social morality - daimyō as agents of heaven under guidance of shogun
    Centralising power increased, relationships on basis of military and bureaucratic rank, loyalty as a principle rather than a private commitment
  • People divided by class, broad legal codes - farmers went from indentured to taxpaying tenants
  • Some historians claim 'refeudalisation' - Hall says establishment of legally defined statuses freed society from vassalage and indenture
  • Time of significant social change but not capriciousness of gekokujō
  • Power sanctioned by highest level of political authority - went from shugo uncertain authority to near absolute authority invested by shogun and Confucian tradition

C Totman, History of Japan

  • 1550-1650 - political transformation from sengoku to taihei/great peace
  • Creation of bakuhan taisei/power structure of bakufu and daimyō domains
  • By 1550 mostly controlled by infighting local and regional lords - consolidation started by expansion of territories
  • 1570s - Nobunaga established hegemony by dominating regional daimyō
  • 1580-1600 - Hideyoshi extended control by defeating rivals, Ieyasu did same - stabilised Japan under hegemonial rule
  • Consolidated power = greater institutional and ideological complexity for bakuhan

Consolidating Domains

  • Nobunaga
    • Motto tenka fubu/rule the realm by force - demanded complete loyalty and submission with harsh punishments
    • Only obeyed imperial orders if it was advantageous
    • Ended the Ashikaga shogunate when Ashikaga Yoshiaki supported his enemies to try and overthrow him
    • Used tactics of surprise and new technology - one of first to use firearms effectively, constructed navy with cannon
    • Weakened local magnates by ordering sengoku fortifications torn down, used information about acreage and income to assess threats
    • Generated income by encouraging merchants to settle in his castle towns with tax concessions
  • Hideyoshi
    • First to react to Nobunaga's death, killed traitor before anyone else could act and established himself
    • Said populace free to choose whatever religion they wanted but Nagasaki couldn't be under Jesuit control, there couldn't be missionaries and daimyō couldn't force retainers to convert
    • By 1591 controlled all daimyō in realm - balanced carrot and stick differently to Nobunaga - Nobunaga focusing on central Japan, took different tactics to pacify outer zones under control of major regional leaders
    • Demilitarised populace and regulated men who kept military functions
    • Legitimised self in eyes of court by paying for refurbishment and new castles for emperor and court - impoverished by sengoku - necessary because no impressive ancestry, started off as footsoldier
    • Wanted his name 'known throughout the three countries' (Japan, China, India) - said planned to invade China via Korea in 1590 - invasions 1592-3, ended with negotiations but restarted 1597
    • Initially named nephew as heir but when consort had a son named him heir and ordered nephew's suicide and execution of retainers and family, organised regency council for son
    • Died 1598, council withdrew troops from Korea then started fighting

Tokugawa

  • Kept order and continued basic Hideyoshi policies for long enough to pass as stable realm onto son
    -Headquartered at Edo rather than Kyoto - shifted centre of society from Kinai to Kanto region
  • Not easy to distinguish Ieyasu's achievements from Hidetada's and Iemitsu's - Iemitsu did much of administrative regulation etc

Domestic Policy

  • Established regulations to clarify relationships between social groups
  • Destruction of Hideyori ruthless but reluctant - in response to ronin flocking to him
  • Didn't settle issue of political centre - travelled between Kyoto and Edo - Hidetada stopped at Edo, Iemitsu consolidated via sankin kotai
  • Edo got stable samurai population - income supported large population of commoners - extended growth of city to 1mill+, largest in world
  • Recognised advantage of daimyo strong enough to control domains but also needed to control them - created regulations and investigatory organisations to oversee conduct - awarded/punished via domain allocations

Foreign Policy

  • Generally followed Hideyoshi's lead except conquering China
  • Repaired Korean-Japanese relations, accepted Tsushima's mediation and restored cross-channel trade - formal diplomatic relations remained ambiguous
  • Didn't stop Satsuma from conquering Ryukyu unlike Hideyoshi - probably saw it as a way to reopen trade with China
  • 'Sporadic, half-hearted' repression of European trade - wanted to trade but also discourage missionaries - stricter measures after uprising but distracted so not resolved before death
    • Hidetada - reinforced 1613 proscription, executed 4-5000 people for refusing to deconvert
    • Iemitsu - tightened restrictions, banned Japanese from going abroad, Shimabara Rebellion and retaliation
  • Foreign trade flourished with Dutch, Korea via Tsushima, China via Ryukyu and Nagasaki

Ideology

  • 'Complex, semi-rationalised, largely Confucian ideology of rule' - justified Tokugawa rule and samurai privilege
  • Cumulative creation of scholars, not of shogun
  • Ieyasu wanted to establish himself as descendant of Seiwa Genji to legitimise himself, ordered publication of historical Chinese and Japanese treatises to guide conduct and demonstrate virtue - also focused on maintaining alliance networks and military capability
  • Hidetada and Iemitsu lacked Ieyasu's connections and relied on routine and intimidation - Iemitsu invested in glorifying Ieyasu
  • Not until fifth shogun that one aspired to be a true Confucian monarch - product of scholarly ideas rather than promoter
  • Use of Confucian thought to legitimise the social structure
    • Hayashi Razan - separation of Heaven and Earth shows necessity of separation of above and below, including distinction between samurai, farmers, artisans and merchants
    • Yamaga Soko - instrumental to development of bushido, said other classes too busy at occupations to master the way but samurai has no function beyond being a samurai so has job of upholding moral principles
    • Meant bushi/samurai were to rule and not be questioned because they knew they Way better than anyone else

Pax Tokugawa

The Great Peace - Tokugawa no Taihei

  • Philosophical premise of neo-Confucian ideas, mandate of heaven/tenmei - couldn't use Buddhism to legitimise rule because monks had fought in wars
  • Hayashi Goho - said at Ieyasu's deathbed that he had been granted the mandate of heaven when he won at Sekigahara
  • Neo-Confucianism not a state ideology - drew from Buddhism and Shinto, reconstructed destroyed Buddhist temples
  • 1630s-40s - Iemitsu commissioned scrolls, some religious eg Toshosha Engi, some secular eg Toshosha Daigongen (foreword by emperor, paintings of Ieyasu talking to Buddha)

Bakufu

  • Daimyo host - main body of bakufu
    • gosanke - cousins of shogun, their sons stand to inherit if no heir
    • Bakufu council of several roju - keep other daimyo in line
    • roles for inspectors, magistrates, finance officers etc
  • Hatamoto vassals
    • Trusted vassals, personal advisors, bodyguard
  • System mimicked by daimyo in their individual domains with themselves as 'shogun' and their samurai as 'daimyo'

Daimyo

  • By 1733 261 daimyo - had been over 300 during sengoku jidai
  • Defined as revenue of 10,000+ koku - enough to feed 10,000 men for a year
  • Policing the daimyo
    • Imposed regulations, confiscated domains from rulebreakers
    • Confiscated lands at sekigahara kept by shogun or given to allies
    • 1611 - Emperor dies, all daimyo gather in Kyoto, Ieyasu was nervous that daimyo would break oath to support him made to old emperor so insists on personal oath of loyalty
    • 1615 - Hideyori dead, Ieyasu dies following year, creation of buke shohatto/laws for military households

Buke Shohatto

  • Literature and military study important and encouraged - bun=literature, bu=military arts
  • Castles can be repaired if it's reported but no new constructions
  • Any new developments in factions must be immediately reported
  • Marriage had to have bakufu approval to be contracted
  • Had to avoid group drinking and parties
  • Couldn't harbour lawbreakers
  • Specific clothes for specific ranks/groups - eg no samurai retainers to wear white or purple silk and had to have their family crest on sleeve
  • Regulated number of retainers allowed to accompany daimyo to Edo
  • 1635 amendments
    • Sankin kotai
    • No ocean-going ships
    • Sankin kotai regulated income eg C17 Saga domain 20% of income spent on sankin, 30% on maintaining Edo house

Power

  • Bakufu loyalty
    • 20 shinpon/cousins - 3 of them go-sanke/close cousins
    • 100 fudai - allies on Ieyasu's side at Sekigahara, smaller domains needing protection from shogun, close to Edo
    • 150 tozama/outer lords - independent within own domains, controlled via sankin kotai, more likely to rebel so needed to be controlled
  • Confiscating domains
    • Ieyasu confiscated 91 after Sekigahara and 2 after Osaka
    • Some taken because daimyo died without heir, some because they broke the rules
  • Balance of power
    • 1733 - GDP 24,700,000 koku
      • Bakufu control 6,700,000 koku
      • Daimo control 17,600,000 koku
      • Other 400,000 controlled by emperor, Kyoto nobles, temples, shrines
      • Bakufu, shogun, shinpan and fudai daimyo together control just over half - tozama daimyo don't have a majority
    • Geographically tozama on outer edges of country, bakufu and fudai clustered in centre
    • 1850 - out of the top 12 domains by revenue, 3 were shinpan but others were all tozama

Fall of the Kato family

  • One of most powerful samurai families, 520,000 koku, daimyo pledged loyalty to Tokugawa but still close to Hideyori
  • 1632 - retired second shogun dies, anonymous letter provided by Kato Tadahiro revealed treachery of his father - exiled and died 1633
  • Tadahiro accused of trying to smuggle his two-year old out of Edo suggesting he was plotting betrayal - Iemitsu confiscated domain and arrested Tadahiro while he was travelling
  • Kato reassigned to 10,000 koku domain but forbidden from passing it on - Tadahiro still a daimyo but his descendents wouldn't

The Ako Incident

  • Asano, fudai daimyo of Ako, 50,000 koku, served as host to imperial emissaries visiting Edo Castle
  • Kira, hatamoto retainer, chamberlain for visiting dignitaries
  • Asano and Kira enemies, unspecified grudge
  • 1701 - fought just before imperial dignitaries arrived, Kiro bleeding from cheek and Asano accused of drawing his sword - illegal in Edo Castle so ordered to commit seppuku, Ako confiscated, retainers become ronin
  • 1703 - Chushingura - 47 Ako ronin attack Kira's castle at night and take his head to present to Asano's grave then surrender to authorities