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Japan 1450-1750 - Coggle Diagram

- - - - This drawing can also serve as a map to the city, as it shows surrounding buildings and waterways (Activity 3: State of the World). The whole piece is done on six folding panels, and this is a detail shot of the top of the first panel (Wikipedia Contributors).
    - - The artist for this piece is unknown, so we don't know much about them or why they made this piece, but it was likely just to document the city (Wikipedia Contributors).
    - - This map is drawn from a view that both demonstrates the streets and walls, while also showing the different levels of the town to mark how tall the castle is (Activity 3: State of the World). The tall tower is drawn in a different colour and has more detail to help it stand out as an important part of this piece. There also appear to be labels written in Japanese that might show where things are and what communities were called.
    - - The big idea of this part of the painting is to show off the grandeur and placement of the castle and the large tower that draws your eye. It also exists to map out the city and show how it was built.
    - - The image here is really a detail from a much larger piece called View of Edo. The original piece shows a view of the whole city on a folding screen, with many other landmarks and a body of water (Wikipedia Contributors). In the example, the image has been cropped to show only the castle and the surrounding buildings.
    - - By default this piece reflects the style and worldview of the artist, as they were the one to interpret and draw the city.
    - - Since this appears to be a factual piece of art that displays what the city looked like, there isn't much that can be challenged, unless the artist happened to leave something out or change something to reflect their political views. But this appears to be strictly a factual piece.
    - - This can help answer questions about how the city was built and what the layout was. While it doesn't provide on any insight to what the people were like, it answers questions about what it would look like to live in Edo. It also shows the grandeur of the palace for it to be the tallest of all the buildings and the most detailed.
  - - - While the drawing itself probably didn't result in much change, the castle was very historically significant. During Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rule, he made Edo into the prospering city its known as (jcastle.info). Ieyasu, his successor, was the one to build the castle, which became the largest castle in the world at the time. But after the Kanto Earthquake and World War II, the city and palace were reduced to rubble and a few buildings and stonework (jcastle.info). Edo castle was an important show of power for Ieyasu, and in the future was tossed around, at one point becoming the imperial palace (WAttention).
    - - There were many moats around the palace and city, the outer moat reaching 15km (jcastle.info). It shows what architecture was like back then, as well as how buildings were built. A workforce of 40,000 people were pulled from all over the kingdom to build the strong fortification (WAttention). Another interesting thing is the strategically placed Buddhist temples, meant to ward off evil spirits (jcastle.info). This shows how important religion was to Edo.
    - - The construction of Edo castle reminds me of some of the spending habits of people in power today. In my opinion, people with money tend to spend it on grands displays that showcase power and wealth, to mark themselves as important people. This seems similar to what Ieyasu might have been thinking when he ordered Edo castle to be built. The drawing itself still hold relevance because it shows the need to map out locations and show how the people who lived within them saw them, and how people can see cities as pieces of art in their own right.
    - - What were they thinking? When I was looking at this map, the thing I wondered about the most was the moats and waterways. I was curious about how and why they'd been made, was it purely for defense, or were the moats useful for many other reasons? The moats were dug by the large workforce, channeling water from a bay (WAttention).
        
        It's also worth thinking about what Ieyasu was thinking when he built the palace. He made Edo the capital of Japan and installed the fortifications, so perhaps Edo was in a good defensive position for the country (jcastle.info). But it's hard to tell what his main motivation was.
- - - - The Edicts were written by Toyotomo Hideyoshi, and were a series of laws that the Japanese citizens had to follow (Columbia University). It was written because he was worried about the widespread religion destabilizing his rule, so the edict was written to officially outlaw Christianity in 1857(Stuart).
    - - The ideas here are communicated as a list, and in the excerpt, there are five points (Activity 3: State of the World). The tone of these Edicts in the translated text is harsh, as Hideyoshi is describing how Christians will "...let [the people] destroy shrines and temples." and "...commit the illegal act of destroying the teachings of Buddha..."(Columbia University).
    - - The big idea of these Edicts was to remove Christianity from Japan, and to isolate the country from outsiders who were threats to power (Activity 3: State of the World). The rigid class system that Hideyoshi had installed also meant to heighten the safety of those in positions of power, to pacify the general population of commoners (Columbia University).
    - - The provided text in the lesson was merely an excerpt of the Edicts that were presented to Japan, therefore some of the Edicts deemed less important to this lesson were likely cut out.
    - - The copy of the Edicts that was provided to me is digitized and therefore what it looks like is not historically significant.
    - - This reflects the perspective of the upper class and daimyos in Japan at the time, but most of all reflects the views of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who wrote the edicts, and his successors Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga(Stuart). these leaders were extremely wary of the spread of Christianity in Japan, and were keen on eradicating it to maintain their positions(Stuart).
    - - The perspectives that are challenged are the perspectives of the Christian missionaries in Japan, as well as the Christian Japanese citizens (Activity 3: State of the World). The nearly 500,000 Japanese Christians had to renounce their religion or be killed, and 26 missionaries were executed, so these Edicts were deadly for many people in Japan, leaving their beliefs and views omitted (Tan).
    - - This can help answer some questions about what it was like for Christianity in Japan, and we can infer how hard it must have been for citizens in Japan who had already been converted to the religion (Tan). We can tell how Hideyoshi felt about missionaries and foreigners in Japan. What this document doesn't tell us is what the publics reaction was to these Edicts and whether or not they were successful in eliminating missionaries and Christianity, and what the aftermath was like.
  - - - The question that comes to mind when looking at this primary source is: how effective was it? were all the missionaries chased out of Japan, or did it prevail against Hideyoshi's demands? Surprisingly, the original Edicts were mostly ineffective, despite the showings of power and executions of 26 missionaries (Stuart). Hideyoshis successor, Tokugawa Ieyasu, would be the one to put the expulsion into full gear and enforced stronger laws (Stuart). Around the 1620s, the practice of stepping on a picture of Christ became an annual way to root Christianism out (Tan). People who refused were tortured to break resolve, but many people pretended to renounce faith but went on to practice the religion in secret (Tan). The ban on Christianity continued until 1873, and 20,000 Christians came out of hiding (Tan).
    - - These edicts reveal the unease that the elite classes in Japan felt with the potential threat of being challenged. Hideyoshi was paranoid about his rule being destabilized, hence the rigid class structure he installed into Japan (Stuart). The harsh way that the Edicts portray missionaries shows how dangerous it must have been for people who had already been converted, and how they would have been frowned upon by the upper class (Stuart). It's also proof as to why Japan became more isolated and closed off in the following years; fear of being destabilized.
    - - Learning about the expulsion of missionaries was surprising to me, as Christianity is such a widespread religion, I didn't know that Nagasaki had completely outlawed it for a few centuries (Tan). Although only 1% of the Japanese population is Christian today, there are still memorials to the 26 missionaries that died after the Edicts (Tan). It's a reminder of how vicious leaders can be to their people when they feel like they are threatened, and how restrictive laws can be when left unchecked.
    - - What were they thinking? Well, as to Hideyoshi's thoughts, it's most likely that he was scared of losing power (Stuart). Christianity challenged the power of the Shoguns and daimyos, and if they were converted, they would likely spread the religion to their people (Stuart). Expelling missionaries would bolster authorities, and keep Hideyoshi in a powerful position (Stuart).
        
        Another relevant question is what the Christian Japanese people were thinking. Having their religion outlawed must have been frightening, even thought the edicts wouldn't be effective until Ieyasu's reign (Stuart). In the 1620s, despite the threat of torture and execution, a community of people still practiced the religion and kept it alive in Japan (Tan). Many dropped the religion in favor of their safety, and others became martyrs (Tan). Many must have been scared enough to stop practicing the religion, while others were devoted enough to withstand torture, and others practiced discreetly.
- - - - During the Tokugawa Shogunate, women had little to no rights and were barely legally recognized as people, so this text was not out of the ordinary at the time and was likely taken as fact (Kincaid). This wasn't questioned until the Meiji period, when women's rights became a more important issue, the text became widely criticized (Wikipedia Contributors, “Onna Daigaku”).
    - - This text blatantly reveals how women were treated and thought of in Japan at the time it was written. The passage clearly stated that they were seen as "lesser than men" and were to be obedient to their husbands and never step out of line (Activity 3: State of the World). They were seen as much more foolish and jealous than their male counterparts, and if a women was not a good wife, she had little worth in the society (Activity 3: State of the World).
    - - While we are far from the way women were treated back then, there are still people and places that retain a similar mindset as to what Ekken demonstrated, believing that women are naturally inferior and should be obedient to their husbands. The impact of writings like The Great Learning for Women still exists today, and viewpoints like that were the foundation that modern day misogyny was built on.
    - - What were they thinking? What was Ekken thinking when he wrote these teachings, And why did he decide that he wanted to write them? Well, Ekken was a very accomplished scholar, having already written about 100 philosophical works including “Instructions for Children”, a text on how to discipline children (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). He likely wanted to put his ideas for the roles of women into writing and spread it to the commoners as he had done previously. And as he studied Neo-Confucianism, he probably was looking to spread those ideals as well (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).
  - - - The copy of the Excerpts from The Great Learning for Women that was provided to me is digitized and therefore what it looks like is not historically significant.
    - - This document was written by Kaibara Ekken, a scholar studying Neo-Confucianism (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). He wrote it to apply his Neo-Confucian views to women and families of the lower class,to advocate for women's obedience (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).
    - - The way this excerpt is written is almost like an educational or instructional guide, that serves to inform. Its written as if the information is factual and to be taken without question.
    - - The big idea of this document is to highlight what are considered undesirable traits in women (Activity 3: State of the World). According to Ekken, "The five worst infirmities that afflict women are indocility, discontent, slander, jealousy, and silliness." with the worst being silliness (Activity 3: State of the World). He goes on to explain that silliness could make a woman forget her duties, doesn't know what will bring shame to her family, and accuse innocent people and should therefore always be obident to her husband (Activity 3: State of the World).
    - - The provided text in the lesson was merely an excerpt of The Great Learning for Women that were presented to Japan, therefore some parts of The Great Learning for Women deemed less important to this lesson were cut out.
    - - This text reflects the perspective of Kaibara Ekken, who studied Neo-Confucianism (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The text was the first to apply Confucian views to women of the lower class, so the text reflects those views and likely the views of many scholars of the time (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). It's also possible that these were the views of his wife, Tōken (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica)
    - - The most prominent opinion that is missing are the views of women themselves. While it's debated that these teachings may reflect the views of Ekken's wife, Tōken, the truth is that he had the final say in what went in the transcript, and none of the women he was commenting on had an official say in the material (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The average commoner woman did not comment on the script, as it was written by Ekken, therefore we do not know what they population thought about it (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).
    - - This can help answer what women's roles were in Japan at the time, and what people expected them to do. This was also considered the most politically correct text for women in japan at the time, and was seen as something women should follow strictly, so it's a good guideline as to what women were told to do (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).