View source for Edo period

{{Short description|Japanese history from 1600 to 1868}}
{{redirect|Edo Japan|the city of Tokyo during this period|Edo|the Canadian restaurant chain|Edo Japan (restaurant)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{History of Japan |early modern |image = File: The Great Wave off Kanagawa.jpg |caption = }}
The '''Edo period''',{{efn | {{nihongo|2=江戸時代|3=Edo jidai|4={{IPA|ja|e.do (d)ʑiꜜ.dai}}<ref>{{cite book|script-title=ja:[[Daijirin|大辞林]]|publisher=[[Sanseidō]]|editor-last=Matsumura|editor-first=Akira|edition=4th|date=5 September 2019|language=ja}}</ref>}} }} also known as the '''Tokugawa period''',{{efn | {{nihongo|2=徳川時代|3=Tokugawa jidai|4={{IPA|ja|to.kɯ.ɡa.wa (d)ʑiꜜ.dai, -ŋa.wa-|}}<ref>{{cite book|script-title=ja:新明解日本語アクセント辞典|edition=2nd|editor-last=Kindaichi|editor-first=Haruhiko|editor-link=Haruhiko Kindaichi|editor-last2=Akinaga|editor-first2=Kazue|publisher=[[Sanseidō]]|date=10 March 2025|language=ja}}</ref>}} }} is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tokugawa Period (1603 – 1868) |url=https://www.japanpitt.pitt.edu/timeline/tokugawa-period-1603-1868 |access-date=5 September 2023 |website=Japan Module - University of Pittsburgh |language=en}}</ref> in the [[history of Japan]], when the country was under the rule of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] and some 300 regional ''[[daimyo]]'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the [[Sengoku period]], the Edo period was characterized by prolonged peace and stability, [[urbanization]] and [[economic growth]], strict social order, [[Isolationism|isolationist]] foreign policies, and popular enjoyment of [[Japanese art|arts]] and [[Culture of Japan|culture]].

In 1600, [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] prevailed at the [[Battle of Sekigahara]] and established hegemony over most of Japan, and in 1603 was given the title ''[[shogun]]'' by [[Emperor Go-Yōzei]]. Ieyasu resigned two years later in favor of his son [[Tokugawa Hidetada|Hidetada]], but maintained power, and defeated the primary rival to his authority, [[Toyotomi Hideyori]], at the [[Siege of Osaka]] in 1615 before his death the next year. Peace generally prevailed from this point on, making [[samurai]] largely redundant. Tokugawa shoguns continued Ieyasu's policies of conformity, including a formalization of social classes in [[Edo society|a strict hierarchy]]. By 1639, all foreigners were expelled under the policy of ''[[sakoku]]'', with the exception of Dutch traders on the island of [[Dejima]] in [[Nagasaki]], beginning a period of isolation. From 1635, ''daimyō'' had to spend alternating years in the capital [[Edo]], where their family was required to reside permanently, in a system of "[[alternate attendance]]" in order to keep them in check.

During the Edo period, merchants greatly prospered, and laid the foundation for Japan's later ''[[zaibatsu]]'' business conglomerates. Despite general restrictions on travel within the country, ''daimyō'' processions to and from Edo developed a network of roads and inns. A commoner culture emerged in Edo and cities such as [[Osaka|Ōsaka]] and [[Kyoto|Kyōto]], and art forms such as ''[[kabuki]]'' and ''[[ukiyo-e]]'' flourished. Japanese scholars developed schools of [[Edo neo-Confucianism|neo-Confucian]] philosophy, and samurai, now mostly employed as administrators, formalized their code of morality in the ''[[bushido]]'' code. In 1853, Japan was [[Perry Expedition|forcibly opened to Western trade]] by United States Commodore [[Matthew C. Perry]], beginning the ''[[Bakumatsu]]'' ("end of the ''[[bakufu]]''") era. The Edo period came to an end in 1868 with the [[Meiji Restoration]] and the [[Boshin War]], which restored imperial rule to Japan.

== Consolidation of the shogunate ==
{{main|Tokugawa shogunate}}
[[File:Tokugawa Ieyasu2.JPG|thumb|[[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], first ''[[shōgun]]'' of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]]]
A [[revolution]] took place from the time of the [[Kamakura shogunate]], which existed with the [[Tennō]]'s court, to the [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa]], when the ''[[samurai]]'' became the unchallenged rulers in what historian [[Edwin O. Reischauer]] called a "centralized [[feudal]]" form of the shogunate. Instrumental in the rise of the new [[bakufu]] was [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], the main beneficiary of the achievements of [[Oda Nobunaga]] and [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]].<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=daimyo {{!}} Significance, History, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/daimyo |access-date=3 October 2022 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> Already a powerful ''[[daimyo]]'' (feudal lord), Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich [[Kantō region|Kantō]] area. He maintained two million ''[[koku]]'', or thirty-six [[hectare]]s of land, a new headquarters at [[Edo]], a strategically situated castle town (the future [[Tokyo]]), and also had an additional two million seven hundred thousand  ''koku'' of land and thirty-eight [[vassal]]s under his control. After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control of the [[Toyotomi clan]].{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Ieyasu's victory over the western ''daimyo'' at the [[Battle of Sekigahara]] (21 October 1600, or in the old [[Japanese calendar]], on the 15th day of the ninth month of the fifth year of the [[Keichō]] era) 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 [[Tokugawa Hidetada|Hidetada]] (1579–1632) 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 system|han]]'' (domains) to describe the government and society of the period.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hall|McClain|1991|pp=128–182}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 March 2025 |title=Japan - Bakuhan, Feudalism, Shogunate {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Japan/The-bakuhan-system |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Feudal barony of Hatch Beauchamp|feudal]] hierarchy was completed by the various classes of ''daimyo''. Closest to the Tokugawa house were the ''[[Shinpan (daimyo)|shinpan]]'', or "related houses". There were twenty-three ''daimyo'' on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu. The second class of the hierarchy was the ''[[fudai]]'', or "house ''daimyo''", rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century, 145 ''fudai'' controlled much smaller ''han'', the greatest assessed at 250,000 ''koku''.

Members of the ''fudai'' class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven ''han'' formed the third group, the ''[[tozama]]'' (outside vassals), former opponents or new allies. The ''tozama'' were located mostly on the peripheries of the archipelago and collectively controlled nearly ten million ''koku'' of productive land. Because the ''tozama'' were the least trusted of the ''daimyo'', they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central [[government]] positions.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The Tokugawa shogunate not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, but also had unprecedented power over the [[Emperor of Japan|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.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

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-kōtai]]'' system); prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships; restricted castles to one per domain (''han'') and stipulated that bakufu regulations were the national law. Although the ''daimyo'' were not taxed per se, they were regularly levied for contributions to [[military]] and logistical support and for public works such as projects as castles, roads, bridges, and palaces.

The various regulations and levies not only strengthened the Tokugawa but also depleted the wealth of the ''daimyo'', thus weakening their threat to the central administration. The ''han'', once military-centered domains, became mere local [[Administration (government)|administrative]] units. The ''daimyo'' had full administrative control over their territory and their complex systems of retainers, [[bureaucrat]]s, and commoners. Loyalty was exacted from religious foundations, already greatly weakened by Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, through a variety of control mechanisms.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

==Foreign trade relations==
{{main|Sakoku}}
[[File:HasekuraWithShipDetail.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Japanese warship San Juan Bautista|San Juan Bautista]]'' is represented in [[Claude Deruet]]'s painting of [[Hasekura Tsunenaga]] in Rome in 1617, as a galleon with Hasekura's flag (red manji on orange background) on the top mast.]]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 favoured 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.

[[File:Nagasaki Harbour (c1833-6), by Kawahara Keiga.jpg|thumb|left|A bird's-eye view of Nagasaki Bay, with the [[Dejima]] foreign trading post island at mid-left (1833)]]
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 [[Japanese warship San Juan Bautista|''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.[[File:Hasekura Travels.jpg|thumb|Itinerary and dates of the travels of Hasekura Tsunenaga. Prior to Panama Canal, caravans carried goods across Central America.]]

The "Christian problem" was, in effect, a problem of controlling both the Christian ''daimyo'' in [[Kyushu|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, Nagasaki|Hirado]], an island northwest of Kyūshū), 1622 (the execution of 120 missionaries and converts), 1624 (the expulsion of the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]]), and 1629 (the execution of thousands of Christians).

Finally, the [[Closed Country Edict of 1635]] prohibited any Japanese from travelling outside Japan or, if someone left, from ever returning. In 1636, the Dutch were restricted to the small [[artificial island]] of [[Dejima]] — and thus, not Japanese soil - with only a few traders disembarking under a regulated policy of distrust and scrutiny.

The shogunate perceived Christianity to be an extremely destabilizing factor, and so decided to target it. The [[Shimabara Rebellion]] of 1637–1638, 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, this intervention was however largely ineffective, with the Dutch canons proving too small for the castle walls and their bombardment causing little success. During the [[Shimabara Rebellion|Shimabara]] Rebellion an estimated 37,000 people (mostly Christians) were massacred.<ref>Elison, George. Deus Destroyed: The Image of Christianity in Early Modern Japan. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973.</ref><ref>Boxer, C. R. The Christian Century in Japan, 1549-1650. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951.</ref>

All Japanese subjects were ordered to register at a [[Buddhist temple|Buddhist]] or [[Shinto temple]]. 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 committed [[Apostasy in Christianity|apostasy]] by 1644 and the last organized missionary activity ended mid-century.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hall|McClain|1991|pp=369–370}}</ref> For more than two centuries until the ban on Christianity was lifted in the 19th century, Christianity's political, economic, and religious influence on Japan became quite limited.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hall|McClain|1991|p=370}}</ref> Some Christians survived by going underground, the so-called [[Kakure Kirishitan]]. To avoid detection, they hid in the remote regions of [[Kyushu]] and disguised their practices from government officials and informants. By the 1640s, all Jesuits and other missionaries were executed, expelled, apostatized and forced seclusion. In 1865, after more than two centuries of hiding, a group of Kakure Kirishitan revealed themselves when Japan was forced to end its isolationist policies.

==Society==
{{main|Edo society}}
[[File:Edo Hibachi.JPG|thumb|The house of the merchant ''[http://www.kcf.or.jp/fukagawa/ Fukagawa Edo Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029183945/http://www.kcf.or.jp/fukagawa/ |date=29 October 2013 }}'']]
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''. Older scholars believed that there were {{nihongo3|[[Four divisions of society|four classes]]|士農工商|Shi-nō-kō-shō}} of "samurai, peasants (''hyakushō''), craftsmen, and merchants (''[[chōnin]]'')" under the daimyo, with 80% of peasants under the 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants.<ref>{{Harvnb|Beasley|1972|p=22}}</ref> However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai are equal, and the old hierarchy chart has been removed from Japanese history textbooks. In other words, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants are not a social pecking order, but a social classification.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/question/e/syakai.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130175341/https://www.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/question/e/syakai.html|script-title=ja:「士農工商」や「四民平等」の用語が使われていないことについて|language=ja|website=
[[Tokyo Shoseki]] |archive-date=30 November 2023|access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="uki300823">{{cite web|url=https://www.city.uki.kumamoto.jp/2028316|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830135959/https://www.city.uki.kumamoto.jp/2028316|script-title=ja:第35回 教科書から『士農工商』が消えた ー後編ー 令和3年広報うき「ウキカラ」8月号|language=ja|website=[[Uki, Kumamoto]]|archive-date=30 August 2023|access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.city.shimonoseki.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/58936.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606001503/https://www.city.shimonoseki.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/58936.pdf|script-title=ja:人権意識のアップデート|language=ja|website=[[Shimonoseki]] |archive-date=6 June 2023|access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref>

Only the peasants lived in rural areas. Samurai, craftsmen and merchants lived in the [[jōkamachi|cities]] that were built around ''daimyo'' [[Japanese castle|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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hall|first=John W.|date=Autumn 1974|title=Rule by Status in Tokugawa Japan|journal=Journal of Japanese Studies|volume=1|issue=1|pages=39–49|doi=10.2307/133436|jstor=133436}}</ref>

At the top were the Emperor and the court nobility, invincible in prestige but weak in power. Next came the shōgun, ''daimyo'' and layers of feudal lords whose rank was indicated by their closeness to the Tokugawa. They had power. The ''daimyo'' comprised about 250 local lords of local "han" with annual outputs of 50,000 or more bushels of rice. The upper strata was much given to elaborate and expensive rituals, including elegant architecture, landscaped gardens, [[Noh]] drama, patronage of the arts, and the tea ceremony.{{sfn|Totman|2000|pp= 225–230}}
[[File:Ｓａｍｕｒａｉ.jpg|thumb|right|[[Samurai]] could [[Kiri-sute gomen|kill a commoner]] for the slightest insult and were widely feared by the Japanese population. Edo period, 1798]]
Then came the 400,000 warriors, called "samurai", in numerous grades and degrees. A few upper samurai were eligible for high office; most were foot soldiers. Since there was very little fighting, they became civil servants paid by the daimyo, with minor duties. The samurai were affiliated with senior lords in a well-established chain of command. The shogun had 17,000 samurai retainers; the daimyo each had hundreds. Most lived in modest homes near their lord's headquarters, and lived off of hereditary rights and stipends. Together these high status groups comprised Japan's ruling class making up about 6% of the total population.

After a long period of inner conflict, the first goal of the newly established Tokugawa government was to pacify the country. It created a balance of power that remained fairly stable for the next 250 years, influenced by [[Confucianism|Confucian]] principles of [[social order]]. Most samurai lost their direct possession of the land: the ''daimyo'' took over their land. The samurai had a choice: give up their sword and become peasants, or move to the city of their feudal lord and become a paid retainer. Only a few land samurai remained in the border provinces of the north, or as direct vassals of the ''shōgun'', the 5,000 so-called {{Lang|ja-latn|[[hatamoto]]}}. The ''daimyo'' were put under tight control of the shogunate. Their families had to reside in Edo; the ''daimyo'' themselves had to reside in Edo for one year and in their province (''han'') for the next. This system was called ''[[sankin-kōtai]]''.<ref>Michael Wert, ''Samurai: A Concise History'' (2019).</ref>

Lower orders divided into two main segments—the peasants—80% of the population—whose high prestige as producers was undercut by their burden as the chief source of taxes. They were illiterate and lived in villages controlled by appointed officials who kept the peace and collected taxes.
The family was the smallest legal entity, and the maintenance of family status and privileges was of great importance at all levels of society. The individual had no separate legal rights. The 1711 ''Gotōke reijō'' was compiled from over 600 statutes promulgated between 1597 and 1696.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2003|pp=31–32}}</ref>

Outside the four classes were the so-called ''[[Burakumin|eta]]'' and ''[[hinin]]'', those whose professions broke the taboos of [[Buddhism and Hinduism|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.<ref name="Frédéric 2002 313">{{harvnb|Frédéric|2002|p=313}}</ref>

''Hinin'' were only allowed inside a special quarter of the city. Other persecution of the hinin included disallowing them from wearing robes longer than knee-length and the wearing of hats.<ref name="Frédéric 2002 313"/> Sometimes ''eta'' villages were not even printed on official maps. A sub-class of hinin who were born into their social class had no option of mobility to a different social class whereas the other class of hinin who had lost their previous class status could be reinstated in Japanese society.<ref name="Frédéric 2002 313"/>

On the other hand, in practice, both ''eta'' and ''hinin'' were recognized as owners of fields, some with very large incomes (''[[koku]]'') and some economic power. Their chief held the title of {{nihongo3||[[:ja:弾左衛門]]|Danzaemon}} and had the authority to issue orders to ''eta'' and ''hinin'' throughout the country, as well as jurisdiction within the ''eta'' and ''hinin''.<ref name="uki300823"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%BC%BE%E5%B7%A6%E8%A1%9B%E9%96%80-95031|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307094200/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%BC%BE%E5%B7%A6%E8%A1%9B%E9%96%80-95031|script-title=ja:弾座衛門|language=ja|website=Kotobank |archive-date=7 March 2024|access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Frédéric 2002 93">{{harvnb|Frédéric|2002|p=93}}</ref> The ''eta'', ''hinin'' and ''burakumin'' classes were officially abolished in 1871.<ref name="Frédéric 2002 313"/> However, their cultural and societal impact, including some forms of discrimination, continues into modern times.<ref name="Frédéric 2002 93"/>

{{wide image|Edo Panorama old Tokyo color photochrom.jpg|1200px|Edo, 1865 or 1866. [[Photochrom]] print. Five albumen prints joined to form a panorama. Photographer: [[Felice Beato]].}}

==Economic development==
[[File:Plan of edo.jpeg|thumb|A scaled pocket plan of Edo]]
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 during the Tokugawa period 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.<ref>Kozo Yamamura, "Toward a reexamination of the economic history of Tokugawa Japan, 1600–1867." ''Journal of Economic History'' 33.3 (1973): 509-546. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2117113 online]</ref>

===Population===
[[File:Cotton-Transport-Ships-Racing-to-Edo-from-Aji-River-Osaka-by-Gansuitei-Yoshitoyo-c1855.png|thumb|upright=1.2|left|A set of three [[ukiyo-e]] prints depicting [[Osaka]]'s bustling shipping industry. By Gansuitei Yoshitoyo. 1854–1859.]]
By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of more than one million, likely the biggest city in the world at the time.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Perez, Louis G.|title=The history of Japan|date=2009|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-36442-6|edition=2nd|location=Westport, Conn.|oclc=277040931}}</ref> [[Osaka]] and [[Kyoto]] each had more than 400,000 inhabitants. Many other [[castle town]]s grew as well. [[Osaka]] and Kyoto became busy trading and handicraft production centers, while Edo was the center for the supply of food and essential urban consumer goods. Around the year 1700, Japan was perhaps the most urbanized country in the world, at a rate of around 10–12%.<ref name=":0" /> Half of that figure would be samurai, while the other half, consisting of merchants and artisans, would be known as ''[[chōnin]]''.<ref name=":0" />

In the first part of the Edo period, Japan experienced rapid demographic growth, before leveling off at around 30 million.<ref name=":3">Hanley, S. B. (1968). Population trends and economic development in Tokugawa Japan: the case of Bizen province in Okayama. ''Daedalus'', 622-635.</ref> Between the 1720s and 1820s, Japan had almost [[zero population growth]], often attributed to lower birth rates in response to widespread famine ([[Great Tenmei famine]] 1782–1788), but some historians have presented different theories, such as a high rate of infanticide artificially controlling population.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flath|2000}}</ref>

At around 1721, the population of Japan was close to 30 million and the figure was only around 32 million around the [[Meiji Restoration]] around 150 years later.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Huang|first=Ray|title=Capitalism and the 21st Century (Zi ben zhu yi yu er shi yi shi ji)|date=2015|isbn=978-7-108-05368-8|edition=Di 1 ban|location=Beijing|oclc=953227195 |publisher=生活·读书·新知三联书店 }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> From 1721, there were regular national surveys of the population until the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.<ref name=":3" /> In addition, regional surveys, as well as religious records initially compiled to eradicate Christianity, also provide valuable demographic data.<ref name=":3" />

===Economy and financial services===
[[File:Nihonbashi-Fish-Market-Prosperity-Ukiyoe-Utagawa-Kuniyasu.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Nihonbashi Fish Market Prosperity (Edo period) by Utagawa [[Kuniyasu]]]]
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 [[Japanese units of measurement#Length|chō]] in 1600 to 3 million by 1720.<ref name="chobu">One chō, or chobu, equals 2.45 acres.</ref> 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.

The system of ''[[Sankin-kōtai|sankin kōtai]]'' meant that daimyos and their families often resided in Edo or travelled back to their domains, giving demand to an enormous consumer market in Edo and trade throughout the country.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Constantine Nomikos Vaporis, ''Tour of Duty: Samurai, Military Service in Edo, and the Culture of Early Modern Japan'' (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008), 26.</ref> Samurai and daimyos, after prolonged peace, were accustomed to more elaborate lifestyles.<ref name=":2" /> To keep up with growing expenditures, the ''bakufu'' and daimyos often encouraged commercial crops and artifacts within their domains, from textiles to tea.<ref name=":2" /> The concentration of wealth also led to the development of financial markets.<ref name=":1" />

As the shogunate only allowed ''daimyos'' to sell surplus rice in Edo and Osaka, large-scale rice markets developed there.<ref name=":1" /> Each daimyo also had a capital city, located near the one castle they were allowed to maintain.<ref name=":0" /> Daimyos would have agents in various commercial centers, selling rice and cash crops, often exchanged for paper credit to be redeemed elsewhere.<ref name=":0" /> 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.{{sfn|Totman|2000|loc= chapter 11}}

[[File:Keicho gold coinage Oban Koban Ichibuban 1601 1695.jpg|thumb|[[Tokugawa coinage]]: [[Ōban]], [[Koban (coin)|Koban]], [[Ichibuban]] (1601–1695).]]
The merchants benefited enormously, especially those with official patronage. However, the [[Neo-Confucianism|Neo-Confucian ideology]] of the shogunate focused the virtues of frugality and hard work; it had a rigid class system, which emphasized agriculture and despised commerce and merchants.<ref name=":0" /> A century after the Shogunate's establishment, problems began to emerge.<ref name=":0" /> The samurai, forbidden to engage in farming or business but allowed to borrow money, borrowed too much, some taking up side jobs as bodyguards for merchants, debt collectors, or artisans.<ref name=":0" />

The ''bakufu'' and ''daimyos'' raised taxes on farmers, but did not tax business, so they too fell into debt, with some merchants specializing in loaning to daimyos.<ref name=":2" /> Yet it was inconceivable to systematically tax commerce, as it would make money off "parasitic" activities, raise the prestige of merchants, and lower the status of government.<ref name=":0" /> As they paid no regular taxes, the forced financial contributions to the daimyos were seen by some merchants as a cost of doing business.<ref name=":2" /> The wealth of merchants gave them a degree of prestige and even power over the daimyos.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Sakata Yoshio, ''Meiji Ishinshi'' [A history of the Meiji Restoration] (Tokyo: Miraisha, 1960), 19</ref>

By 1750, rising taxes incited peasant unrest and even revolt. The nation had to deal somehow with samurai impoverishment and treasury deficits. The financial troubles of the samurai undermined their loyalties to the system, and the empty treasury threatened the whole system of government. One solution was reactionary—cutting samurai salaries and prohibiting spending for luxuries.<ref name=":0" /> Other solutions were modernizing, with the goal of increasing agrarian productivity.<ref name=":0" />

The eighth Tokugawa shogun, [[Tokugawa Yoshimune|Yoshimune]] (in office 1716–1745) had considerable success, though much of his work had to be done again between 1787 and 1793 by the shogun's chief councilor [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]] (1759–1829).<ref name=":2" /> Other shoguns debased the coinage to pay debts, which caused inflation.<ref name=":2" /> Overall, while commerce (domestic and international) was vibrant and sophisticated financial services had developed in the Edo period, the shogunate remained ideologically focused on honest agricultural work as the basis of society and never sought to develop a mercantile or capitalistic country.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:東海道五十三次 大津-Otsu MET DP123205.jpg|thumb|City life in the Edo period, by [[Hiroshige]], c. 1840]]
By 1800, the [[commercialization]] of the economy grew rapidly, bringing more and more remote villages into the national economy. Rich farmers appeared who switched from rice to high-profit commercial crops and engaged in local money-lending, trade, and small-scale manufacturing. Wealthy merchants were often forced to "lend" money to the shogunate or daimyos (often never returned).<ref name=":0" /> They often had to hide their wealth, and some sought higher social status by using money to marry into the samurai class.<ref name=":0" /> There is some evidence that as merchants gained greater political influence in the late Edo period, the rigid [[class division]] between samurai and merchants began to break down.<ref name=":0" />

A few domains, notably [[Chōshū Domain|Chōshū]] and [[Satsuma Domain|Satsuma]], used innovative methods to restore their finances, but most sunk further into debt. The financial crisis provoked a reactionary solution near the end of the "Tempo era" (1830–1843) promulgated by the chief counselor [[Mizuno Tadakuni]]. He raised taxes, denounced luxuries and tried to impede the growth of business; he failed and it appeared to many that the continued existence of the entire Tokugawa system was in jeopardy.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McClain|first=James L.|url=https://archive.org/details/japanmodernhisto00mccl|url-access=registration|title=Japan, a modern history|date=2002|publisher=W.W. Norton & Co|isbn=0-393-04156-5|edition=1st|location=New York, N.Y.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/japanmodernhisto00mccl/page/5 5]–108|oclc=47013231}}</ref>

====Agriculture====
[[File:Kakegawa Reisho Tokaido.jpg|thumb|Peasants planting rice, by Utagawa Hiroshige, c. 1847]]
[[Rice]] was the base of the economy. About 80% of the people were rice farmers.<ref>Susan B. Hanley and Kozo Yamamura (1977) ''Economic and demographic change in preindustrial Japan, 1600–1868'', pp. 69–90</ref> Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable, so prosperity increased. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720.<ref name="chobu" /> Improved technology helped farmers control the all-important flow of irrigation to their paddies. The ''daimyo'' operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade.

Large-scale rice markets developed, centered on Edo and Ōsaka.{{sfn|Totman|2000|loc= chapter 11}} 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.<ref name=":2" /> Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, currency came into common use, and the strengthening credit market encouraged entrepreneurship.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Tetsuji Okazaki|title=The role of the merchant coalition in pre-modern Japanese economic development: an historical institutional analysis|journal=Explorations in Economic History|year=2005|volume=42|issue=2|pages=184–201|url=http://www2.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/cemano/research/DP/documents/coe-f-33.pdf|doi=10.1016/j.eeh.2004.06.005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510095959/http://www2.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/cemano/research/DP/documents/coe-f-33.pdf|archive-date=10 May 2012}}</ref> The ''daimyo'' collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, often at around 40%-50% of the harvest.<ref name=":2" /> The rice was sold at the ''[[fudasashi]]'' market in Edo. To raise money, the ''daimyo'' used [[forward contract]]s 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 ''shōgun'', beginning around 1666, instituted a policy to reduce logging and increase the planting of trees. The policy mandated that only the ''shōgun'' and ''daimyo'' could authorize the use of wood. By the 18th century, Japan had developed detailed scientific knowledge about [[silviculture]] and plantation [[forestry]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Diamond|2005|pp=297–304}}</ref>

==Artistic and intellectual development==
=== Education ===
[[File:Bungaku-Bandai_no-Takara-Terakoya-School-by-Issunshi-Hanasato.png|thumb|[[Terakoya]], private educational school]]
The first shogun Ieyasu set up Confucian academies in his ''[[Shinpan (daimyo)|shinpan]]'' domains and other ''daimyos'' followed suit in their own domains, establishing what's known as [[Han school|''han'' schools]] (藩校, ''hankō'').<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">Hane, Mikiso. ''Premodern Japan: A historical survey''. Routledge, 2018.</ref> Within a generation, almost all samurai were literate, as their careers often required knowledge of literary arts.<ref name=":0" /> 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]].When the clergy of [[Shinto]] religion were alive, samurai, Buddhist monks were also there.<ref name=":0" /> Beyond [[kanji]] (Chinese characters), the Confucian classics, calligraphy, basic arithmetics, and etiquette,<ref name=":2" /> the samurai also learned various martial arts and military skills in schools.<ref name=":0" />

The ''[[chōnin]]'' (urban merchants and artisans) patronized neighborhood schools called ''[[terakoya]]'' (寺子屋, "temple schools").<ref name=":0" /> Despite being located in temples, the ''[[terakoya]]'' curriculum consisted of basic literacy and arithmetic, instead of literary arts or philosophy.<ref name=":0" /> High rates of urban literacy in Edo contributed to the prevalence of novels and other literary forms.<ref name=":2" /> In urban areas, children were often taught by masterless samurai, while in rural areas priests from Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines often did the teaching.<ref name=":2" /> Unlike in the cities, in rural Japan, only children of prominent farmers would receive education.<ref name=":2" />

In Edo, the shogunate set up several schools under its direct patronage, the most important being the neo-Confucian {{Nihongo|''[[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 {{Nihongo|''[[Wagakukōdansho]]''|和学講談所|4="Institute of Lectures of Japanese classics"}}, specialized in Japanese domestic history and literature, influencing the rise of {{lang|ja-latn|[[kokugaku]]}}, and the {{Nihongo|''[[Igakukan]]''|医学間|4="Institute of medicine"}}, focusing on [[Traditional Chinese medicine|Chinese medicine]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kobayashi|first=Tetsuya|title=Society, Schools, and Progress in Japan|publisher=Pergamon|year=1976|isbn=9781483136226|pages=14–}}</ref>

One estimate of literacy in Edo suggest that up to a fifth of males could read, along with a sixth of women.<ref name=":0" /> Another estimate states that 40% of men and 10% of women by the end of the Edo period were literate.<ref>See Martha Tocco, "Norms and texts for women's education in south east china Tokugawa Japan." In Ko, Haboush, and Piggott, Women and Confucian Cultures, 193–218.</ref> 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.<ref name = "seikei"/> Some historians partially credited Japan's relatively high literacy rates for its fast development after the Meiji Restoration.<ref name=":2" />

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. There were 600 to 800 rental bookstores in Edo, and people borrowed or bought these [[Woodblock printing in Japan|woodblock print]] books. The best-selling books in this period were ''Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko'' (''Life of an Amorous Man'') by [[Ihara Saikaku]], ''[[Nansō Satomi Hakkenden]]'' by [[Takizawa Bakin]] and ''[[Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige]]'' by [[Jippensha Ikku]] and these books were reprinted many times.<ref name ="edobooks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20201019205019/https://www.kodomo.go.jp/gallery/edoehon/era/index_e.html Edo Picture Books and the Edo Period.] National Diet Library.</ref><ref name = "seikei">[https://web.archive.org/web/20210224122700/http://www.book-seishindo.jp/seikei_tanq/tanq_2013B-06.pdf ''第6回 和本の楽しみ方4 江戸の草紙'' p.3.]. Konosuke Hashiguchi. (2013) Seikei University.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20191228234126/https://www.nihonbashi-tokyo.jp/en/history/culture.html Nihonbashi.] Mitsui Fudosan.</ref><ref>Keizaburo Seimaru. (2017) ''江戸のベストセラー''. Yosensha. {{ISBN|978-4800312556}}</ref>

=== Philosophy and religion ===
[[File:Le Musée Paul Dupuy - Horloge japonaise à double foliot (Wadokei) - Période Edo.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Wadokei]], a Japanese-made clockwatch, 18th century]]
The flourishing of Neo-Confucianism was the major intellectual development of the Tokugawa period.<ref name=":0" /> Confucian studies had long been kept active in Japan by [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] clerics, but during the Tokugawa period, Confucianism emerged from Buddhist religious control. This system of thought increased attention to a secular view of man and society. The ethical [[humanism]], [[rationalism]], and historical perspective of neo-Confucian doctrine appealed to the official class. By the mid-17th century, neo-Confucianism was Japan's dominant legal philosophy and contributed directly to the development of the {{lang|ja-latn|[[kokugaku]]}} (national learning) school of thought{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}.

[[File:文字書き人形.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|A [[Karakuri puppet|''Karakuri'' puppet]] ''Moji-kaki doll'' made by [[Tanaka Hisashige]]. Using mechanical power, a puppet dips a brush into ink and writes a character on paper. 19th century]]

Advanced studies and growing applications of neo-Confucianism contributed to the transition of the social and political order from feudal norms to class- and large-group-oriented practices. The rule of the people or Confucian man was gradually replaced by the [[rule of law]]. New laws were developed, and new administrative devices were instituted. A new theory of government and a new vision of society emerged as a means of justifying more comprehensive governance by the bakufu{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}.

Each person had a distinct place in society and was expected to work to fulfill his or her mission in life. The people were to be ruled with benevolence by those whose assigned duty it was to rule. Government was all-powerful but responsible and humane. Although the class system was influenced by neo-Confucianism, it was not identical to it. Whereas soldiers and clergy were at the bottom of the hierarchy in the Chinese model, in Japan, some members of these classes constituted the ruling elite{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}.

Members of the samurai class adhered to bushi traditions with a renewed interest in Japanese history and cultivation of the ways of Confucian scholar-administrators. A distinct culture known as ''[[chōnindō]]'' ("the way of the townspeople") emerged in cities such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo. It encouraged aspiration to bushido qualities—diligence, honesty, honor, loyalty, and frugality—while blending [[Shinto]], neo-Confucian, and Buddhist beliefs. Study of mathematics, astronomy, [[cartography]], engineering, and medicine were also encouraged. Emphasis was placed on quality of workmanship, especially in the arts{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}.

[[File:First Japanese treatise on Western anatomy.jpg|thumb|''[[Kaitai Shinsho]]'', Japan's first treatise on Western [[anatomy]], published in 1774]]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. [[Proscription]]s 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{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}.

Shinto eventually assumed an intellectual form as shaped by neo-Confucian rationalism and materialism. The kokugaku 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]], [[Nihon Shoki]], and [[Man'yōshū]] were all studied anew in the search for the Japanese spirit. Some purists in the kokugaku movement, such as [[Motoori Norinaga]], even criticized the Confucian and Buddhist influences — in effect, foreign influences — for contaminating Japan's ancient ways. According to them, Japan was the land of the [[kami]] and, as such, had a special destiny.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewis|2003|pp=45–47}}</ref>

During the period, Japan studied Western sciences and techniques (called ''[[rangaku]]'', "Dutch studies") through the information and books received through the Dutch traders in Dejima. 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, [[Tanaka Hisashige]], the founder of [[Toshiba]], is worthy of special mention. Because of the technical originality and sophistication of his [[Myriad year clock]] and [[Karakuri puppet|''karakuri'' puppet]], they are difficult to restore even today, and are considered to be a highly mechanical heritage prior to Japan's modernization.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210704150604/https://museum.seiko.co.jp/en/knowledge/inventors_04/ Hisashige Tanaka (1799-1881).] The Seiko Museum Ginza.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210704164744/https://www.global.toshiba/content/dam/toshiba/migration/corp/techReviewAssets/tech/review/2005/07/60_07pdf/a0501.pdf Mechanism of "Man-nen dokei," a Historic Perpetual Chronometer] Yuji Kubota (2005)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210704161614/https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ieiej/33/1/33_57/_pdf Karakuri Nagoya, Tradition to the modern robot.] Shobei Tamaya</ref>

=== Art, culture and entertainment ===
[[File:Red and White Plum Blossoms.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|''[[Red and White Plum Blossoms]]'' by [[Ogata Kōrin]], 1712-1716]]
In the field of art, the [[Rinpa school]] became popular. The paintings and crafts of the Rinpa school are characterized by highly decorative and showy designs using [[Gold ground|gold and silver leaves]], bold compositions with simplified objects to be drawn, repeated patterns, and a playful spirit. Important figures in the Rinpa school include [[Hon'ami Kōetsu]], [[Tawaraya Sōtatsu]], [[Ogata Kōrin]], [[Sakai Hōitsu]] and [[Suzuki Kiitsu]]. Other than the Rinpa school, [[Maruyama Ōkyo]] and [[Itō Jakuchū]] are famous for their realistic painting techniques. They produced their works under the patronage of wealthy merchants newly emerging from the economic development of this period. Following the [[Azuchi-Momoyama period]], the painters of the [[Kano school]] drew pictures on the walls and [[fusuma]]s of [[Japanese castle|castles]] and temples with the support of powerful people.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200514124121/https://media.thisisgallery.com/20199441 琳派とは？知っておきたい琳派の巨匠と代表作] 15 January 2019</ref>

[[File:Blade and Mounting for a Short Sword (Wakizashi).jpg|thumb|Mounting for ''[[wakizashi]]'' decorated with [[Japanese lacquerware|lacquer]] of ''[[maki-e]]'' technique. 18th century]]
Due to the end of the period of civil war and the development of the economy, many crafts with high artistic value were produced. Among the samurai class, arms came to be treated like works of art, and [[Japanese sword mountings]] and [[Japanese armour]] beautifully decorated with [[Japanese lacquerware|lacquer]] of ''[[maki-e]]'' technique and metal carvings became popular. Each ''[[Han system|han]]'' ([[daimyo]] domain) encouraged the production of crafts to improve their finances, and crafts such as furnishings and ''[[inro]]'' beautifully decorated with lacquer, metal or ivory became popular among rich people. The [[Kaga Domain]], which was ruled by the [[Maeda clan]], was especially enthusiastic about promoting crafts, and the area still boasts a reputation that surpasses [[Kyoto]] in crafts even today.<ref name = "murata104120">Masayuki Murata. ''明治工芸入門'' p.104. p.120. Me no Me, 2017 {{ISBN|978-4907211110}}</ref><ref>[https://www4.city.kanazawa.lg.jp/data/open/cnt/3/14186/1/2-Application-Jpn.pdf?20110125144449 Traditional Crafts of Kanazawa.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117101218/https://www4.city.kanazawa.lg.jp/data/open/cnt/3/14186/1/2-Application-Jpn.pdf?20110125144449 |date=17 January 2022 }} [[Kanazawa City]].</ref>

For the first time, urban populations had the means and leisure time to support a new mass culture. Their search for enjoyment became known as ''[[ukiyo]]'' (the floating world), an ideal world of fashion, popular entertainment, and the discovery of aesthetic qualities in objects and actions of everyday life. This increasing interest in pursuing recreational activities helped to develop an array of new industries, many of which could be found in an area known as [[Yoshiwara]]. The district was known for being the center of Edo's developing sense of elegance and refinement.<ref>{{Harvnb|Longstreet|Longstreet|1989|p=2}}</ref> Established in 1617 as the city's shogunate-sanctioned prostitution district, it kept this designation about 250 years. Yoshiwara was home to mostly women who, due to unfortunate circumstances, found themselves working in this secluded environment.

Professional female entertainers (''[[geisha]]''), music, popular stories, ''[[Kabuki]]'' (theater) and ''[[bunraku]]'' (puppet theater), poetry, a rich literature, and art, exemplified by beautiful woodblock prints (known as ''[[ukiyo-e]]''), were all part of this flowering of culture. Literature also flourished with the talented examples of the playwright [[Chikamatsu Monzaemon]] (1653–1724) and the poet, essayist, and travel writer [[Matsuo Bashō]] (1644–1694).

[[File:Great Wave off Kanagawa2.jpg|thumb|''[[The Great Wave off Kanagawa]]'', full-colour [[ukiyo-e]] woodblock print, [[Hokusai]], {{circa|1829–1832}}]]
Ukiyo-e is a genre of painting and printmaking that developed in the late 17th century, at first depicting the entertainments of the [[Yūkaku|pleasure districts]] of Edo, such as courtesans and kabuki actors. [[Suzuki Harunobu|Harunobu]] produced the first full-colour ''[[nishiki-e]]'' prints in 1765, a form that has become synonymous to most with ukiyo-e. The genre reached a peak in technique towards the end of the century with the works of such artists as [[Torii Kiyonaga|Kiyonaga]] and [[Utamaro]]. As the Edo period came to an end a great diversity of genres proliferated: warriors, nature, folklore, and the landscapes of [[Hokusai]] and [[Hiroshige]]. The genre declined throughout the rest of the century in the face of modernization that saw ukiyo-e as both old-fashioned and laborious to produce compared to Western technologies. Ukiyo-e was a primary part of the wave of [[Japonisme]] that swept Western art in the late 19th century.

The Edo period was characterized by an unprecedented series of economic developments (despite termination of contact with the outside world) and cultural maturation, especially in terms of theater, music, and other entertainment. For example, a poetic meter for music called kinsei kouta-chō was invented during this time<ref>{{Cite book|title = Song, dance, storytelling: aspects of the performing arts in Japan|url=https://archive.org/details/songdancestoryte0000hoff|url-access = registration|publisher = China-Japan Program, Cornell University|date = 1 June 1978|language = en|first = Frank|last = Hoff|page = [https://archive.org/details/songdancestoryte0000hoff/page/130 130]}}</ref> and is still used today in folk songs. Music and theater were influenced by the social gap between the noble and commoner classes, and different arts became more defined as this gap widened.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite book|last=Nishiyama|first=Matsunosuke|url=https://archive.org/details/edoculturedailyl00nish|url-access=limited|title=Edo Culture : daily life and diversions in urban Japan, 1600-1868|date=1997|publisher=University of Hawaiì Press|isbn=0-585-30952-3|location=Honolulu, HI|pages=[https://archive.org/details/edoculturedailyl00nish/page/n194 198]–227|translator-last=Groemer|translator-first=Gerald|oclc=45728301}}</ref>

Several different types of [[kabuki]] emerged. Some, such as [[shibaraku]], were only available at a certain time of year, while some companies only performed for nobles. Fashion trends, satirization of local news stories, and advertisements were often part of kabuki theater, as well.<ref name="auto2"/> Along with kabuki, storytelling entertainments were popular among the common people, and people enjoyed [[rakugo]], a comical story, and [[kōdan]], a historical story, in a dedicated theater called [[yose]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/dglib/contents/learn/edc20/digest/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221019042614/https://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/dglib/contents/learn/edc20/digest/index.html|script-title=ja:寄席早わかり|language=ja|publisher=Japan Arts Council|archive-date=19 October 2022|access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref> The most popular sport was [[sumo]].

Eating out became popular due to urbanization. Particularly popular among ordinary people were [[Yatai (food cart)|stalls serving fast food]] such as [[soba]], [[sushi]], [[tempura]], and [[unagi]], [[tofu]] restaurants, teahouses and [[izakaya]] (Japanese-style pubs). A number of [[ryotei]] also opened to serve high-class food. People enjoyed eating at restaurants by buying books that listed restaurant ratings that imitated sumo rankings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~shoyu/mametisiki/reference-16.html|title=江戸の外食文化｜江戸外食文化の定着-1｜日本食文化の醤油を知る|date=19 December 2019|access-date=15 July 2020|archive-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219045819/http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~shoyu/mametisiki/reference-16.html|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref><ref>[https://megalodon.jp/2020-0715-1353-51/https://www.rekihaku.ac.jp:443/outline/publication/rekihaku/196/witness.html 歴史系総合誌「歴博」第196号] National Museum of Japanese History</ref>

Gardening was a popular pastime. Especially in Edo, residences of daimyo (feudal lords) of each domain were gathered, and many gardeners existed to manage these gardens, which led to the development of horticultural techniques. Among people, [[cherry blossoms]], [[morning glories]], [[Japanese iris]]es and [[chrysanthemums]] were especially popular, and [[bonsai]] using deep pots became popular. Not only did people buy plants and appreciate flowers, but they were also enthusiastic about improving the varieties of flowers, so specialized books were published one after another. For example, Matsudaira Sadatomo produced 300 varieties of iris and published a technical book.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170711154804/http://edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/s-exhibition/special/569/%e8%8a%b1%e9%96%8b%e3%81%8f%e3%80%80%e6%b1%9f%e6%88%b8%e3%81%ae%e5%9c%92%e8%8a%b8/ 花開く江戸の園芸] Edo Tokyo Museum</ref>

Traveling became popular among people because of the improvement of roads and post towns. The main destinations were famous temples and [[Shinto shrine]]s around the country, and eating and drinking at the inns and prostitution were one of the main attractions. What people admired most was the visit to [[Ise Grand Shrine]] and the summit of [[Mount Fuji]], which are considered the most sacred places in Japan. The Ise Grand Shrine in particular has been visited by an enormous number of visitors.<ref name="auto1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20161013220353/http://cleanup.jp/life/edo/86.shtml お伊勢さま、一度は行きたい庶民の夢] Cleanup Corporation</ref><ref name="auto">[https://web.archive.org/web/20200513045734/https://sengenjinja.jp/fujikou/index.html 富士講と御師] Kitaguchihongu Sengenjinja</ref>

Historical documents record that 3.62 million people visited the shrine in 50 days in 1625. 1.18 million people visited it in three days in 1829 when the grand festival held every 20 years (''Shikinen Sengu'') was held. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event for people living in remote areas, so they set up a joint fund for each village, saved their travel expenses, and went on a group trip. Local residents of [[Ise Grand Shrine]] and [[Mount Fuji]] used to send specialized advertising personnel to various parts of Japan to solicit trips to local areas to make money from tourism.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto"/>
{{Clear}}

<gallery mode="packed" style="text-align: center;" widths="200" heights="220" caption="Art, culture">
File:Reading Stand with Mount Yoshino.jpg|Reading stand with [[Mt. Yoshino]], decorated with lacquer of ''maki-e'' technique. 18th century
File:Kunimasa - taikan, The actor Ichikawa Ebizo in a shibaraku role, 1796.jpg|Ukiyo-e based on kabuki actors became popular. [[Ichikawa Danjūrō V]] in the popular kabuki play ''[[Shibaraku]]'', by [[Utagawa Kunimasa]], 1796
File:Hiroshige Bowl of Sushi.jpg|Ukiyo-e depicting ''Sushi'', by [[Hiroshige]]
File:Ando hiroshige miyakawanowatashi.jpg|A boarding place for a ferry on the [[Miya River (Mie)|Miya River]], which is crowded with people visiting Ise Grand Shrine. By Hiroshige
</gallery>

=== Fashion ===
[[File:Khalili Collection Kimono 03.jpg|thumb|upright|Outer kimono for a young woman ({{lang|ja-Latn|[[uchikake]]}}), 1840–1870, [[Khalili Collection of Kimono]]]]
Clothing acquired a wide variety of designs and decorative techniques, especially for [[kimono]] worn by women.{{sfn|Iwao|2015|p=8}} The main consumers of kimono were the samurai who used lavish clothing and other material luxuries to signal their place at the top of the social order.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=20}} Driven by this [[demand]], the textile industry grew and used increasingly sophisticated methods of weaving, [[dyeing]], and [[embroidery]].{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=20}} Over this period, women adopted brighter colours and bolder designs, whereas women's and men's kimono had been very similar.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=22}} The rise of a [[Bourgeoisie|merchant class]] fuelled more demand for elaborate costumes. While ordinary kimono would usually be created by women at home, luxurious silk kimono were designed and created by specialist artists who were usually men.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=24}}

{{Multiple image
| image1            = 壽字吉祥文蒔絵印籠 - Inrō with the Characters for Longevity and Good Fortune and the “Seven Lucky Treasures” on Checkerboard Ground.jpg
| caption1          = Inro and Netsuke, 18th century
| image2            = The Four Seasons in the South, by Utagawa Toyokuni, Japan, Edo period, 1700s AD, woodblock print on paper - Tokyo National Museum - Tokyo, Japan - DSC09277.jpg
| caption2          = Ladies fashion in 1700s by Utagawa Toyokuni
| align             = left
| width             = 140
}}

A kind of kimono specific to the military elite is the {{lang|ja-Latn|goshodoki}} or "palace court style", which would be worn in the residence of a military leader (a {{lang|ja-Latn|shōgun}} or {{lang|ja-Latn|daimyo}}). These would have landscape scenes, among which there are other motifs usually referencing classic literature.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|pp=35–44}} Samurai men would dress with a more understated design with geometrical designs concentrated around the waist.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|pp=76–78}} The {{lang|ja-Latn|yogi}}, or sleeping kimono, is a thickly wadded form of wearable bedding, usually with simple designs.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|pp=93–95}}

A style called {{lang|ja-Latn|tsuma moyō}} had rich decoration from the waist down only, and family emblems on the neck and shoulders. These would be worn by women of the merchant class.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|pp=46–51}} The kimono of merchant-class women were more subdued than those of the samurai, but still with bold colours and designs representing nature.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=54}}

Red was a popular colour for wealthy women, partly because of its cultural association with youth and passion, and partly because the dye{{snd}}derived from [[safflower]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/kimono|title=Kimono|website=Victoria and Albert Museum|language=en|access-date=20 February 2020}}</ref>{{snd}}was very expensive, so a bright red garment was an ostentatious display of wealth.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=63}} Indian fabrics, brought to Japan by [[Netherlands|Dutch]] importers, were received with enthusiasm and found many uses.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=80}} Japanese designers started printing designs that were influenced by the Indian patterns.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|pp=80–84}} Some garments used fabric imported from Britain or France. Ownership of these exotic textiles signified wealth and taste, but they were worn as undergarments where the designs would not be seen.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=87}}

[[Inro]] and [[netsuke]] became popular as accessories among men. Originally, inro was a portable case to put a seal or medicine, and netsuke was a fastener attached to the case, and both were practical tools. However, from the middle of the Edo period, products with high artistic value appeared and became popular as male accessories. Especially samurai and wealthy merchants competed to buy inro of high artistic value. At the end of the Edo period, the artistic value of inro further increased and it came to be regarded as an art collection.<ref name = "murata104">Masayuki Murata. ''明治工芸入門'' pp.104-106. Me no Me, 2017 {{ISBN|978-4907211110}}</ref><ref name = "saimitsu80">Yūji Yamashita. ''明治の細密工芸'' p.80-81. Heibonsha, 2014 {{ISBN|978-4582922172}}</ref>

==End of the shogunate==
{{main|Bakumatsu}}

===Decline of the Tokugawa===<!-- This section is linked from [[Emperor Ninkō]] -->

[[File:DaiRokuDaiba.jpg|thumb|right|''Dai-Roku Daiba'' (第六台場) or "No. 6 Battery", one of the original Edo-era battery islands]]
[[File:Shinagawa Baidai cannon.jpg|thumb|One of the cannons of Odaiba, now at the [[Yasukuni Shrine]]. 80-pound bronze, bore: 250mm, length: 3830mm]]

The end of this period is specifically called the [[bakumatsu|late Tokugawa shogunate]]. The cause for the end of this period is controversial but is often recounted as resulting from the forced [[Convention of Kanagawa|opening of Japan to the world]], by [[Matthew Perry (naval officer)|Commodore Matthew Perry]] of the [[United States Navy|US Navy]], whose [[Naval fleet|armada]] (known by the Japanese as "[[Black Ships|the black ships]]") fired weapons from [[Edo Bay]]. Several [[artificial island|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 ''[[Tokugawa shogunate|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".{{attribution needed|date=February 2018}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Jansen|2002|pp=289–292}}</ref> 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 [[guild]]s, 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 [[loan]]s. In this way, a subtle subversion of the warrior class by the ''chōnin'' took place.

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.<ref>{{Citation|last=Turkington|first=David|author-link=David Turkington|title=A Chronology of Japanese History|work=Edo Period (1603-1868)|url=http://www.shikokuhenrotrail.com/japanhistory/edohistory.html|access-date=5 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625110809/http://www.shikokuhenrotrail.com/japanhistory/edohistory.html|archive-date=25 June 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Great Tenmei Famine Map Artwork.png|thumb|upright|Starving peasants during the [[Great Tenmei famine]]]]
The [[Great Tenmei famine]] (1782 until 1788) was the worst famine in the Edo period.<ref name="tenmei"/> Many crops were damaged due to bad weather, serious cold and the [[1783 eruption of Mount Asama]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=天明3年（1783年）浅間山噴火 {{!}} 利根川水系砂防事務所 {{!}} 国土交通省 関東地方整備局 |url=https://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/tonesui/tonesui00023.html |access-date=25 March 2022 |website=www.ktr.mlit.go.jp}}</ref><ref name="tenmei"/> A worsening factor of the Great Tenmei famine was a drop in global temperatures due to the eruption of the [[Iceland]]ic volcano [[Laki]] in 1783.<ref name="tenmei"/> The spread of the famine was largely due to mismanagement of the Shogunate and the clan.<ref name="tenmei">{{cite web |website=Nikkei |title=江戸の飢饉に巨大噴火の影 気温低下で凶作、人災も |date=30 April 2022 |url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOCD13AD20T10C22A4000000/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505023044/https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOCD13AD20T10C22A4000000/ |archive-date=5 May 2022}}</ref>

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 [[Hokkaido]]. A British warship entered Nagasaki harbour searching for enemy Dutch ships in 1808, and other warships and [[whaler]]s 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 "[[barbarian]]s" 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 disaster]]s 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 [[diplomacy|diplomatic]] relations when [[James Biddle (commodore)|Commodore James Biddle]] appeared in [[Edo Bay]] with two warships in July 1846.

===End of seclusion===
[[File:Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry.jpg|thumb|[[Matthew C. Perry|Matthew Calbraith Perry]]]]
[[File:Commodore-Perry-Visit-Kanagawa-1854.jpg|thumb|Landing of Commodore Perry, Officers and Men of the Squadron To meet the Imperial Commissioners at ''Kurihama [[Yokosuka]]'' 8 March 1854]]

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, Shizuoka|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.<ref name="Gordon2008p51">{{Harvnb|Gordon|2008|p=51}}</ref> The European and American traders purchased gold for its original price on the world market and then sold it to the Japanese for triple the price.<ref name="Gordon2008p51" /> Along with this, cheap goods from these developed nations, like finished cotton, flooded the market forcing many Japanese out of business.<ref name="Gordon2008p51" /> 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 academy|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 daimyō|tozama daimyo]]'', and he was replaced in 1855 as chairman of the senior councilors by [[Hotta Masayoshi]] (1810–1864).

At the head of the dissident faction was [[Tokugawa Nariaki]], who had long embraced a militant loyalty to the emperor along with anti-foreign sentiments, and who had been put in charge of national defense in 1854. The [[Mito school]]—based on neo-Confucian and Shinto principles—had as its goal the restoration of the imperial institution, the turning back of the West, and the founding of a world empire under the divine [[Imperial House of Japan|imperial house]].

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). Hotta lost the support of key ''daimyo'', and when Tokugawa Nariaki opposed the new treaty, Hotta sought imperial sanction. The court officials, perceiving the weakness of the ''bakufu'', rejected Hotta's request and thus suddenly embroiled Kyoto and the emperor in Japan's internal politics for the first time in many centuries. When the ''shōgun'' died without an [[heir]], 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{{when|date=November 2016}} some scholars{{who|date=November 2016}} 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.<ref name="Gordon2008p42">{{Harvnb|Gordon|2008|p=42}}</ref> In 1767 to 1786 [[Tanuma Okitsugu]] also initiated some unorthodox economic reforms to expand government income.<ref name="Gordon2008p42" /> This led his conservative opponents to attack him and take his position as he was forced from government in disgrace.<ref name="Gordon2008p42" /> Similarly, [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]] launched the [[Kansei Reforms]] in 1787–1793 to stabilize rice prices, cut government costs, and increase revenues.<ref name="Gordon2008p42" /> 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|Hirata Atsutane's]] School of National Learning:
{{Poem quote|text=It is disgusting
the agitation over thread
In today's world
Ever since the ships
from foreign countries
came for the jeweled
silkworm cocoons
to the land of the gods and the Emperor
Peoples hearts
awesome though they are,
are being pulled apart
and consumed by rage.|sign=Matsuo Taseko|source=Gordon 2008, p.&nbsp;52}}

This inspired many anti-Tokugawa activists as they blamed the bakufu for impoverishing the people and dishonoring the emperor.<ref name="Gordon2008p52">{{Harvnb|Gordon|2008|p=52}}</ref>
[[File:Yoshinobu Tokugawa 2.jpg|thumb|[[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] in later life]]

===Bakumatsu modernization and conflicts===
{{main|Bakumatsu}}

During the last years of the ''[[Tokugawa shogunate|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 Takeaki|Enomoto]]. French naval engineers were hired to build naval arsenals, such as [[Yokosuka]] and Nagasaki. By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868, the Japanese navy of the ''shōgun'' already possessed eight Western-style steam warships around the flagship [[Japanese battleship Kaiyo Maru|''Kaiyō Maru'']], which were used against pro-imperial forces during the [[Boshin War]] under the command of Admiral [[Enomoto Takeaki|Enomoto]]. A [[Jules Brunet|French military mission]] was established to help modernize the armies of the ''bakufu''.[[File:Kanrinmaru.jpg|thumb|[[Japanese warship Kanrin Maru|''Kanrin Maru'']], Japan's first screw-driven steam warship, 1855|left]] [[File:Modern Costumes of Japanese Officers Shogunate Army 1866.png|thumb|Samurai in western clothing of the Tokugawa Shogunate Army (1866)]]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 Domain|Satsuma]] and [[Chōshū Domain]]s 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, [[rebellion|rebelled]], seized the [[Japanese imperial palace|imperial palace]], and announced their own restoration on 3 January 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'' [[navy|naval forces]] under Admiral [[Enomoto Takeaki]] continued to hold out for another six months in [[Hokkaido]], where they founded the short-lived [[Republic of Ezo]].

Although the Edo Period would soon end, [[Bushido]] values would continue to influence Japanese society long after the samurai ceased to exist.

The Edo Period would also have a lasting impact on modern art and culture. The Edo Period lives on in plays, books, anime, and especially [[jidaigeki]] (historical period dramas), such as the classic samurai films of [[Akira Kurosawa]]. Kurosawa's films would influence Spaghetti Westerns, and even Star Wars.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jpbound.com/what-was-the-edo-period-era-in-japan/|title=An Overview of the Edo Period (Era) in Japan -|date=22 August 2023|website=JPbound |first=James |last=Fujita}}</ref>

==Events==
* 1600: [[Battle of Sekigahara]]. [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] defeats a coalition of ''daimyo'' and establishes hegemony over most of Japan.
* 1603: The emperor appoints Tokugawa Ieyasu as ''shōgun'', who moves his government to Edo (Tokyo) and founds the Tokugawa dynasty of ''shōguns''.
* 1605: Tokugawa Ieyasu resigns as ''shōgun'' and is succeeded by his son [[Tokugawa Hidetada]].
* 1607: Korean [[Joseon]] dynasty sends an embassy to [[Tokugawa shogunate]].
* 1611: [[Ryūkyū]] Islands become a vassal state of [[Satsuma Domain]].
* 1614: Tokugawa Ieyasu bans Christianity from Japan.
* 1615: Battle of Osaka. Tokugawa Ieyasu besieges [[Osaka Castle]], all opposition from forces loyal to the [[Toyotomi]] family. Tokugawa authority becomes paramount throughout Japan.
* 1616: Tokugawa Ieyasu dies.
* 1620: After Ieyasu dies the peasants and ''chōnins'' increase in population
* 1623: [[Tokugawa Iemitsu]] becomes the third ''shōgun''.
* 1633: Iemitsu forbids travelling abroad and reading foreign books.
* 1635: Iemitsu formalizes the system of mandatory alternative residence (''[[sankin-kōtai]]'') in Edo.
* 1637: [[Shimabara Rebellion]] (1637–38) mounted by overtaxed peasants.
* 1638: Iemitsu forbids ship building.
* 1639: Edicts establishing National Seclusion ([[Sakoku]] Rei) are completed. All Westerners except the [[Dutch people|Dutch]] are prohibited from entering Japan.
* 1641: Iemitsu bans all foreigners, except Chinese, Koreans, and Dutch from Japan.
* 1651: [[Keian Uprising]], a failed Rōnin rebellion against the shogunate led by ronin martial arts instructors Marubashi Chûya and Yûi Shôsetsu Following [[Tokugawa Iemitsu|Tokugawa Iemitsu's]] Death in 1651.
* 1657: The [[Great Fire of Meireki]] destroys most of the city of Edo.
* 1686: [[Jōkyō uprising]] Failed Peasant Uprising in [[Azumi Basin|Azumidaira]] (Part of the [[Matsumoto Domain]] at the time) caused by Heavy tax rises
* 1700: [[Kabuki]] and [[ukiyo-e]] become popular.{{clarify|reason=Why choose 1700 for this?|date=January 2018}}
* 1707: [[Hōei eruption of Mount Fuji|Mount Fuji erupts]].
* 1774: The anatomical text ''[[Kaitai Shinsho]]'', the first complete Japanese translation of a Western medical work, is published by [[Sugita Genpaku]] and [[Maeno Ryotaku]].
* 1787: [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]] becomes senior shogunal councillor and institutes the [[Kansei Reforms]].
* 1792: Russian envoy [[Adam Laxman]] arrives at Nemuro in eastern [[Ezo]] (now [[Hokkaido]]).
* 1804: Russian envoy [[Nikolai Rezanov]] reaches [[Nagasaki]] and unsuccessfully seeks the establishment of trade relations with Japan.
* 1837: Rebellion of [[Ōshio Heihachirō]].
* 1841: [[Tenpō Reforms]].
* 1853: US Navy Commodore [[Matthew C. Perry]]'s four-ship squadron appeared in [[Edo Bay]] ([[Tokyo Bay]]).
* 1854: The US forces Japan to sign a trade agreement ("[[Convention of Kanagawa|Treaty of Kanagawa]]") which reopens Japan to foreigners after two centuries.
* 1855: Russia and Japan establish diplomatic relations.
* 1860: [[Sakuradamon Incident (1860)|Sakuradamon Incident]].
* 1862: [[Namamugi Incident]]. (Also Followed with The [[:ja:坂下門外の変|Sakashita Gate Incident]])
* 1863: [[Bombardment of Kagoshima]].
* 1864: British, French, Dutch and American warships bombard [[Shimonoseki]] and open more Japanese ports for foreigners.
* 1868: [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] resigns, the Tokugawa dynasty ends, and the emperor (or "mikado") [[Meiji Emperor|Meiji]] is restored, but with capital in Edo/Tokyo and divine attributes.

=== Era names ===
The [[Japanese era name|imperial eras]] proclaimed during the Edo period were:<ref>{{cite web|title=江戸時代の年表・年号 |date=July 2019 |language=ja |url=https://origamijapan.net/origami/2019/01/19/edo-history/ |access-date=20 February 2020}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ {{sronly|Eras during the Edo period}}
|-
!scope="col"| Era name
!scope="col"| Japanese [[kanji]]
!scope="col"| Approximate years
|-
!scope="row"| Keichō
| 慶長
| 1596～1615
|-
!scope="row"| Genna
| 元和
| 1615～1624
|-
!scope="row"| Kan'ei
| 寛永
| 1624～1644
|-
!scope="row"| Shōhō
| 正保
| 1644～1648
|-
!scope="row"| Keian
| 慶安
| 1648～1652
|-
!scope="row"| Jōō
| 承応
| 1652～1655
|-
!scope="row"| Meireki
| 明暦
| 1655～1658
|-
!scope="row"| Manji
| 万治
| 1658～1661
|-
!scope="row"| Kanbun
| 寛文
| 1661～1673
|-
!scope="row"| Enpō
| 延宝
| 1673～1681
|-
!scope="row"| Tenna
| 天和
| 1681～1684
|-
!scope="row"| Jōkyō
| 貞享
| 1684～1688
|-
!scope="row"| Genroku
| 元禄
| 1688～1704
|-
!scope="row"| Hōei
| 宝永
| 1704～1711
|-
!scope="row"| Shōtoku
| 正徳
| 1711～1716
|-
!scope="row"| Kyōhō
| 享保
| 1716～1736
|-
!scope="row"| Genbun
| 元文
| 1736～1741
|-
!scope="row"| Kanpō
| 寛保
| 1741～1744
|-
!scope="row"| Enkyō
| 延享
| 1744～1748
|-
!scope="row"| Kan'en
| 寛延
| 1748～1751
|-
!scope="row"| Hōreki
| 宝暦
| 1751～1764
|-
!scope="row"| Meiwa
| 明和
| 1764～1772
|-
!scope="row"| An'ei
| 安永
| 1772～1781
|-
!scope="row"| Tenmei
| 天明
| 1781～1789
|-
!scope="row"| Kansei
| 寛政
| 1789～1801
|-
!scope="row"| Kyōwa
| 享和
| 1801～1804
|-
!scope="row"| Bunka
| 文化
| 1804～1818
|-
!scope="row"| Bunsei
| 文政
| 1818～1830
|-
!scope="row"| Tenpō
| 天保
| 1830～1844
|-
!scope="row"| Kōka
| 弘化
| 1844～1848
|-
!scope="row"| Kaei
| 嘉永
| 1848～1854
|-
!scope="row"| Ansei
| 安政
| 1854～1860
|-
!scope="row"| Man'en
| 万延
| 1860～1861
|-
!scope="row"| Bunkyū
| 文久
| 1861～1864
|-
!scope="row"| Genji
| 元治
| 1864～1865
|-
!scope="row"| Keiō
| 慶応
| 1865～1868
|}

==In popular culture==
{{main|Edo period in popular culture}}

The Edo period is the setting of many works of popular culture. These include novels, comics, stageplays, films, television shows, animated works, and manga.

There is a cultural theme park called [[Edo Wonderland Nikko Edomura]] in the [[Kinugawa Onsen]] area of [[Nikkō, Tochigi]], north of Tokyo.

==See also==
* [[Criminal punishment in Edo-period Japan]]
* [[Edomoji]], Japanese lettering styles invented in the Edo period
* ''[[Ee ja nai ka]]'', an outbreak of mass hysteria at the end of the Edo period
* [[Gonin Gumi]], groups of five households that were held collectively responsible during the Edo period
* [[Jidaigeki]], Japanese period dramas which are usually set in the Edo period
* [[Jitte (weapon)]], law enforcement weapon unique to the period
* [[Karakuri puppet|Karakuri ningyō]], Japanese [[automaton]]s

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited sources ==
* {{Citation|author=Birmingham Museum of Art|author-link=Birmingham Museum of Art|year=2010|title=Birmingham Museum of Art: guide to the collection|publisher=Birmingham Museum of Art|location=Birmingham, Alabama|isbn=978-1-904832-77-5|url=http://artsbma.org/}}
* {{Citation|last=Beasley|first=William G.|author-link=William G. Beasley|year=1972|title=The Meiji Restoration|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|location=Stanford, California|isbn=0-8047-0815-0}}
* {{Citation|last=Diamond|first=Jared|author-link=Jared Diamond|year=2005|title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn=0-14-303655-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare}}
* {{citation|title=Japan Encyclopedia|first=Louis|last=Frédéric|isbn=9780674017535|series=Harvard University Press Reference Library|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC|year=2002|publisher=Belknap}}
* {{Citation|last=Flath|first=David|author-link=David Flath|year=2000|title=The Japanese Economy|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York|isbn=0-19-877504-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QGEECT7R75IC}}
* {{Citation |last=Gordon |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Gordon (historian) |year=2008 |title=A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to Present |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York |edition=Second |isbn=978-0-19-533922-2 |url=http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780195339222.do |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206214652/http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780195339222.do |archive-date=6 February 2010 }}
* {{citation| title=The Cambridge History of Japan|last1=Hall|first1=J.W.|last2=McClain|first2=J.L.|number=v. 4|isbn=9780521223553|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6RBXXJixf-sC|year=1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Iwao |first=Nagasaki |chapter=Clad in the aesthetics of tradition: from kosode to kimono|editor1-last=Jackson |editor1-first=Anna |title=Kimono: the art and evolution of Japanese fashion |date=2015 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |isbn=9780500518021|oclc=990574229|pages=8–11}}
* {{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Anna |chapter=Dress in the Edo period: the evolution of fashion|editor1-last=Jackson |editor1-first=Anna |title=Kimono: the art and evolution of Japanese fashion |date=2015 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |isbn=9780500518021|oclc=990574229|pages=20–103}}
* {{Citation|last=Jansen|first=Marius B.|year=2002|title=The Making of Modern Japan|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|edition=Paperback|isbn=0-674-00991-6}}
* {{Citation|last=Lewis|first=James Bryant|year=2003|title=Frontier Contact Between Choson Korea and Tokugawa Japan|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=London|isbn=0-7007-1301-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0YIbNlliRswC}}
* {{Citation|last1=Longstreet|first1=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Longstreet|last2=Longstreet|first2=Ethel|author2-link=Ethel Longstreet|year=1989|title=Yoshiwara: the pleasure quarters of old Tokyo|publisher=[[Tuttle Publishing]]|location=Rutland, Vermont|series=Yenbooks|isbn=0-8048-1599-2}}
* {{Citation|last=Seigle|first=Cecilia Segawa|author-link=Cecilia Segawa Seigle|year=1993|title=Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan|publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]|location=Honolulu, Hawaii|isbn=0-8248-1488-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4T-kJB8vKvcC}}
* {{Citation|last=Totman|first=Conrad|author-link=Conrad Totman|year=2000|location=Oxford|publisher=Blackwell|title=A history of Japan|edition=2nd|isbn=9780631214472}}
; Attribution
{{Country study}} [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/jptoc.html Japan]

== Further reading ==
* {{Citation|last=Guth |first= Christine |title=Art of Edo Japan: the artist and the city 1615–1868|publisher=H.N. Abrams|year=1996|isbn=9780300164138}}
* {{Citation|last=Haga|first=Tōru|year=2021|title=Pax Tokugawana: The Cultural Flowering of Japan, 1603–1853|publisher=Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture|location=Tokyo|isbn=978-4-86658-148-4|edition=First English|url=https://japanlibrary.jpic.or.jp/books/published/82436d63717dc9d391bfd2321ba0fa74a5202b16.html|access-date=29 April 2021|archive-date=10 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110002048/https://japanlibrary.jpic.or.jp/books/published/82436d63717dc9d391bfd2321ba0fa74a5202b16.html|url-status=dead}}
* {{Citation|last=Jansen|first=Marius B.|author-link=Marius Jansen|year=1986|title=Japan in transition, from Tokugawa to Meiji|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|location=Princeton, N.J.|isbn=0-691-05459-2}}
* {{Citation|last=Roberts|first=Luke S.|year=2012|title=Performing the Great Peace: Political Space and Open Secrets in Tokugawa Japan|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Hawaii|isbn=978-0824835132}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/cdm/landingpage/collection/tokugawa Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era] – A rich selection of rare Japanese maps from the UBC Library Digital Collections
* [https://www.pbs.org/empires/japan/timeline.html Timeline] – Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire

{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
 | title  = [[History of Japan]]<br>Edo period
 | years  = 1603–1868
 | with   =
 | before = [[Azuchi–Momoyama period]]
 | after  = [[Meiji era]]<br>{{small|([[Empire of Japan]])}}
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Japan topics}}
{{Tokugawa dynasty (Japan)}}
{{Tokugawa chronology (Japan)}}
{{Tokugawa Organization Chart}}
{{Tokugawa officials}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edo Period}}
[[Category:Edo period| ]]
[[Category:1603 establishments in Japan]]
[[Category:17th century in Japan]]
[[Category:1868 disestablishments in Japan]]
[[Category:18th century in Japan]]
[[Category:19th century in Japan]]
[[Category:Feudal Japan]]
[[Category:Japanese eras]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1868]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1603]]