Tokugawa DBQ Vocabulary Sheet:
-Feudalism: a time period when a central government of a nation falls, followed by a long period of war and disorder with powerful landowners fighting to consolidate power.
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-consolidate power: meaning to unify many groups of people to follow a stronger centralized government.
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-Tokugawa: is a family name, the Tokugawa was a powerful family of landowners that consolidated power and uniting Japan, ending feudalism/decentralized power of Japan.
-Ieyasu: the name of a famous Tokugawa leader (shogun)
-Daimyo: a landowner and leader of a clan or group of related families, a warlord and military leader. There were up to 300 different clans/family groups in Japan.
-Shogun: during feudal times was any daimyo that was more powerful than the other daimyo. during the Tokugawa period the Shogun ruled all of Japan and rule was passed down through the Tokugawa family for 250 years.
-Shogunate: the organized government of the Shogun
-Alternate Attendance Policy: a law made by the Tokugawa, it required that a certain amount of the 300 warlords that lived in Japan had to live in the capital city of Tokyo with the Tokugawa for a year, then in their home town for a year, and then back in Tokyo. The warlords would have to continue doing this throughout Tokugawa rule.
-Closed Country Policy: Toward the middle of the 250 years of Tokugawa rule a law was created that banned trade with most Europeans. The main purpose was to keep Japan a stable and peaceful place. Even though the Tokugawa banned trade, their economy and cities grew because they built roads and promoted trade between the villages and towns of Japan.
-Age of Exploration: by the time Tokugawa ruled Japan Europe had already explored most of the world, Columbus had discovered the “Americas”, during Tokugawa rule Spain, France, Great Britain, and the Dutch had already taken over or controlled North and South America, India, Pakistan, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and parts of Africa.
-Europeans and Japan: During Tokugawa rule there were approximately 20,000,000 Japanese people living in Japan. First contact with Europeans was near the year 1500, Europeans brought new items such as tobacco, guns, cannons, cloth, eyeglasses, and the compass with them. The Europeans also introduced Japan to Christianity at that point 0 Japanese people were Christian, by the year 1600 a total of 500,000 Japanese people had converted to Christianity.
-Gun Control law: similar to the Alternate Attendance Policy this policy was used by the Tokugawa to control the warlords and Samurai. This law required anyone owning a gun to register and get a card showing that they were allowed to own a gun. It also ensured that the Tokugawa would have more guns than anyone else.
-Samurai: were well trained warriors far superior to the European explorers and soldiers, even though the European soldiers had cannons and rifles.
-Haiku: a style of poetry that was improved during Tokugawa rule, the Tokugawa enforced education throughout Japan during their rule. This led to improvements in writing, reading which was not common before the Tokugawa.
ADDITIONAL TEXTS
Tokugawa shoguns (1600-1868)
Text 1: Tokugawa and Education
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The stability of central rule led to an increased focus on education, the Haiku is a form of poetry that was perfected during the Tokugawa time period. A Haiku peom required its writer to create 3 lines of poetry following the order of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables. “The old pond; A frog jumps in — The sound of the water.” Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)
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While the Tokugawa did improve education they also strictly controlled what could be written during their time period. Any written books had to be checked by the Tokugawa before being published.
Text 2: Spanish Exploration
During this time period Spanish explorers had "discovered" and taken over land in many parts of the world. Below is a letter written to King Philip of Spain by an explorer who had conquered the Philippine islands.
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To King Philip of Spain In the fleet that you had sent from Spain to the islands of the Philippines, there were a group of Christian monks on board, I was one of them…we landed and have named the islands the Philippines after you our king. We created a colony on these islands in the name of Spain… very close to these islands are lands that are great and rich, which belong to you our King – such as China and Japan. We have heard that you will order us to go to China, and Japan – which, although they have many mines and rivers of gold.. The people there are very barbarous…
January 16th, 1570 Fray Diego de Herrera
Text 3- Tokugawa's reaction to Spanish exploration
"A similar penalty will be suffered by all those who come to Japan from Portugal or Spain, whether they be government leaders or whether they be sailors, whether they come by accident or whether they be driven here by storm. Even more, if the King of Spain, or Buddha, or even the God of the Christians were to come, they would all pay the very same penalty." -Tokugawa Iemitsu, 1640 (primary source document)
Text 4: Tokugawa attack explorers
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" There were 74 men on the ship from Portugal, the Shogun had 61 of them killed and the 13 that remained were left alive to send the message back to the King of Spain. Those that were killed had their heads chopped off and displayed on wooden poles. (secondary source document)
Text 5: Europeans bring Christianity to Japan
The first European missionaries (missionaries were people that spread Christianity) had arrived in Japan in 1549, by that time about 500,000 Japanese had converted to Christianity. At first Europeans were allowed to come to Japan freely, some even settled at trade ports. At a certain point the Japanese became worried that the Christians were gaining too much power, and could possibly threaten Tokugawa rule. The Tokugawa began to see Christianity as a problem they cracked down on it with brutal force.