Aron 11/17 and 11/18

Here is my summary of today and yesterdays class. In these classes we learned about Japan in the age of the Tokugawa shogunate. When Japan was in a time of seperated armies led by Daimyos it was very unstable. One group led by Tokugawa Ieyasu rose above the rest. They were able to centralize and stabilize Japan through strict militaristic rule. This became the Tokugawa shogunate, or the group of shoguns ruling different parts of Japan under one head shogun(Tokugawa Ieyasu). The Daimyos of the other groups still had leadership in their areas but had to act upon the shoguns rules.
The shogunate formed a set social structure. The shoguns and Daimyos were at the head, followed by the samurai, and then the farmers, then the traders(merchants , craftsmen etc.). In order for the shoguns to make sure the Daimyos did not gain too much power they ordered them to the capital city, Edo, so that they can watch them and that not all of them were ever together at once. This was called the Alternative attendance policy.
Finally, the Europeans started to arrive in Tokugawa Japan in around the mid 1500s. They traded with Japan introducing firearms and the printing press. They also did missionary work their and tried to convert the Japanese to christianity. This was successful and much of the Japanese population became christian. However, this frightened the shoguns because the people were showing more loyalty to the new faith then to the shoguns. The firearms and new technologies were also threatening because they were much more powerful then the samurai sword. So the Japanese blocked off contact with the rest of the world,not letting foreighners in or Japanese out. But Dutch and China were cool to stay. This was the closed door policy.
The two main things of Tokugawa were unification and isolation of Japan. The next person to go will be Alex C.

Aron