Tokugawa Stability and SPAM Key words + other notes

Question 1

SPAM

Answer 1

samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants

an extension of the Hei-nō Bunri system of Hideyoshi. the aim was to tie warriors to their lords to prevent any possible rebellion.

Samurai received fixed annual stipends based on the rice harvest of their former fiefs.

Exclusive right to wear swords and to cut down on the spot any commoners who offended them.

Rigid system (unlike the fluid system of classes during (and before) Hideyoshi’s time.

Social class is inherited from your forebears

Peasants as second because they were the primary food producers

Artisans third because they too were producers of crafts

merchants at the bottom because they were not a productive class

people not within SPAM: performers, religious figures, butchers, outcasts

Question 2

Sankin Kōtai and its implications

Answer 2

Alternate Attendance System

Implemented between 1635 to 1642

the system of alternate attendance required the daimyōs to spend every other year in attendance at the shogunate court in Edo

Family members as political hostages; children brought up under Tokugawa influence

Heavy financial burden on the daimyos to reduce possible rebellions

Growth of Edo as a financial/cultural/political center

Creation of trade routes and “highways”

Question 3

Tokugawa Political Structure

Answer 3

Tokugawa Ieyasu’s victory of the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 is often earmarked as the beginning of the Tokugawa

Consolidate Power

Limited appointment authority of
the Emperor/Courtiers

Emperor as Shogun’s private
legitimizer

One Daimyo, One Castle

Prohibitions against Christianity

Regulation of Foreign Trade

Establishment of the Bakuhan
幕藩 System

Daimyōs are generally autonomous from the central bakufu but were given restrictions from the Tokugawa shogunate: centralized feudalism

Question 4

Sakoku

Answer 4

Seclusion policy or Sakoku (lit. closed
country) policy issued between 1633-
1636

Only Dutch traders (amongst the other Europeans) were allowed, and limited to Deshima

Question 5

Tokugawa Cultural Shifts (from the Medieval period)

Answer 5

Buddhism becomes an institution for population control (anti-christian)

Temples as centers for the
certification of households (to
monitor them)

At the same time, townsmen (chōnin) culture, influenced by Neo-Confucian rhetoric became dominant

Redefinition of Warriors as
“Gentlemen” Scholars

Ukiyo 憂き世(Lamentable World) to
Ukiyo 浮き世(Floating World) —> engaging with pleasure