history

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Edo period (1603-1868)
江戸時代 edo-jidai

The two and a half centuries from 1603, when Tokugawa Ieyasu established the shogunate in Edo, through the Meiji Restoration in 1867 is a unprecedented period of sustained peace and stability, which is attributed to a number of factors. One is the establishment of a strong political organization, with the ruling shogunate supported by faithful regional land barons (daimyô). Another involves efforts to sustain the domination of the warrior class through a social caste system, with the samurai at the top, followed by farmers, artisans and mercants. Also considered as a key factor is the "closed country" policy, which was designed to prevent any interference in Japanese affairs from outside.


                    
HISTORICAL FIGURES

   
Amakusa Shirô (?-1838)
» Andô Hiroshige (1797-1858)
» Date Masamune (1567-1636)
» Hasekura Tsunenaga (1571-1622)
   Ichikawa Danjûrô (1680-1704)
» Inô Tadataka (1745-1818)
» Izumo no Okuni (1572?-?)
» Matsuo Bashô (1644-1694)
  
Mito Mitsukuni (1628-1700)
» Môri Takachika (1836-1871)
» Ninomiya Sontoku (1787-1856)
» Sakamoto Ryôma (1836-1867)
» Shimazu Nariakira (1809-58)
  
Shimizu-no-Jirochô (1820-1893)
» Siebold, Philipp Franz von (1796-1866)
» Toda Ujikane (1576-1655)
» Townsend Harris (1804-1878)
» Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616)
» Tokugawa Mitsukuni (1628-1701)
» Yoshida Shônin (1830-1859)
    HISTORICAL PLACES & EVENTS

   » Christianity in Japan
   » Dejima Island - Dutch trading post
   » Black ships
   » City of Edo
   » Tôkaidô