The Tokugawa Shogunate
After his decisive victory at Sekigahara in 1600 and the elimination of the Toyotomi at Osaka Castle in 1615, Tokugawa Ieyasu had himself appointed shogun in 1603 — resigning two years later in favour of his son to establish beyond doubt that the title was hereditary. The Sankin-kōtai system required all daimyō to spend alternate years in Edo, leaving families there as permanent hostages. Society was frozen into four hereditary classes: samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Christianity was persecuted and eradicated. The sakoku edicts of the 1630s restricted trade to Dutch merchants at Dejima in Nagasaki. Yet within this rigid order a vibrant urban culture bloomed. Edo grew to be arguably the world's largest city by 1700. Kabuki theatre, ukiyo-e woodblock prints, haiku poetry (Matsuo Bashō), and the merchant culture of the Genroku era flourished. The 265-year peace ended when American gunships appeared in Edo Bay in 1853.
- Year: 1603 CE
- Category: Political
