HISTORY 1DD3 Lecture 14: Exporting & Challenging Modernity: Japan
19 Feb 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 14: Exporting and Challenging Modernity in Asia – Japan
Dr. Stephen Heathorn – Winter 2019
• Isolationism
o Japan was technologically and militarily as advanced as Europe in the 15th and
16th centuries
o After a period of intense civil war, peace and unity were imposed on Japan by
a policy of secluding Japan from the rest of the world
• The Tokugawa Shogunate
o During the Tokugawa Shogunate after 1600, Japan was ruled by a hereditary
Emperor (technically)
▪ Real power resided in the hands of the Shogun (military ruler)
o Feudal lords of various clans (known as daimyo) pledged allegiance to the
Shogun
o Each lord held power in localities through their Samurai, the warrior caste of
Japanese society
o Bulk of the population was ordered hierarchically under the lords and Samurai
• Technological Stagnation
o Foreign affairs/trade were monopolized by the Shoguns
▪ Yielded a huge profit to themselves
▪ Lead to a deliberate secluding of most of Japan from the world by the
Shogunate after 1635
o Limited trade was allowed with Chinese, Korean, and Dutch merchants
o Japanese military technology stagnated due to a long period of internal peace
and seclusion from the world
o Japanese let their firearms and firearm training stagnate
▪ Favoured the traditional Samurai weapons (i.e. swords) which only the
Samurai could yield
• Commodore Matthew Perry
o First America foray into Japan was made by Commodore Matthew Perry
o His fleets of “black ships” (steam-powered warships) arrived in Japan in 1853
o Returned the following year to conclude a trade agreement
o Japan was inundated by European requests for trade ties
o Within a few years, Japanese were subject to similar unequal treaties as the
Chinese and a number of treaty ports
• Rebellion
o Anti-western attitudes came to a head in a rebellion in the early 1860s
o Slogan – “Honour the Emperor, expel the barbarian”
▪ Clans in the south of Japan directly challenged the Shogunate
▪ Eventually forced the Tokugawa Shogun out of power in 1867 in
favour of the Emperor
• Rapid Modernization
o A constitution was proclaimed and the feudal system dismantled
o Traditional lords were replaced by regional governors appointed by the
Emperor’s gov’t
o Samurai lost their warrior function
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