JAPAN 50 Study Guide - Final Guide: Proletarian Literature, Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Motoori Norinaga
Japanese 50: Final Study Guide
Tokugawa Period / Edo Period (1600/1603-1867)
● People
○ Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616): rose to supremacy; ruled from afar, advising even after
resigning; leader of a group of daimyo; first Tokugawa shogun; moved capital to Edo from
Kyoto.
○ Yamaga Sok (1622-1695): early proponent of the fusion of Confucian and warrior
values; considered the founding father of bushido (way of the warrior); student of Hayashi
Razan, a Confucian scholar.
○ Hon’ami Ketsu (1558-1637): established a community of artists and craftsmen on a site
granted to him by Ieyasu in recognition of his prominence as a member of that city’s
Nichiren Buddhist community; calligraphy.
○ Tawaraya Statsu (~early 17th century): painted handscroll Thousand Cranes; a highly
gifted younger contemporary.
○ Ogata Krin (1658-1710): great Kyoto artist.
○ Yosa Buson (1627-1705): denied the authority of Song thinkers and insisted on going
back to the foundation texts; rejected distinction between principle and qi and stressed
self-cultivation with an emphasis on humaneness.
○ Ogyū Sorai (1666-1728): opponent of Song philosophy; rejected unity of the inner human
realm and the outer world of heaven and earth; believed that practicing li individual could
realize innate capacity for alignment with a natural order.
○ Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801): philologist and interpreter; studied the Kojiki; academic
philology and ideological nativism.
○ Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849): master of landscape print; known as “The Old Man
Mad with Painting”.
○ And Hiroshige (1797-1858): woodblock painter; also known as Ukiyo-e artist; last great
master of Ukiyo-e art; best known for landscape
○ Mizuno Tadakuni (1793-1851): house daimyo who rose to bakufu leadership; began
reforms in 1841.; recoinage, forced loans, dismissal of officials to reduce costs and
sumptuary laws intended to preserve morals and save money.
○ Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769): revived Rinzai school of zen; zazen - seated meditation;
started from Momoyama period and continued to be popular during Edo
○ Matthew C. Perry (1794-1858): sent to Japan on an armed mission from the U.S.; arrives
in Japan in 1853; successfully led an armed mission to force isolationist Japan’s
agreement to open trade and diplomatic relations with the U.S.
○ Ii Naosuke (1815-1860): greatest of the fudai; Shogunal succession dispute; took charge
of the bakufu as a grand councilor = temporarily resolved crisis of 1858; assassinated by
Mito samurais.
● Arts/Works
Genroku Era (1688-1704): the Golden age of Edo; arts and architecture flourished; economic
stability.
○ “The Love Suicides at Sonezaki” (1703)
■ Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1643-1724): playwright, from samurai family; special
because he wrote from the standpoint of commoners - before, literature was
mostly about aristocrats and court life.
○ Japan’s Eternal Storehouse (1688)
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■ Summary: earn an honest living but be clever = merchant class stories
■ Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693): short story writer; giri to ninj (j) - moral obligation
vs. human emotions; Maihime is a character torn between his emotions and
social obligations; frugality, honesty, ingenuity, and cleverness.
○ Matsuo Bash (1644-1694) master of haiku who was born a samurai but gave up his
rank to live the life of a commoner
○ Yoshiwara: home of Ukiyo-e; produced first rate aesthetics; Edo-licensed pleasure
quarters; gathering place for intellectuals
○ Ukiyo-e: translated as Pictures of the Floating World; woodcut prints
■ Okumura Masanobu (~ 1686-1764): versatile master and major contributor to the
development of the print; before, the prints were in black and white, but now in
color; Ukyo-Zshi = “Books of the Floating World”
○ Kabuki: dance/drama
○ Bunraku: puppet theater; large wooden puppets; jidaimono - historical setting in theater;
sewamono - contemporary setting in traditional theater; jruri - chanter.
■ Namiki Ssuke (1696-1751) prominent playwright; wrote a lot of kabuki and
bunraku = most of his bunraku used for jruri.
● Events
○ Kyh Reforms (1716-1736): array of economic policies instigated by Tokugawa
Yoshimune; reduction in government spending.
○ Hreki-Tenmei Era (1751-1789): marked the death of Emperor Sakuramachi and Shogun
Tokugawa Yoshimune; another smaller section during Edo.
○ Kansei Reforms (1789-1791): lowering of rice prices, restriction on merchant guilds,
freeze foreign policy, censorship, cut samurai loans, and fought corruption.
■ Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759-1829): A Confucian who served a young shogun
and owed his position as head of the bakufu to the support he received from an
inner circle of daimyo; led the Kansei Reforms.
○ Bunka-Bunsei Era (1804-1829)
● Terms
○ bakufu: Japan’s feudal government system = central government
○ han: domain
○ sankin ktai: system of alternate attendance; spend a year in capital
■ forced daimyo to spend large sums of money to travel
○ daimyo: powerful territorial lords
○ kokugaku (National Learning): celebration of native tradition; no Confucianism; weakened
bakufu ideologically; Shinto revivalists.
○ rangiku (Dutch Learning): since Dutch were the only westerners allowed access to Japan
during this time, it was only natural that they used the Dutch methods.
■ Hiraga Gennai (1728-1799): pharmacologist who studied rangiku.
○ Mito school: emperor-centered school of historiography and political thought; strong
sonno-joi philosophy
○ Nikko: mausoleum North of Tokyo that was organized in an effort to reassert the bakufu’s
preeminence.
○ Chshu: southwest Honshu
○ Satsuma: Kyushu; major domain that reforms did take hold = Satsuma and Chshu; two
large and wealthy domains eventually overthrows Tokugawa.
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