Changes

==History==

==History==

===Beginnings===

===Beginnings===

The period is sometimes said to begin in [[1600]], the year of the [[battle of Sekigahara]], in which [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] eliminated nearly all opposition to his rule. He was officially granted the title "[[Shogun]]" by the Emperor in [[1603]], so the period is sometimes said to begin then, or in [[1615]], following the Tokugawa victory over the [[Toyotomi clan]] in the [[siege of Osaka Castle]], thus finally eliminating the last serious opposition.

The period is sometimes said to begin in [[1600]], the year of the [[battle of Sekigahara]], in which [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] eliminated nearly all opposition to his rule. He was officially granted the title "[[Shogun]]" by the Emperor in [[1603]], so the period is sometimes said to begin then, or in [[1615]], following the Tokugawa victory over the [[Toyotomi clan]] in the [[siege of Osaka Castle]], thus finally eliminating the last serious opposition. The population of the archipelago at that time is estimated to have been around 16 million, having grown by ten million since the end of the [[Heian period]] ([[1185]]).<ref>[[Albert M. Craig]], ''The Heritage of Japanese Civilization'', Second Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 42.</ref>

<!--Elements on nation-building and the shogunate's establishment-->Having defeated the armies of his enemies, and been named Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu began the process of establishing the legitimacy and stability of his clan's rule. It was not a rapid process, and many of these policies and structures were put into place by Ieyasu's successors over the course of several decades.  

<!--Elements on nation-building and the shogunate's establishment-->Having defeated the armies of his enemies, and been named Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu began the process of establishing the legitimacy and stability of his clan's rule. It was not a rapid process, and many of these policies and structures were put into place by Ieyasu's successors over the course of several decades.