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*''Other Names'': 近世 ''(kinsei)''
*''Japanese'': 江戸時代 (''Edo jidai'')
*''Japanese'': 江戸時代 (''Edo jidai'')
The Edo period, also known as the Tokugawa period, covers the years during which the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] controlled Japan. It runs from around [[1600]] until [[1868]]. A space of over 250 years of relative peace in between the countrywide wars of the [[Sengoku Period]] and the violence surrounding the [[Meiji Restoration]], the Edo period was characterized chiefly by the rise of urban culture and modern economic structures. It is also known as the Early Modern period in Japan, and shares many of the features of social, economic, and political development of the same period in the West.
The Edo period, also known as the Tokugawa period, covers the years during which the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] controlled Japan. It runs from around [[1600]] until [[1868]]. A space of over 250 years of relative peace in between the countrywide wars of the [[Sengoku Period]] and the violence surrounding the [[Meiji Restoration]], the Edo period was characterized chiefly by the rise of urban culture and modern economic structures. It is also known as Japan's "early modern" period, or ''kinsei'', and shares many of the features of social, economic, and political development of the same period in the West.
==History==
==History==
The Edo period came to a close in January 1868, when Shogun [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] voluntarily resigned his position and ended the shogunate in the [[Meiji Restoration]].
The Edo period came to a close in January 1868, when Shogun [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] voluntarily resigned his position and ended the shogunate in the [[Meiji Restoration]].
==Political Structures==
==Aspects of the Edo Period==
===Political Structures===
*bakuhan taisei, Shogun, Roju, Hatamoto, Daimyo (fudai and tozama)
*bakuhan taisei, Shogun, Roju, Hatamoto, Daimyo (fudai and tozama)
Communications from Nagasaki to Edo by the fastest means possible could take about a week, while messages traveling through official channels could take at least a month. Adding in the time it took for shogunate officials to deliberate and make decisions, the overall decision-making process could take a considerable amount of time. During the Bakumatsu period, this would prove a source of irritation to representatives of Western countries, accustomed to steamships, railroads, and telegraphs, which allowed for faster communication times.<ref>Mitani Hiroshi, David Noble (trans.), ''Escape from Impasse'', International House of Japan (2006), xxxiii.</ref>
Communications from Nagasaki to Edo by the fastest means possible could take about a week, while messages traveling through official channels could take at least a month. Adding in the time it took for shogunate officials to deliberate and make decisions, the overall decision-making process could take a considerable amount of time. During the Bakumatsu period, this would prove a source of irritation to representatives of Western countries, accustomed to steamships, railroads, and telegraphs, which allowed for faster communication times.<ref>Mitani Hiroshi, David Noble (trans.), ''Escape from Impasse'', International House of Japan (2006), xxxiii.</ref>
==Economy and Trade==
===Economy and Trade===
The Edo period saw considerable economic growth, including the intensification of agriculture; the expansion of domestic trade networks along road, river, and sea; the growth of merchant guilds and of proto-industrial production networks; and the emergence of a system of [[rice brokers]] which represented the first futures market in the world and something of a proto-modern banking system.
The Edo period saw considerable economic growth, including the intensification of agriculture; the expansion of domestic trade networks along road, river, and sea; the growth of merchant guilds and of proto-industrial production networks; and the emergence of a system of [[rice brokers]] which represented the first futures market in the world and something of a proto-modern banking system.
Textiles were perhaps at the center of Japan's proto-industrial economic growth over the course of the Edo period. Cotton came to replace ramie (hemp cloth) as the predominant fabric worn by commoners, and weaving and dyeing, among other stages of the textile production process, came to be among the most prominent instances of cottage industry - what has also been termed the "putting out system" - bringing proto-industrial production work to many rural areas and linking growers, weavers, dyers, wholesalers, and retailers in trade networks spanning the entire archipelago. In 1736, the amount of textiles coming into [[Osaka]] from these various rural production areas included 44.6% cotton, 14.2% [[Nishijin]] (Kyoto) silks, 12.1% other silks, 9.5% imported Chinese cloth, and 9.4% hemp/ramie, altogether totalling 12,000 ''kan'' of silver worth of goods.<ref>Ikegami, 284.</ref>
Textiles were perhaps at the center of Japan's proto-industrial economic growth over the course of the Edo period. Cotton came to replace ramie (hemp cloth) as the predominant fabric worn by commoners, and weaving and dyeing, among other stages of the textile production process, came to be among the most prominent instances of cottage industry - what has also been termed the "putting out system" - bringing proto-industrial production work to many rural areas and linking growers, weavers, dyers, wholesalers, and retailers in trade networks spanning the entire archipelago. In 1736, the amount of textiles coming into [[Osaka]] from these various rural production areas included 44.6% cotton, 14.2% [[Nishijin]] (Kyoto) silks, 12.1% other silks, 9.5% imported Chinese cloth, and 9.4% hemp/ramie, altogether totalling 12,000 ''kan'' of silver worth of goods.<ref>Ikegami, 284.</ref>
==Popular Culture==
===Popular Culture===
Many aspects of Japanese culture which are today stereotypically considered to be quite "traditional" in fact had their start in the Edo period. [[Kabuki]] and ''[[joruri|jôruri]]'' puppet theatre (also known as ''bunraku'') developed over the course of the 17th century, reaching their climax around 1690-1750. ''[[Ukiyo-e]]'', or "pictures of the floating world", developed over the course of the 17th century, emerging in earnest in the Genroku period<ref>Lane, Richard. ''Images from the Floating World.'' Old Saybrook, CT: Konecky & Konecky, 1978. pp11-34ff.</ref>; but full-color prints did not appear until [[1765]]<ref>Lane. pp308-9</ref>.
Many aspects of Japanese culture which are today stereotypically considered to be quite "traditional" in fact had their start in the Edo period. [[Kabuki]] and ''[[joruri|jôruri]]'' puppet theatre (also known as ''bunraku'') developed over the course of the 17th century, reaching their climax around 1690-1750. ''[[Ukiyo-e]]'', or "pictures of the floating world", developed over the course of the 17th century, emerging in earnest in the Genroku period<ref>Lane, Richard. ''Images from the Floating World.'' Old Saybrook, CT: Konecky & Konecky, 1978. pp11-34ff.</ref>; but full-color prints did not appear until [[1765]]<ref>Lane. pp308-9</ref>.
*ukiyo-e, urbanization, kabuki & bunraku, kibyoshi/sharebon, pleasure quarters (Yoshiwara)
*ukiyo-e, urbanization, kabuki & bunraku, kibyoshi/sharebon, pleasure quarters (Yoshiwara)
==Society==
===Society===
*mibunsei, four classes of society, rise of merchant class, decline of samurai (warrior class in a peaceful time)
*mibunsei, four classes of society, rise of merchant class, decline of samurai (warrior class in a peaceful time)
Education was widespread in Tokugawa Japan, with every domain maintaining samurai schools both in the domain, and at their [[daimyo yashiki|mansions in Edo]], by the end of the 18th century; temple schools for commoners, called ''[[terakoya]]'', were also quite numerous, and private academies began to sprout up in significant numbers in the early 19th century. Many of these schools employed the [[Thousand Character Classic]] as a model for learning and practicing characters (''[[kanji]]''), alongside a number of other texts for moral education. As a result, Tokugawa Japan enjoyed a higher level of literacy than most other parts of the world, with some estimates indicating that as many as 40-50% of men, and 15-20% of women, were literate.<ref>Albert Craig, 88.</ref>
Education was widespread in Tokugawa Japan, with every domain maintaining samurai schools both in the domain, and at their [[daimyo yashiki|mansions in Edo]], by the end of the 18th century; temple schools for commoners, called ''[[terakoya]]'', were also quite numerous, and private academies began to sprout up in significant numbers in the early 19th century. Many of these schools employed the [[Thousand Character Classic]] as a model for learning and practicing characters (''[[kanji]]''), alongside a number of other texts for moral education. As a result, Tokugawa Japan enjoyed a higher level of literacy than most other parts of the world, with some estimates indicating that as many as 40-50% of men, and 15-20% of women, were literate.<ref>Albert Craig, 88.</ref>
===Proto-Nationalism & Japanese Identity===
The expansion of trade and travel, as mentioned above, combined with the circulation of books, and a handful of other developments combined to create to a greater extent than ever before a proto-modern or proto-national sense of "Japanese" identity. People across the archipelago, from [[Satsuma province|Satsuma]] to [[Matsumae han|Matsumae]], had access to many of the same goods, books, prints, and so forth, and as people traveled, whether on ''sankin kôtai'', pilgrimage, or for other reasons, they brought ideas, fashions, food, publications, and other objects of material culture with them. Traveling booksellers & [[kashihonya|booklenders]] made books published in the major cities available in many of the most rural or remote areas, and it was not uncommon for village elders or local intellectuals to then share around the books they owned or borrowed, allowing these things - not only popular culture materials, but also treaties on intellectual, political, and economic subjects, and guides to any number of arts, crafts, housekeeping, bookkeeping, and so on - to become disseminated quite thoroughly into villager society in many areas. [[Constantine Vaporis]] emphasizes the role of ''sankin kôtai'' in the spread and distribution of culture, as low- and mid-ranking samurai who accompanied their lord in traveling back and forth to Edo brought regional products to the city, and both Edo products & products from many of the other regions of the realm back from the city to their home domains.<ref>[[Constantine Vaporis]], ''Tour of Duty'', University of Hawaii Press, 2008.</ref> Many historians also note the role of traveling scholars, artists, and the like in this process as well. Girls who were sold by their parents into [[prostitution]], who were transferred from brothel work in one region to work in another, or who married or had their contract bought out and thus moved to another region are also said to have played a significant role in the spread of culture from one region to another. Many of these women, even low [[meshimori onna|serving girls]] from [[post station]] inns, had knowledge of fashions, music, dance, and so forth from their regions, and carried this to other regions as they relocated.<ref>Stanley, 151.</ref>
Travel guides and landscape prints such as the "53 Stations of the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]] by [[Hiroshige]], and various works of ''[[meisho|meisho-e]]'' (pictures of famous places) by various artists, along with travel narratives such as those by [[Ihara Saikaku]] and [[Jippensha Ikku]], helped cement in people's minds, both in the big cities and out in the provinces, some notion of the people, places, foods, and practices contained within "the realm" (or "Japan").<ref>[[Mary Elizabeth Berry]], ''Japan in Print'', University of California Press, 2006.</ref> Intellectuals and scholars, including ''[[kangaku]]sha'' (scholars of [[Confucian classics]] & Chinese Studies), ''[[rangaku]]sha'' (scholars of Dutch Studies), and ''[[kokugaku]]sha'' (Nativists, or scholars of Japanese Studies), similarly spoke of "Japan" (as known by a variety of terms, and as conceived in various ways) as a singular entity. The [[1785]] ''[[Sangoku tsuran zusetsu|Sangoku tsûran zusetsu]]'' by [[Hayashi Shihei]] features maps which identify all of Japan in a single color - rather than divided by region or province - in contrast to other countries in the region.<ref>Hayashi Shihei. ''Sangoku tsûran zusetsu''. Edo, 1785. University of Hawaii Hamilton Library Sakamaki-Hawley Collection. HW 552-553.; Tessa Morris-Suzuki, ''Re-Inventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation''. M.E. Sharpe, 1998. p23.</ref>
==References==
==References==
