The Tokugawa Shogunate 1600-1868
Ieyasu established his administrative capital at Edo , now Tokyo, and set about guaranteeing the security of the Tokugawa Shogunate . The three Tokugawa-related clans were given estates in the most strategically important areas, followed by the lords who had fought on the Tokugawa side. Last came the "outside lords", whose loyalty was questionable; they were allocated fiefdoms in the remotest regions. To keep all these daimyo in check they were required to reside part of the year in Edo, thus forcing them into expensive, time-consuming journeys, and to surrender family hostages who lived permanently under the eyes of the authorities in Edo Castle. A sophisticated network of inspectors and spies was set up, and any significant rebuilding of local castles had to be reported. In its early years, the Tokugawa Shogunate exhibited a high degree of ambivalence towards the European arrivals. As Christianity increasingly appeared to threaten state security, more and more strictures were placed on all foreigners and harsh persecutions were conducted against the missionaries and Christian converts. By 1638, the year of final exclusion of foreigners, an estimated 250,000 Japanese Christians had been executed, imprisoned or forced to apostatize. The final stand took place in 1637 at Shimabara , near Nagasaki, when a Christian-led rebel army was annihilated . Thus began the period of sakoku , or the closed country , which lasted more-or-less continuously until 1853. The only legitimate exceptions to the edicts were Korean diplomats and a handful of Dutch and Chinese traders allowed to operate out of Nagasaki. The long period of stability under the Tokugawa, interrupted only by a few peasant rebellions, brought steady economic development . Several towns grew to a considerable size, and by the late eighteenth century Edo had become the world's largest city, with a population of roughly one million. The arts also flourished, especially during the Genroku Period (1688-1703), which saw the first mention of ukiyo , the " floating world " of fleeting pleasures. Artists churned out woodblock prints ( ukiyo-e ) popularizing the puppet plays of Chikamatsu and novels of Saikaku; Hokusai alone is said to have produced 35,000 paintings and illustrated 437 volumes .
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